io.netty.handler.codec.EncoderException: String too big

[Leapo]

Bug Report

After a few weeks of uptime, the server begins to crash with the following error:
io.netty.handler.codec.EncoderException: String too big (was 46115 bytes encoded, max 32767)

Once this happens, restarting the server has no effect. The server crashes as soon as any player joins, with the same error.

Rolling back the server to a backup resolves the issue short-term, but it always comes back.

Logs

Server log: https://pastebin.com/bG7a3wsH

World Information

• Preset: Sky Islands
• Prestige: No
• Modpack Version world created in: 4.0.7 (Upgrading to 4.0.8 did not help)
• Additional Content Installed: None

Client Information

• Modpack Version: 4.0.8
• Java Version: 1.8.0.51 (64bit)
• Launcher Used: Twitch
• Memory Allocated: 4GB
• Server/LAN/Single Player: Server
• Optifine Installed: No
• Shaders Enabled: No

Server Information

• Java Version: 1.8.0_212
• Operating System: CentOS 7
• Hoster/Hosting Solution: Self-hosted server.

[Leapo]

I'm now at the point where restoring from a recent backup only works for a few minutes before the server starts sending packets that are too large. Any idea what mod might be causing this?

[sam-kirby]

Crash report?

[Leapo]

Crash report?

Check the Server Log link, shows the crash... or is there something else I need to post?

[sam-kirby]

The server log isn't even a complete log, just a stack trace.

There's not much to go on here. The only potential lead is that the game is trying to send information about entities on leashes or being ridden in a chunk.

Anything weird going on with entities matching that description?

[Leapo]

Not as far as I know. Is there a more helpful log I could send?

Edit: I have a sneaking suspicion it's Simple Storage Network crashing when it starts tracking too many items. I loaded an old enough backup that I could get on the server and look around, and found a storage network tracking 39k oak wood (and climbing). Any way to verify this?

[Darkosto]

I would recommend you restart your server more often than you are. It sounds like you're letting it go for weeks at time. I wouldn't suggest even running vanilla without a restart every couple of days at least. I don't think I've encountered modpacks that have been able to run for that long of a period without a restart.

[Leapo]

It doesn't matter how often the server is restarted. This is a progressive issue where packet sizes steadily increase, and eventually exceed the client send limit.

Packet sizes continue increasing, right from where they left off, after every restart. Doesn't matter if I restart the server hourly, packet sizes eventually become larger than 32767, causing the entire server to crash on client-join.

[Leapo]

The server log isn't even a complete log, just a stack trace.

Is there a complete log I can upload for you? Where would I find it?

[thebigschnoz]

I also had the same issue.

I went into MCEdit and tried to delete some blocks that I was having known issues with, but no luck.

[Gunner76th]

crash-2020-05-30_14.47.22-server.txt

2020-05-30-6.log

@Darkosto These are from just now. The only thing we did was move our world folder from Nitrado hosting service to Bisect hosting service.
https://github.com/SoulK1ller can provide more detailed information about the process. He is my lead Dev that is working on migrating us from one server host company to the other.

[SoulK1ller]

Edit: we found the source of our error to be a horse connected to a grindstone via a lead. Deleting the grindstone and horse resolved the error.

[Gunner76th]

@Leapo The log that would have been needed from your server is the actual crash report from the ./crash-reports/ folder and the latest.log from the ./logs/ folder

The literal name of the log file is latest.log, if you are on windows it might just show up as latest in File Explorer but if you look to the right you will see it is listed as File Type LOG
This goes for ALL bug/issue/crash reports you file on any github, these are the minimum files needed for crashes. I hope this helps you in the future.

[Leapo]

@Leapo The log that would have been needed from your server is the actual crash report from the ./crash-reports/ folder and the latest.log from the ./logs/ folder

The literal name of the log file is latest.log

Thank you! I just wish that file path was noted somewhere, or that one of the replies from 11 months ago had mentioned it.

I had to give up on this a long time ago, unfortunately. Old server and logs are long gone. We moved to a custom Spigot server instead.

Sounds like others are still having this issue, though, so it should probably remain open until resolved.

[Leapo]

Trying SkyFactory again. I'll report back if the same issue crops up...

I will note, there was no server crash report, because this bug doesn't actually crash the server. It creates packet sizes so large that clients become unable to join, but the server never actually crashes. All the server logs show are players attempting to join, and immediately disconnecting because their clients throw the error "io.netty.handler.codec.EncoderException: String too big"

I might try running the server without Simple Storage Network included, but I don't know if that'll break the progression tree...