Transaction Creation Failed when trying to send Namecoin

Ron
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2017 12:58 am
os: mac

Re: Transaction Creation Failed when trying to send Namecoin

Post by Ron »

biolizard89 wrote:
Ron wrote:
cassini wrote:
Wow, which mining pool are you using? They send out the NMC earnings in hundreds of ridiculously small amounts over time. A first quick look at your data lets me guess this is the very problem. In other words: if you want to squeeze all these 438 inputs (as seen in your listunspent data) in one single transaction then Namecoin-Qt has to apply a pretty high fee, possibly more than the ~ 0.9 NMC remaining in your wallet after creating the 45.0 NMC transaction. Well, this is my first wild guess. I'll have a closer look at it tomorrow.
Ron wrote:Is there another Namecoin wallet that is better to use? I use a Mac.
Namecoin Core is strongly recommended as it is based on the current Bitcoin Core code. On a Mac it is currently only available by building it from source, though.
In this case, however, even an up-to-date Namecoin Core client may have problems creating this huge piece of transaction data. Same issue would occur in Bitcoin in a similar situation, I suspect. More on this after my closer inspection.
I have a bit more information, which may help or may just be of interest. I tried lowering the amount I was sending dramatically. I wanted to send 45 NMC. I tried sending 20 and go the same error and again at 15. However, when I tried sending only 10 NMC, I got a different result. It sent the transaction, but with a warning that the transaction was over the size limit. I am not sure what that means, but I paid the fee it asked for and the transaction went through.

So, I will send 4 transactions of 10 BTC. I can't send the other 5 for now, because the site I am sending to has a minimum of of 6.74 NMC that you can send.
Thanks for the follow-up info. In the interest of caution, I suggest waiting to make sure that the first transaction confirms before you send additional funds in this method. If you choose not to wait, it's probably possible to recover a hypothetical stuck transaction via CPFP (child pays for parent), but doing so might be tricky without Namecoin Core.

Even if this workaround is effective for your purposes, it doesn't negate the benefit of getting Namecoin Core binaries released to macOS users, and also doesn't negate the concerns Cassini expressed about F2Pool's transaction amounts. But, if it works for your purposes, then I guess there's not much need for you to worry about such issues.

Cheers.
Hello,

The transactions confirmed, but as far as this working for my purposes, I wouldn't quite say that. Close, but not quite. I was trying to send 45 NMC to Shapeshifter. I was receiving the same error that "Transaction Creation Failed" when sending as little as 15 NMC, but sending 10 worked. Then sending 13 worked. I figured, I could then send 12 more and then 10 more and my 45 would be sent in 4 transactions. When I tried my third transaction to send 12 NMC I was getting the "Transaction Creation Failed" error again. It wouldn't allow me to send 11 either. I was able to send 10 again. My 4th transaction had to be even smaller. I could send 9 NMC. So I was able to send a total of 42. This is a work around that shouldn't be needed. Even if this is a crypto currency, it is a currency. It should be simple to send any amount at any time to any address. I understand there are underlying complications, but don't understand how they work. I guess it's like some sort of forking of bundles of bits and bytes of varying amounts of NMC that are all tracked somehow in a very complex way that make transactions take up varying amounts of kilobytes of data. None of that should matter to me. Just like it doesn't with Bank of America sending dollars to Amazon when I check out. I can buy and sell stocks online. Trade currencies on Forex, etc. I imagine those transactions are also extremely complicated in the background. I get to be a dummy and not care about any of that. For me, the user, it all just works, or the services would not have customers.

So, I am not complaining. I just hope that the information I provided along with the error I was getting and the way I had to get around it, serves as helpful information to help make the Namecoin wallet application more functional in the future. Most of us want to be dummies when it comes to using things like a crypto currency wallet. Luckily I am slightly more wise than the average dummy, enough so that I figured out a work around after some experimentation and a rudimentary understanding of the reasons that such an error could be happening.

I agree with you that it would be a fantastic idea to make the Mac OS binaries for Namecoin Core available. But keep in mind, most of us dummies have no idea what binaries are. We live in the age of apps that just work. People don't have to compile binaries from source code to play their Sudoku game or to pay their mortgage bill in their Bank of America app. They click INSTALL, then everything works. I have experience programming, but 30-40 years ago, starting in Basic, then GFA Basic, even a little C (before there was a + or a ++), so again, I am back to the "rudimentary" understanding level when it comes to binaries, but most people don't have that much understanding.

