"Aw, Snap!" Error

Online experiments
1

I am running an experiment online using Google Chrome on Samsung tablets. About 3/4 of the way through the experiment, it crashes for most participants with an “Aw snap” error like this:
image
On the trial or two before it crashes, it is glitchy. The drawings the participants are making don’t show up where the stylus is or only show up intermittently. A couple of participants have gotten all the way through without issues.

What I’ve tried:

  • I’ve tried this experiment on wifi that I know is reliable and still get the “Aw snap” error, so internet is not the problem
  • The experiment involves the participant drawing a bunch of pictures. I’ve tried the experiment on Firefox but unfortunately the drawing is far less smooth than on Google Chrome so I can’t switch to that browser
  • The experiment runs through to the end without issues if I don’t draw anything.

I am recording the stylus position every frame so that I can later re-create their drawings. I’m wondering if this is making the data file too large and causing the crash. Is there a way to save multiple smaller data files? Any ideas of other things that might be causing this?

2

Yes, this will be causing a memory overload. Are you using thisExp.addData every frame?

Options are to save every n frames using if frameN % n == n-1:

or

append to a list and save that in End Routine

3

Thank you for the quick response!

I currently am appending to a list and saving that at the end of the routines.

Any other ideas?

4

Append to the list every n frames.

Also, test to see if that’s the issue.

5

It seems like saving to the data file isn’t the problem…
I removed all of the code that saved the cursor position to a list or to the data file and it still came back with the “aw snap” message about 3/4 of the way through.

Any ideas?