Custom create order function fails in controller but works in standalone PHP file

Question

Recently after updating to 1.9.4 my custom order creation function began to fail. If I run my OAcreateOrder() function from a test PHP file the order is created as expected: testOrder.php

require_once $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/services/oa-functions.php"; 

require __DIR__ . '/app/Mage.php';
Mage::app();

$order_info = [
"ord_bill_fname" => "Andy",
"ord_bill_lname" => "Boehm",
"ord_bill_address1" => "123 Acme St",
"ord_bill_address2" => "",
"ord_bill_city" => "Pittsburgh",
"ord_bill_postalcode" => "15211",
"ord_bill_phone" =>"3125443535",
"ord_bill_cou_code" => "US",
"ord_bill_sta_code" => "PA",
"ord_ship_fname" => "Andy",
"ord_ship_lname" => "Boehm",
"ord_ship_address1" => "123 Acme St",
"ord_ship_address2" => "",
"ord_ship_city" => "Pittsburgh",
"ord_ship_postalcode" => "15211",
"ord_ship_phone" =>"3125443535",
"ord_ship_cou_code" => "US",
"ord_ship_sta_code" => "PA",
"ord_gift_sku" => "none",
"ord_plan_sku" => "yoga-monthly",
"ord_total" => "1149.95",
"subtotal" => "1149.95"
];

    //create a magento user/customer
      $websiteId = Mage::app()->getWebsite()->getId();
      $store = Mage::app()->getStore();

      $customer = Mage::getModel("customer/customer"); 
      $customer->setWebsiteId(1); 
      $customer->loadByEmail("[email protected]");

      try{
          $customer->save();
          OAcreateOrder($customer, $order_info);

          echo "Completed Order";

          //login($_POST['email'], $_POST['password']);
      }
      catch (Exception $e) {
          Zend_Debug::dump($e->getMessage());
      }

However, if I run my OAcreateOrder() function from within a custom controller the order fails to be created. No error is given.

I've tracked down the issue to here app/code/core/Mage/Sales/Model/Service/Quote.php

$transaction->save(); fails to run. No error/exception is thrown and I'm not seeing anything in the logs.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I can provide the full OAcreateOrder() function but since this works outside of my controller I don't think it is the issue.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Here's the controller and OAcreateOrder() function.

public function indexAction()
{
    $order_info = [
        "ord_bill_fname" => "Andy",
        "ord_bill_lname" => "Boehm",
        "ord_bill_address1" => "123 Acme St",
        "ord_bill_address2" => "",
        "ord_bill_city" => "Pittsburgh",
        "ord_bill_postalcode" => "15211",
        "ord_bill_phone" =>"3125443535",
        "ord_bill_cou_code" => "US",
        "ord_bill_sta_code" => "PA",
        "ord_ship_fname" => "Andy",
        "ord_ship_lname" => "Boehm",
        "ord_ship_address1" => "123 Acme St",
        "ord_ship_address2" => "",
        "ord_ship_city" => "Pittsburgh",
        "ord_ship_postalcode" => "15211",
        "ord_ship_phone" =>"3125443535",
        "ord_ship_cou_code" => "US",
        "ord_ship_sta_code" => "PA",
        "ord_gift_sku" => "none",
        "ord_plan_sku" => "yoga-monthly",
        "ord_total" => "1149.95",
        "subtotal" => "1149.95"
    ];

    //create a magento user/customer
      $websiteId = Mage::app()->getWebsite()->getId();
      $store = Mage::app()->getStore();

      $customer = Mage::getModel("customer/customer"); 
        $customer->setWebsiteId(1); 
        $customer->loadByEmail("[email protected]");
                 // ->setRecurlyaccount($uniqid);

      try{
          $customer->save();
          OAcreateOrder($customer, $order_info);

          echo "Completed Order";

          //login($_POST['email'], $_POST['password']);
      }
      catch (Exception $e) {
          Zend_Debug::dump($e->getMessage());
      }
}

OAcreateOrder() function:

function OAcreateOrder($customer, $order_info)
{
    Mage::log('ORDER CREATION ATTEMPT', null, 'subscription-order.log');

    //Shipping / Billing information gather
    //$firstName = $customer->getFirstname(); //get customers first name
    //$lastName = $customer->getLastname(); //get customers last name
    //$customerAddressId = Mage::getSingleton('customer/session')->getCustomer()->getDefaultBilling(); //get default billing address from session
    $ShipfirstName = $order_info['ord_ship_fname']; //get customers first name
    $ShiplastName = $order_info['ord_ship_lname']; //get customers last name

