ValveSoftware / ValveSoftware/source-sdk-2013

Useing more then 64 groups rules in soundmixers.txt silently corrups memory

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C++
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Description

This may be a known issue, but I think it's worth trying to describe it on GitHub.

When using more than 64 rules for groups in soundmixers.txt, the parser does not check that it goes beyond the boundaries and starts writing to global memory. As a result, we get that the sound subsystem memory is corrupted and the engine can crash on a random function.

How to reproduce:
Add more than 64 groups (the engine does not crash on some amount, but the memory is already corrupted). The engine will definitely crash on 72 - 100 groups.

As an addition, it would be nice to raise this limit so other mods on TF2 can use more than 64 groups (TF2 itself uses more).

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the parser for soundmixers.txt and reproduce the issue using more than 64 groups, especially 72–100. Done means the parser no longer writes beyond its bounds, the sound subsystem remains stable, and the supported group limit is raised if the implementation permits it.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
game-dev
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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