I hope what little I had to offer in way of how I got around this little problem helps any future effort to take dummies into consideration when putting out the next update for the Namecoin Wallet. Oh, and I don't know why the newer version is called Namecoin Core. What is the "Core" for? Really. Is that something to do with Core source code or something? Honest question. Dummies. We just want "Namecoin Wallet." Click install. It works. ;) LOTS of dummies use things.

biolizard89
Posts: 2001
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:25 am
os: linux

Re: Transaction Creation Failed when trying to send Namecoin

Post by biolizard89 »

Ron wrote:Hello,

The transactions confirmed, but as far as this working for my purposes, I wouldn't quite say that. Close, but not quite. I was trying to send 45 NMC to Shapeshifter. I was receiving the same error that "Transaction Creation Failed" when sending as little as 15 NMC, but sending 10 worked. Then sending 13 worked. I figured, I could then send 12 more and then 10 more and my 45 would be sent in 4 transactions. When I tried my third transaction to send 12 NMC I was getting the "Transaction Creation Failed" error again. It wouldn't allow me to send 11 either. I was able to send 10 again. My 4th transaction had to be even smaller. I could send 9 NMC. So I was able to send a total of 42. This is a work around that shouldn't be needed. Even if this is a crypto currency, it is a currency. It should be simple to send any amount at any time to any address. I understand there are underlying complications, but don't understand how they work. I guess it's like some sort of forking of bundles of bits and bytes of varying amounts of NMC that are all tracked somehow in a very complex way that make transactions take up varying amounts of kilobytes of data. None of that should matter to me. Just like it doesn't with Bank of America sending dollars to Amazon when I check out. I can buy and sell stocks online. Trade currencies on Forex, etc. I imagine those transactions are also extremely complicated in the background. I get to be a dummy and not care about any of that. For me, the user, it all just works, or the services would not have customers.

So, I am not complaining. I just hope that the information I provided along with the error I was getting and the way I had to get around it, serves as helpful information to help make the Namecoin wallet application more functional in the future. Most of us want to be dummies when it comes to using things like a crypto currency wallet. Luckily I am slightly more wise than the average dummy, enough so that I figured out a work around after some experimentation and a rudimentary understanding of the reasons that such an error could be happening.
No argument from me on this -- this workaround shouldn't be necessary.
Ron wrote: I agree with you that it would be a fantastic idea to make the Mac OS binaries for Namecoin Core available. But keep in mind, most of us dummies have no idea what binaries are. We live in the age of apps that just work. People don't have to compile binaries from source code to play their Sudoku game or to pay their mortgage bill in their Bank of America app. They click INSTALL, then everything works. I have experience programming, but 30-40 years ago, starting in Basic, then GFA Basic, even a little C (before there was a + or a ++), so again, I am back to the "rudimentary" understanding level when it comes to binaries, but most people don't have that much understanding.
In this case, binaries would be a .dmg file, just like other macOS apps that you install. So yes, I think we're in agreement on this.
Ron wrote: I hope what little I had to offer in way of how I got around this little problem helps any future effort to take dummies into consideration when putting out the next update for the Namecoin Wallet. Oh, and I don't know why the newer version is called Namecoin Core. What is the "Core" for? Really. Is that something to do with Core source code or something? Honest question. Dummies. We just want "Namecoin Wallet." Click install. It works. ;) LOTS of dummies use things.
Bitcoin decided to rename their software from "Bitcoin" to "Bitcoin Core" a while back, and we followed suit to make it clear that Namecoin Core is based on the Bitcoin Core codebase. I believe the Bitcoin Core folks chose that name to emphasize that the Bitcoin Core software forms the "core" of the network, i.e. it is by far the dominant Bitcoin implementation that actually verifies the blockchain. (There are other fully validating Bitcoin implementations such as btcd, but Bitcoin Core effectively has a monopoly, due to the risks associated with using alternate implementations of consensus algorithms.)

Cheers!
Jeremy Rand, Lead Namecoin Application Engineer
NameID: id/jeremy
DyName: Dynamic DNS update client for .bit domains.

Donations: BTC 1EcUWRa9H6ZuWPkF3BDj6k4k1vCgv41ab8 ; NMC NFqbaS7ReiQ9MBmsowwcDSmp4iDznjmEh5

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