    $BillfirstName = $order_info['ord_bill_fname']; //get customers first name
    $BilllastName = $order_info['ord_bill_lname']; //get customers last name


        $Billaddress = 'No address';
        $Billstreet = 'No street';
        $Billcity = 'No City';
        $Billpostcode = $order_info['ord_bill_postalcode'];
        $BillphoneNumber = $order_info['ord_bill_phone'];
        $BillcountryId = 'No country';
        $BillregionId = 'No region';


    if ($order_info['ord_ship_postalcode']) {
        $Shipstreet = trim($order_info['ord_ship_address1']." ". $order_info['ord_ship_address2']);
        $Shipcity = $order_info['ord_ship_city'];
        $Shippostcode = $order_info['ord_ship_postalcode'];
        $ShipphoneNumber = $order_info['ord_ship_phone'];
        $ShipcountryId = $order_info['ord_ship_cou_code'];
        $ShipregionId = 'No region';
        if($order_info['ord_ship_cou_code'] == "US") {
            $ShipregionModel = Mage::getModel('directory/region')->loadByCode($order_info['ord_ship_sta_code'], $order_info['ord_ship_cou_code']);
            $ShipregionId = $ShipregionModel->getId();
            Mage::log('Region ID:'.$ShipregionId, null, 'subscription-order.log');
        }
    }else{
        $Shipaddress = 'No address';
        $Shipstreet = 'No street';
        $Shipcity = 'No City';
        $Shippostcode = 'No post code';
        $ShipphoneNumber = 'No phone';
        $ShipcountryId = 'No country';
        $ShipregionId = 'No region';
    }

    //Start a new order quote and assign current customer to it.
    Mage::log('store id: ' . Mage::app('default')->getStore('default')->getId(), null, 'subscription-order.log');

    $quote = Mage::getModel('sales/quote')->setStoreId(Mage::app('default')->getStore('default')->getId());
    $quote->assignCustomer($customer);
    Mage::log('Quote Assign Customer: '.$customer->getEmail(), null, 'subscription-order.log');

    //Low lets setup a shipping / billing array of current customer's session
    $ShipAddressData = array(
    'firstname' => $ShipfirstName,
    'lastname' => $ShiplastName,
    'street' => $Shipstreet,
    'city' => $Shipcity,
    'postcode'=>$Shippostcode,
    'telephone' => $ShipphoneNumber,
    'country_id' => $ShipcountryId,
    'region_id' => $ShipregionId
    );
    $BillAddressData = array(
    'firstname' => $BillfirstName,
    'lastname' => $BilllastName,
    //'street' => $Billstreet,
    //'city' => $Billcity,
    'postcode'=>$Billpostcode,
    'telephone' => $BillphoneNumber,
    //'country_id' => $BillcountryId,
    //'region_id' => $BillregionId
    );

    //Add address array to both billing AND shipping address objects.
    $billingAddress = $quote->getBillingAddress()->addData($BillAddressData);
    $shippingAddress = $quote->getShippingAddress()->addData($ShipAddressData);

    //Set shipping objects rates to true to then gather any accrued shipping method costs a product main contain
    $shippingAddress->setCollectShippingRates(true)->collectShippingRates()->setShippingMethod('freeshipping_freeshipping')->setPaymentMethod('checkmo');

    if(isset($order_info['ord_gift_sku']) && $order_info['ord_gift_sku'] != "none") {
         Mage::log('add free gift: ' . $order_info['ord_gift_sku'], null, 'subscription-order.log');

        //add the free gift
        $product = Mage::getModel("catalog/product")->loadByAttribute('sku', $order_info['ord_gift_sku']);
        if($product && $product->getId()) {
            $quoteItem = Mage::getModel('sales/quote_item')->setProduct($product)->setQty(1);
            $quote->addItem($quoteItem);
        }
    } else if(isset($order_info['ord_plan_sku'])) {
           Mage::log('add plan by sku' . $order_info['ord_plan_sku'], null, 'subscription-order.log');

        $product = Mage::getModel("catalog/product")->loadByAttribute('sku', $order_info['ord_plan_sku']);
        if($product && $product->getId()) {
            $quoteItem = Mage::getModel('sales/quote_item')->setProduct($product)->setQty(1);
            $quote->addItem($quoteItem);
        }
    }

