What to do when Smaart keeps crashing

Crashes can be difficult to track down unless we can reproduce the crash here at Rational, or we have a dump/report generated by your operating system. If you’re willing to take a few extra steps (especially if you’re a Windows user) to help us identify a crash, please follow the instructions below to find the dump/report that we need.

Important: Due to the higher system requirements of the new Smaart 9 Platform, please make sure your video (GPU) drivers as well as the drivers for your audio device are fully up-to-date. Roughly 80% of issues have been resolved by simply updating your system's drivers. Otherwise, click here to check if your computer meets the new system requirements.

Collecting error reports and user-mode crash dumps in Windows

For Windows installations, we need two pieces of information to determine the cause of a crash: an Event Viewer log (crash report) and a Mini Dump file (crash log). The steps below will show you how to gather both.

Event Viewer is a Windows Administrative Tool that can be found in any version of Windows, and it provides some details on a crash as well as other system logs. To gather the report created by Smaart crashing, open Event Viewer and navigate on the left to Windows Logs > Application. (Note: this should be done soon after the crash so that it appears at the top of the logs)

In the top of the center column, look for a line with a "Level" of "Error" and a "Source" of "Application Error". Look for one related to Smaart with a timestamp around the time that it crashed, then select that line; the bottom of the center column will populate a log in the "General" tab. Look for a line that says "Faulting application name: Smaart.exe" -- this means it is the correct log. Select all the text in the "General" tab, copy and paste it into a text file, then save and send us that text file. This is the Event Viewer crash report.

By default, Windows Error Reporting (WER) does not collect and store full user-mode dumps. Thanks MS. If you’ve already enabled the dump save feature in the past, you should find a crash dump in the %LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps folder, or whatever save location you specified, after a crash occurs. Simply click “Close the program” when prompted by Windows after a crash, and a dump file will be saved automatically.

You can access %LOCALAPPDATA% by typing that into the Run dialogue, or by navigating to C:\Users\<your_username>\AppData\Local. AppData is a hidden folder, so you will have to enable "Show hidden files and folders" within File Explorer > View

To enable the dump save feature, you need to use the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) to modify registry values under the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps

(you may have to create the LocalDumps folder by right-clicking "Windows Error Reporting" and going to New > Key).

If you are not familiar with navigating the Windows Registry and editing registry keys, please do not attempt this. Rational Acoustics is not responsible for computer problems resulting from improperly editing the registry.

Create the following values under the LocalDumps key:

This is what is should look like when you’re finished:

When the dump file is generated, please send it to us directly. If there are any issues sending it as an attachment, we recommend uploading it to a cloud-hosting site (such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive) and sending us a link to download.

Crash Reports in Mac OS

Thankfully, Apple provides all the necessary information in a single report. After a crash occurs, you’ll see a screen similar to image below. Place your cursor in the lower text area of the dialog, use CMD + A to select all of the text, then CMD + C to copy it, and paste it into a text file to send our way.

If a crash report does not immediately appear, you can follow this official article by Apple on how to retrieve reports via the Console application.