Editor Crash when loading 1001st Streaming Level Instance

Cpt.Trips · July 28, 2016, 7:16pm

[Version 4.12.5]

While working on an endless runner prototype where my Tiles are created as Streaming Levels, I ran into a supposed hardcoded limit for Streaming Level Instances.

I can add (exactly) 1,000 streaming levels this way:

But the 1,001st results in a crash.

Some observations:

only levels that were at one point set to ShouldBeLoaded = true count towards the limit.
it doesn’t matter how many levels are visible/loaded at a given time.
setting the “bIsRequestingUnloadAndRemoval” (in C++) makes no difference.
log file output:

[861]LogWindows:Error: === Critical error: ===
Fatal error: [File:D:\Build++UE4+Release-4.12+Compile\Sync\Engine\Source\Runtime\CoreUObject\Private\Serialization\AsyncLoading.cpp] [Line: 2181]
LoadPackageAsync failed to begin to load a package because the supplied package name was neither a valid long package name nor a filename of a map within a content folder: ‘’

Not sure if 1000 is the allocation limit for the internal array of level instances, maybe it is changeable in the settings?
If there was a way to assign a new map to an existing instance, I could reuse those, but I do not see such an option.

anonymous_user_b9532c9a · July 29, 2016, 3:11pm

Hi Hoaxx,

Can you post your crash logs so I can take a look? They can be found at \Unreal Projects\PROJECTNAME\saved\logs\
Does this occur in a clean, blank project with no additional content or is it limited to one project?
What steps can I take to reproduce this on my end?

Cpt.Trips · July 29, 2016, 6:29pm

Hello ,

Can you post your crash logs so I can take a look?

I’ll attach them to this comment.

Does this occur in a clean, blank project with no additional content or is it limited to one project?

Clean project.
I’ll attach that as well (I have excluded the Intermediate folder to save bandwidth).

What steps can I take to reproduce this on my end?

To reproduce in a blank project:

create a level (in my case I added only a simple sphere to it to help visualize);
drag that level to the “Levels” window under your persistent level;
In persistent level’s LevelBlueprint (or anywhere else really) create event that loads the level from 1. the way seen on the screenshot in the first post
(i.e. CreateInstance with GetStreamingLevel(path to map) as Target and a unique id as name, set ShouldBeLoaded to true);
Execute event from 3. 1001 times (e.g. on a timer).

To reproduce the issue In my attached project, make sure “map_Main” is the selected persistent level, all code is in it’s level blueprint (timer set on BeginPlay, all code executed in the timer’s event). No further steps required, play and it should crash right after it sets the 1001st instance to be loaded (CreateInstance->ShouldBeLoaded true). It crashes out of scope of any particular blueprint node (I am therefore assuming it crashes while loading the level in the engine code).

Project Folder
Logs Folder

anonymous_user_b9532c9a · August 1, 2016, 7:37pm

Hi Hoaxx,

I’ve been running a number of tests on my end, and have found that the error in question seems limited to your test map. Try creating a new sublevel and spawning instances of it. Do you see the same error?

Cpt.Trips · August 1, 2016, 9:41pm

Hi ,

First some more observations, later I’ll address your suggestions.
Sorry in advance for the amounts of text, I’m pretty bad at keeping it short.

One major thing I just noticed: The issue is less evidently noticeable if the ue4 window is not in focus. That is because as the loading slows down while in background (which I assume is normal behavior) way more instances can already be created than actually loaded.

To observe the issue more clearly, the best place to count the instances would be in an OnLevelLoaded event. I have tried exactly that on my end with the conclusion that the critical number still is 1,000, even though there can be way more instances created than that (but not yet loaded).

In essence: I can create any number of instances, but only have 1,000 get loaded.

I have recreated this issue numerous times at this point.
Isolated the problem from a complex project and moved just the basic functionality to a clean Third Person template and finally put together the clean project I attached in the previous post, which was void of almost any additional debug measures.

The map that’s being instanced is a plain new level with just a sphere added there for me to be able to see if the assets actually are being loaded (as pointed out, if the instances are created but never loaded, the crash doesn’t occur).

Anyway, following your suggestion I have created a new, completely empty, sublevel in the project I attached before, and spawned 1001 instances of that map instead, with the same result - crash right after the 1001st instance is set to ShouldBeLoaded=true (i.e. a thousand instances works fine, any more results in a crash - it is this exact number, every time).

PS: if hardware is a concern, my system is more than capable at handling anything of that sorts with ease (i7-5820K, 32GB Ram, 2GB Gfx card, SSD drive), additionally I’ve been able to test the issue on a secondary system with the exact same results.

anonymous_user_b9532c9a · August 2, 2016, 2:04pm

Hi Hoaxx,

While I was not able to reproduce the error outside of your provided project, I was able to do so with the project given. I have logged a report for it here. You can track the report’s status as the issue is reviewed by our development staff.

Cpt.Trips · August 2, 2016, 2:43pm

Hi ,

Would you be able to post an overview/screenshot of your setup, or the project files where the issue does not occur?

There has to be some form of difference, which could narrow down the issue further.

anonymous_user_b9532c9a · August 2, 2016, 4:54pm

I remade the core functionality that reproduces the crash in your project. The only major differences being that I did not have the format text plugged into the unique instance pin, and on Get Streaming Level I manually typed in the map name instead of getting it from an asset path. Having said that, I had attempted both of these to not success in previous iterations, so unfortunately I am not certain what the major difference is. The best thing to do is to keep an eye on the public bug tracker link above for a fix/update.

Cpt.Trips · September 3, 2016, 4:56pm

Hi ,

I’ve been able to track down the cause of the crash to a single node.

It is indeed the Format Text node (plugged into Create Instance).

If for example I replace it with Append String or Integer To String the crash does not occur.

It is still a crash bug, but related to text allocation as it would seem.

Jamie_Dale · September 8, 2016, 2:11pm

Using the localisation system means you get localised and pretty number formats, so it eventually generates a map name that looks like this: /Game/Maps/UEDPIE_0_instance_1,000

That’s not a valid name, so you should use a non-localised way to append the number to the string.

Cpt.Trips · September 8, 2016, 5:31pm

Hi Jamie,
I was not aware that I was using any localization features, thought I was just building a formatted string.

I now have read up in the docs, where it says “FText does not offer any mutation functions, because making changes to display strings is a very unsafe operation.” - I reckon that this is related to my crash?

Anyhow, I’ll have to research more about when and how to use FText, but that is a matter for another topic, I guess.

Cpt.Trips · September 8, 2016, 5:38pm

Update: issue was caused by using the Format Text node to build the string used as the unique instance name.

Solution: Avoiding FText and using FString without conversion instead solved the issue.