    //add the subscription plan
    //  $product2 = Mage::getModel("catalog/product")->loadByAttribute('sku', $order_info['ord_plan_sku']);
    // if($product2 && $product2->getId()){
    //   $quoteItem2 = Mage::getModel('sales/quote_item')
    //   ->setProduct($product2)
    //   ->setQty(1)
    //   ->setPrice($product2->getPrice())
    //   ->setSubtotal($product2->getPrice())
    //   ->setRowTotal($product2->getPrice());
    //   $quote->addItem($quoteItem2);
    // }

    Mage::log('Quote Add Item', null, 'subscription-order.log');


    //Set quote object's payment method to check / money order to allow progromatic entries of orders
    //(kind of hard to programmatically guess and enter a customer's credit/debit cart so only money orders are allowed to be entered via api)
    if(!empty($order_info['roku_transaction_id'])){
        $quote->getPayment()->importData(
            array(
                'method' => 'custompaymentmethod',
                'roku_transaction_id' => $order_info['roku_transaction_id']
            )
        );
    } else {
        $quote->getPayment()->importData(
            array(
                'method' => 'checkmo',
            )
        );
    }
    //$quote->setDiscountAmount($product->getPrice() - $order_info['subtotal']);
    //Save collected totals to quote object
    $quote->collectTotals()->save();
    Mage::log("collectTotals", null, 'subscription-order.log');

    $totals = $quote->getGrandTotal();
    Mage::log("getGrandTotal", null, 'subscription-order.log');

    //Feed quote object into sales model
    $service = Mage::getModel('sales/service_quote', $quote);
    Mage::log("getModel", null, 'subscription-order.log');

    //submit all orders to MAGE
    $service->submitAll();
    Mage::log("service->submitAll", null, 'subscription-order.log');

    //empty the cart for the user
    $quote->delete();
    Mage::log("quote->delete", null, 'subscription-order.log');

    //Setup order object and gather newly entered order
    $order = $service->getOrder();
    Mage::log("service->getOrder", null, 'subscription-order.log');

    if($order) {
        $order->setSubtotal($order_info['subtotal'])->setBaseSubtotal($order_info['subtotal']);
        $order
            ->setGrandTotal($order_info['subtotal'])
            ->setBaseGrandTotal($order_info['subtotal']);

        //$order->setTotalPaid($product->getPrice());
        //setBaseToGlobalRate this so the orders show up in the reports
        $order->setBaseToGlobalRate(1);
        $order->setSalesFlatOrder(1);
        Mage::log('set suborder total:'.$order_info['subtotal'], null, 'subscription-order.log');

        $order->setCreatedAt(Varien_Date::now());
        // if($order_info["ord_error"]){
        //   $history = Mage::getModel('sales/order_status_history')
        //     ->setStatus($order->getStatus())
        //     ->setComment($order_info["ord_error"])
        //     ->setEntityName(Mage_Sales_Model_Order::HISTORY_ENTITY_NAME)
        //     ->setIsCustomerNotified(false)
        //     ->setCreatedAt($order_info["ord_osb_due_date"]);
        //   $order->addStatusHistory($history);
        // }
        if($order_info['ord_gift_sku'] == "none") {
            $order->setStatus('complete');

            //add the invoice and mark paid so it shows up in reports
            //thanks Inchoo: http://inchoo.net/magento/how-to-create-magento-invoice-from-order/
            try {
                if(!$order->canInvoice()) {
                    Mage::throwException(Mage::helper('core')->__('Cannot create an invoice.'));
                }

                 $invoice = Mage::getModel('sales/service_order', $order)->prepareInvoice();

                if (!$invoice->getTotalQty()) {
                    Mage::throwException(Mage::helper('core')->__('Cannot create an invoice without products.'));
                }

                 $invoice->setRequestedCaptureCase(Mage_Sales_Model_Order_Invoice::CAPTURE_ONLINE);
                 $invoice->register();
                 $transactionSave = Mage::getModel('core/resource_transaction')
                     ->addObject($invoice)
                     ->addObject($invoice->getOrder());

                 $transactionSave->save();
            }

            catch (Mage_Core_Exception $e) {

            }


        } else {
            $order->setStatus('pending');

        }
        // $order->save();
        $order->getResource()->save($order);
        Mage::log('Save Order', null, 'subscription-order.log');

    }
    return $order;
}