Version 1.13 Released! Exit-Freeze Fixed!

It's been a few months since version 1.12 and subsequent patches were released. Today, version 1.13 fixes the biggest issues caused by that update along with a few other minor tweaks/fixes. Let's get to the changelist first, then I'll go over the exit-freeze issue and the journey to fix it, and finish up with some other news.

1.13 CHANGELIST

• Rebranched code from 1.11d to prevent exit-freeze

• Reintegrated all 1.12 changes into new branch

• Added new cheat to unlock all missions

• Fixed dropship sequence going too fast and causing issues when framerate was low

• Changed a couple gamepad shortcuts a bit

• Grayed out vehicle slots that have nothing when in Load Custom Vehicle menu

• Removed some excessive debug.log statements

• Prevent GPU from trying to release resources twice on shutdown

THE EXIT-FREEZE MYSTERY

As you can see from the the first item, the solution to the exit freeze was relatively simple in the end, though it took a very long time to figure out. And to be honest, I'm not actually sure what code caused the exit freeze, I just know roughly where the freeze came from.

The exit-freeze was first reported in May after 1.12 (or one if it's follow-up patches) released, and I tried to find it sporadically since then, and got many player.log files from players along the way. But those files contained almost no useful info. The most consistent thing that happened was the "BlockManager" shutting down, then the file was blank. That means the BlockManager probably wasn't the issue, but other than that, having no info meant I had no idea where to start, and the freeze may have only happened on certain PCs after playing an indeterminate amount of time.

When I discussed the game with Secret Mode during subsequent meetings, I mentioned needing help with tracking down the issue. After getting builds, they found it happened for a few people fairly consistently, but the repro steps were still unclear. Some thought it required alt-tabbing, or keeping the game open a certain amount of time before closing, but most mentioned playing a few missions.

This summer I had my older kid doing some intern work for me, and I asked them to spend of time trying to find the freeze. They got the freeze on their PC, and eventually found pretty fast and repeatable reproduction steps a few weeks ago. I tried the same steps on my PC, but it never crashed. I had made 6 different builds with potential exit-sequence fixes, but none of them fixed the issue.

I was still stumped what the issue was, but with a PC that got the freeze consistently, I mostly had what I needed to fix the issue. Now I just needed enough time to track it down.

For reference, the repro steps to get the exit-freeze on a PC that gets it: Load mission 1, get dropped off, back to Island Select. Do that for missions 2 and 3, then exit the game. Happened 100% of the time if you did those steps, but if you took one mission out, or didn't get dropped off, it never happened.

TIME MANAGEMENT

With Rhythm Storm's launch and follow-up updates done, I had to make a decision: Rush to finish Speed Demons 2 (intended to launch at the end of August), or switch to Instruments work and try really hard to fix the exit-freeze and get the console versions for certification. Aside from having the SD2 intended launch date in a Best Indie Games video, I don't really need to launch SD2 in August, and the timeline