I've just sent a bug report. I was checking if someone else had had a similar problem first. The last time I caught a bug was, like, five minutes before there was a patch out.
> Is it the same topic that crashes or does it happen randomly?
Mostly character topics (a category created by me, to be adjusted to the way I think of my characters for novels).
> Can you make it happen repeatedly on the same topic?
If it's the first or second topic I call up after opening RW, it never crashes. Only if it's the third or more topic I'm trying to call up.
Does it happen after being in RW for a certain amount of time?
> The earliest I've checked was 5-10 min. after opening RW; the latest was 30-45 min.. But I was writing, so I only went to RW when I needed to check physical descriptions and ages, which means there were periods of 15-20 minutes while I was writing when RW was waiting in the back, unused. Actually, the first times it vanished, I only noticed when I needed to check more details and the icon wasn't in the taskbar.
Does it only happen when you switch out to another program?
> No. It can happen when I'm on another program or when I'm on RW.
Does it only happen when you switch out to a specific program?
> Not sure. I was using mostly Word Office, but I skipped over to Gramps and Labyrinth a few times, so I can't be sure. But if I go over to one of them and come back, once or twice in a row, it doesn't do anything. Well, RW did look strange once (all greyish with white boxes where some of the icons, buttons or links ought to be) but it quickly went back to normal.
I've just switched through a few character topics and, although RW didn't crash, the left panel became empty with a message similar to 'filter can't find anything'. It was a quick thing so I didn't quite memorise it. It doesn't usually say that.
I've called it up again (like two minutes later) and it was all grey, just a black square at the top left corner, a white rectangle where the right side panel ought to be and a couple white streaks where the central panel should meet with the menu area. A few seconds later the normal text and icons reappeared, bit by bit.
Does it happen in other realms you have created?
> At the moment I'm only using one.
P.S.: I said I created a category for my writing's characters. It's a rather long category - 12 sections with 14 sub-sections through them - and it usually takes a few seconds to load, so I don't worry too much about waiting time (I know the team are working on making RW faster), even because I've already got used to it. But before RW vanishes, the topics started taking longer to load.
As a result, I'm always trying to improve my bug reports (and feature requests). I figure that if I can give the devs something solid they can work with, there's a much greater chance it'll get fixed (or added).