Author Topic: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.  (Read 2787 times)

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Offline Beacon (OP)

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Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« on: January 31, 2010, 04:25:44 PM »
I get this when trying to advance time in my game... How can I fix it?
 

Offline mikew

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Re: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2010, 09:55:22 PM »
I have had this on several occasions.  For me, it generally means that I have a task group that I gave invalid orders to, such as rejoin a parent fleet when one didn't exist.  Check with all of your fleets for conditional orders that they can't carry out, or if there is a set of repeating orders that have "repeated towards infinity."  Short orders (such as move to and resupply at a planet when you are already in orbit) can cause lots of problems if you have it set to cycle (ask me how I know).  If you have a task group with what appear to be a LOT of orders which may be screwing it up, use the delete all orders button and try again.

Mike
 

Offline Beacon (OP)

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Re: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2010, 01:27:56 PM »
Thanks for the reply.

I'm attempting to do as you say, with my Freighter task group, but when I attempt to access them in the F12 menu, the game seems to hang for a while and I get the error:
"Error 381...Invalid property array index."


This is annoying, I think I'll have to start a new bloody game >_>
 

Offline Beacon (OP)

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Re: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2010, 03:15:03 PM »
Well here's what it looks like... What's going on with those tasks... There's no way for me to fix it because that error just comes up again every time I close it.

 

Offline Brian Neumann

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Re: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2010, 03:30:19 PM »
A couple of idea's for you to try.  If you can get through all the error messages then try transfering all of the ships to another task group and deleting the current one.  If the moves follow the ships for some reason, try deleting all of the ships and use the SM function "Fast OB" to replace them.  If you can not get into the F12 Screen then you have a serious probem.  Good luck to you

Brian
 

Offline Beacon (OP)

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Re: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2010, 05:47:36 PM »
I can't get past all of the error messages :S
 

Offline sloanjh

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Re: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2010, 09:17:19 PM »
Quote from: "Beacon"
I can't get past all of the error messages :S

See the little checkbox called "cycle moves" in the lower right corner that you've got checked?  That's most of your problem.  What that box does is set up an infinitely repeating cycle of orders - as soon as the current order executes it's copied to the end of the queue.

That wouldn't be so bad, except that the cycle that is set up (move to earth -> refuel from earth -> resupply from earth -> (cycle) move to earth) takes zero time.

The way to fix this is to ctrl-c out of the Aurora (assuming you haven't done so already) to get yourself out of the move cycle.  The restart Aurora and untick the checkbox - this will stop the looping.  You can also hit the "delete all" button which will clear out all the orders that you had queued.

One other thing - if you didn't set up this set of orders, then it probably means you've hit a bug that Steve (IIRC) fixed in 4.91.  If Earth and Mars are too close together, and you've got a fleet cycling between them that can burn through its entire orders list in a single sub-pulse, then Aurora will get confused and go into the failure mode you've shown.  The way to avoid this behavior is to not do 5-day increments; I tend to do 1-day increments and I never saw the problem.  Also, if you're on a 4.9 DB (rather than 4.8 ) then you should download the 4.91 patch.

John

PS - Please read the "Where to post" FAQ and post new user questions to The Academy.
 
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Offline Steve Walmsley

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Re: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2010, 08:02:53 AM »
Quote from: "sloanjh"
Quote from: "Beacon"
I can't get past all of the error messages :S

See the little checkbox called "cycle moves" in the lower right corner that you've got checked?  That's most of your problem.  What that box does is set up an infinitely repeating cycle of orders - as soon as the current order executes it's copied to the end of the queue.

That wouldn't be so bad, except that the cycle that is set up (move to earth -> refuel from earth -> resupply from earth -> (cycle) move to earth) takes zero time.

The way to fix this is to ctrl-c out of the Aurora (assuming you haven't done so already) to get yourself out of the move cycle.  The restart Aurora and untick the checkbox - this will stop the looping.  You can also hit the "delete all" button which will clear out all the orders that you had queued.

One other thing - if you didn't set up this set of orders, then it probably means you've hit a bug that Steve (IIRC) fixed in 4.91.  If Earth and Mars are too close together, and you've got a fleet cycling between them that can burn through its entire orders list in a single sub-pulse, then Aurora will get confused and go into the failure mode you've shown.  The way to avoid this behavior is to not do 5-day increments; I tend to do 1-day increments and I never saw the problem.  Also, if you're on a 4.9 DB (rather than 4.8 ) then you should download the 4.91 patch.
If you are getting this bug in v4.91, please let me know. I would like to see a copy of the DB in that case.

Steve
 

Offline Beacon (OP)

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Re: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2010, 03:02:48 PM »
I am playing 4.91, and yes, I managed to delete all those orders and it works again, thanks a lot.

Also, it takes an awful long time to advance time, even though I don't have that many fleets and my PC is very powerful... It's not NPRs fighting and interrupting, as it does the full 30 days advancement, but takes ages...
 

Offline Father Tim

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Re: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2010, 04:02:45 PM »
The bigger your empire the more things it tries to do each increment, and the more processor time it takes to handle all the calculations.  More RAM and a faster processor help, but Aurora runs at 1/3 to 1/5th the speed on my (old) laptop that it does on my desktop.
 

Offline Beacon (OP)

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Re: Error 3421 - Data type conversion error.
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2010, 06:26:13 PM »
As I said, my PC is top of the range. I have an i5, and my empire isn't even very big, I only have one colony, without any people on it...

I also have 4 GB DDR3 RAM :S