# Creating Render Causes VAPOR to Crash

**URL:** <https://vapor.discourse.group/t/creating-render-causes-vapor-to-crash/391>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [July 11, 2024, 10:20pm UTC](https://vapor.discourse.group/t/creating-render-causes-vapor-to-crash/391 "2024-07-11T22:20:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ezx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@ezx](https://vapor.discourse.group/u/ezx)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2024, 10:20pm UTC](https://vapor.discourse.group/t/creating-render-causes-vapor-to-crash/391/1 "2024-07-11T22:20:10Z")

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I had an relatively large .nc file (33GB) that whenever I tried to create a render, it would cause VAPOR to crash. I thought this could be a size issue so I trimmed it down (around 300MB) but I still get the same issue. I have attached an image of the dimensions and format of the data.

EDIT: I have also checked that it is CF-1.7 compliant

 ![Screenshot 2024-07-11 at 6.18.35 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/vapor/original/1X/b7ccf39ed2c67484ac18c0125896bba1edffcdb7.png)

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**Author:** ![pearse](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/vapor.discourse.group/pearse/32/177_2.png) [@pearse](https://vapor.discourse.group/u/pearse)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 1:34pm UTC](https://vapor.discourse.group/t/creating-render-causes-vapor-to-crash/391/2 "2024-07-12T13:34:55Z")

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Hi, could you let us know what OS you’re using, what version of VAPOR, and share the file with us in a way of your choosing? Google drive or email (vapor@ucar.edu) would work.

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**Author:** ![ezx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@ezx](https://vapor.discourse.group/u/ezx)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://vapor.discourse.group/t/creating-render-causes-vapor-to-crash/391/3 "2024-07-12T15:35:29Z")

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MacOS Sonoma 14.5  
Vapor Version: 3.9.2.5e0407326  
File sent via email

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pearse](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/vapor.discourse.group/pearse/32/177_2.png) [@pearse](https://vapor.discourse.group/u/pearse)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://vapor.discourse.group/t/creating-render-causes-vapor-to-crash/391/4 "2024-07-12T17:20:14Z")

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Hi again. Vapor uses XML to track its state, and your variable names have illegal XML characters in them. The `*` is illegal, and I believe the escape `\` is as well. Remove these and your large file should load fine, barring any other issues.

That said, Vapor should be reporting this instead of of just crashing. I’ve filed [a new ticket](https://github.com/NCAR/VAPOR/issues/3633) that we will try to address before our next release.

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**Author:** ![StasJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b487fb/32.png) [@StasJ](https://vapor.discourse.group/u/StasJ)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://vapor.discourse.group/t/creating-render-causes-vapor-to-crash/391/5 "2024-07-22T22:12:09Z")

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Hi @ezx, I looked into this further and @pearse is correct that we do not support having such characters in variable names, however, the NetCDF-CF specification also does not allow this so your file is not CF-compliant. See CF Conventions § 2.3: Naming Conventions.

If you make your file CF-complaint it should work with Vapor but please let us know if you run into any additional issues.