Crash on ATI 9200 - searching for a better solution

[Oliver Gerlich]

Hello,
I've tried to run Celestia 1.3.1 on Debian Sarge, using as graphics adapter an ATI 9200, but I just get this output:

StarDatabase::read: nStars = 112522
nStars: 112522
Initializing ARB vertex programs . . .
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/diffuse_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/specular_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/haze_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/bumpdiffuse_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/bumphaze_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/shadowtex_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/diffuse_texoff_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/rings_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/ringshadow_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/night_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/glossmap_arb.vp
All ARB vertex programs loaded successfully.
render path: 3
ERROR: Communication problem with celestia, it probably crashed.

Now this problem was already reported (in this thread: http://www.celestiaproject.net/forum/viewtopic ... ae4d3247d2), but the mentioned solution (to install an older graphics driver) is not very good for me: I've got my system set up nicely after a long time, because ATI's older driver didn't work on my machine... So I think I have to stay with my driver that's running fine with other apps.

Now my question is wheter there's another way to get rid of the crash. I've already tried the Debian Sarge package (1.3.0-1) and now compiled 1.3.1 from source, but it didn't help. Is there a way to disable some features at startup, to narrow the problem down? Generally, my current driver works e.g. with Tuxracer, so it might be just a single feature of the driver that's buggy...
Btw. I called "gdb celestia-glut" (to debug the glut version of the Debian package), and it gave me as backtrace only this:
0x40e2c02b in s8066 () from /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri/fglrx_dri.so

, and that line 64 times (then I stopped it

Does someone has an idea how to solve this problem? It's really ironic, now that I nearly switched from Windows to Linux I find a program that only runs on Windows for me (

Thanks in advance,
Oliver Gerlich

[maxim]

Have you tried to activate this parameter in celestia.cfg:
IgnoreGLExtensions [ "GL_ARB_vertex_program" ]

It may be a first workaround.

maxim

[Oliver Gerlich]

No, thanks for the hint, I didn't do that.
Actually I didn't know there is a celestia.cfg. Is there some documentation for that file?
Disabling the vertex shaders or even disabling all extensions printed by glxinfo didn't help. Does someone have an idea what to try next?

Oliver

[selden]

Have you tried the Mesa software-only OpenGL library? (see http://mesa3d.sourceforge.net/) It uses only 2D graphics hardware features and should work without crashing. That would be one way to convince yourself that the problem is in the code associated with the 3D hardware.

[ghours]

I do have exactly the same probleme. the only way whas to comme back to the radeon driver from XFree.

[ghours]

I do have exactly the same probleme. the only way whas to come back to the radeon driver from XFree.

[t00fri]

Hello,
I've tried to run Celestia 1.3.1 on Debian Sarge, using as graphics adapter an ATI 9200, but I just get this output:

StarDatabase::read: nStars = 112522
nStars: 112522
Initializing ARB vertex programs . . .
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/diffuse_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/specular_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/haze_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/bumpdiffuse_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/bumphaze_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/shadowtex_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/diffuse_texoff_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/rings_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/ringshadow_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/night_arb.vp
Loading ARB vertex program: shaders/glossmap_arb.vp
All ARB vertex programs loaded successfully.
render path: 3
ERROR: Communication problem with celestia, it probably crashed.

Now this problem was already reported (in this thread: http://www.celestiaproject.net/forum/viewtopic ... ae4d3247d2), but the mentioned solution (to install an older graphics driver) is not very good for me: I've got my system set up nicely after a long time, because ATI's older driver didn't work on my machine... So I think I have to stay with my driver that's running fine with other apps.

Now my question is wheter there's another way to get rid of the crash. I've already tried the Debian Sarge package (1.3.0-1) and now compiled 1.3.1 from source, but it didn't help. Is there a way to disable some features at startup, to narrow the problem down? Generally, my current driver works e.g. with Tuxracer, so it might be just a single feature of the driver that's buggy...
Btw. I called "gdb celestia-glut" (to debug the glut version of the Debian package), and it gave me as backtrace only this:
0x40e2c02b in s8066 () from /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri/fglrx_dri.so

, and that line 64 times (then I stopped it

Does someone has an idea how to solve this problem? It's really ironic, now that I nearly switched from Windows to Linux I find a program that only runs on Windows for me (

Thanks in advance,
Oliver Gerlich

I don't believe that it is an ATI problem, given that you installed the latest drivers. We have some experience here what sort of bugs to expect from ATI cards...

There are many other possible reasons. You have not told us what your Debian distribution uses as desktop. You actually have told us almost nothing. What versions of which desktop libs are you using?? KDE? Qt3? Gnome stuff? which ones?? What type of Celestia are you using: Celestia-KDE, Celestia-gnome, Celestia-glut?? Are we supposed to guess all this?

You see, I compile Celestia about daily under Linux and never encounter any kind of crashes or persistent problems. So without very detailed info about exactly what libs you have installed, there is virtually no chance for help. Your problem can arise from a tiny little error/bug somewhere...

Bye Fridger