I am working on a (relatively complex) game. The game freezes in release mode. The freeze happens after 1-2 min. of game-play. The current configuration of the release mode that I have allows me to break (that is go into debug), which is good, but may give me wrong information but that is fine for this particular case (I can turn off the optimization for a single file/function/code).
Problem is, I (we, since we are a team) don’t know where it is hanging. It is not as simple as one relatively small infinite loop that is hanging, as other things (Graphics, sound) are being updated, just that the game-play has stalled. The main game loop (an infinite loop) is always running and is very long/complex, so stepping through is going to be a pain (but it is one of the options).
The first thing I tried is Visual Studio’s break all but it always breaks in code that is not mine and consequently shows me assembly output. Eventually, with enough persistence, SVN history checking and commenting out code I will be able to figure out where it is hanging, but there has to be a better way… hopefully?
Note: There is a Visual Studio option I am aware of that allows debugging user code only, but that is managed code only.
EDIT: Was able to solve the problem via stack trace and lots of hours of keeping track of various things to see where the game is hanging. I will select Sjoerd’s answer as the correct one, however, if someone has a suggestion for a tool/technique that allows to automate such a task, by all means, add your answer!
If you break and you encounter native code that is not yours, check the call stack. The call stack is the list of functions that got called to reach the current point in the code. Go up some levels in the stack until you encounter the method which is currently running.