BUG: v0.3 Map Loading Problem

[ChupaReaper]

I love the new GUI and 8 player support its working nice but one problem, it wont pick up .mgm, changing .gbm into .mgm works but it's annoying because the editor that came in the download saves 5-8 player maps with the .mgm extension.

come again? I think you contradicted yourself in there. gbm and mgm should both be seen, just tested it again myself and it worked ... however... where are you putting the new maps ?? Looks like stuff in addons/ must be zipped (and with the correct directory structure for the content, obviously)...

Ah I found a little bug here I think. If there are no .gbm maps at all it doesn't load any (I had all my maps in .mgm format, but with at least one .gbm it works fine). I get an error where it freezes for a bit then says no maps in maps\*.gbm something like that, unless I hae at least one .gbm, .mgm load fine otherwise.

I'm gonna try 256+ sized 8 player maps in .mgm format now because they freeze the game in .gbm.
Edit: Nope no success, when loading my 512x512 map it freezes when Initializing Cartographer then spits out this:

(click to show/hide)

Crash
Version: Advanced Engine 0.3
Time: Sun Sep 19 00:07:08 2010
Description: Access violation (Reading address 0x52DDFE08)
Address: 011B0D97

=======================

[Had a little quote issue, fixed. - Arch]

[John.d.h]

Split from the main thread so it doesn't get lost.

Also, pasting this for thread continuity:

@Chupa: GBM does not support 8 players. I assume that the GBM file structure has not been modified (and really, we can't. GAE will need a new map format that is NOT the GBM extension when it supports 12 players. The map format will have to be MGM for 5-8 players, though I don't know why yours are freezing... Didn't you have problems with map making before too? Lastly, the reason it says there are no maps if you don't have at least one GBM is probably because it checks for GBM files, but was not updated to also check for MGM files. That is a legimate bug, and you may wish to create a tracker item for that.

[Omega]

@Chupa: GBM does not support 8 players. I assume that the GBM file structure has not been modified (and really, we can't. GAE will need a new map format that is NOT the GBM extension when it supports 12 players. The map format will have to be MGM for 5-8 players, though I don't know why yours are freezing... Didn't you have problems with map making before too? Lastly, the reason it says there are no maps if you don't have at least one GBM is probably because it checks for GBM files, but was not updated to also check for MGM files. That is a legimate bug, and you may wish to create a tracker item for that.

[Copied from my reply on the main thread. Also, unstickied because I don't think every bug report needs to be stickied, and the others obviously aren't. Feel free to resticky if you disagree]

[John.d.h]

@Chupa: GBM does not support 8 players. I assume that the GBM file structure has not been modified (and really, we can't. GAE will need a new map format that is NOT the GBM extension when it supports 12 players. The map format will have to be MGM for 5-8 players, though I don't know why yours are freezing... Didn't you have problems with map making before too? Lastly, the reason it says there are no maps if you don't have at least one GBM is probably because it checks for GBM files, but was not updated to also check for MGM files. That is a legimate bug, and you may wish to create a tracker item for that.

[Copied from my reply on the main thread. Also, unstickied because I don't think every bug report needs to be stickied, and the others obviously aren't. Feel free to resticky if you disagree]

Heh... I must have been editing my previous post right as you did that.  (It was only stickied because it was split from a sticky and I neglected to fix it.)

[silnarm]

Ah I found a little bug here I think. If there are no .gbm maps at all it doesn't load any (I had all my maps in .mgm format, but with at least one .gbm it works fine). I get an error where it freezes for a bit then says no maps in maps\*.gbm something like that, unless I hae at least one .gbm, .mgm load fine otherwise.

Bug, ticket #178. Thanks!

I'm gonna try 256+ sized 8 player maps in .mgm format now because they freeze the game in .gbm.
Edit: Nope no success, when loading my 512x512 map it freezes when Initializing Cartographer then spits out this:

I just made a very boring 256 x 256 map and it loaded fine, are you getting this problem with all maps of this size, or one in particular ? Could you try a 'blank' 256x256 map and see if that works?

Split from the main thread so it doesn't get lost.

While I was trying to reply , and then the replies and edits started rolling in... confusion reigns..

[ChupaReaper]

Ok I made a plain 256x256 map and it worked no problems, I think the old 256x256 map that keeps crashing has some problem with it as it was created in an older map editor. I'll work on making the plain 256x256 map more detailed to see if the problem comes back.

Now with 512x512 maps when I try to make a plain one in the map editor the editor crashes, I click resize and set 512x512 and it freezes for a moment and quits. Any 512x512 maps I've already made with a previous editor wont load into this new editor without it freezing and they crash GAE when trying to start a game with them.

[ChupaReaper]

I decided to make a new 256 x 256 map, so I resized it then edited the terrain height to form like a fissure going through the map. I then placed all 8 players and saved it as an .mgm. It loaded fine and was playable (though a bit boring with no resources or any objects just a big map with a fissure in it).
So next I added trees, rocks, etc and resources, now I get this map loading problem again:

(click to show/hide)

Crash
Version: Advanced Engine 0.3
Time: Wed Sep 22 13:20:22 2010
Description: Access violation (Reading address 0x5104FE7C)
Address: 01300D97

=======================

All I can think of is the map overloading the game when it has so much stuff? I never get problems like this with 128 and smaller maps but once I hit 256 or any bigger I get these issues.
This was made using the latest map editor that comes with GAE v0.3.

[Omega]

I decided to make a new 256 x 256 map, so I resized it then edited the terrain height to form like a fissure going through the map. I then placed all 8 players and saved it as an .mgm. It loaded fine and was playable (though a bit boring with no resources or any objects just a big map with a fissure in it).
So next I added trees, rocks, etc and resources, now I get this map loading problem again:

(click to show/hide)

Crash
Version: Advanced Engine 0.3
Time: Wed Sep 22 13:20:22 2010
Description: Access violation (Reading address 0x5104FE7C)
Address: 01300D97

=======================

All I can think of is the map overloading the game when it has so much stuff? I never get problems like this with 128 and smaller maps but once I hit 256 or any bigger I get these issues.
This was made using the latest map editor that comes with GAE v0.3.

I doubt you "overloaded" the map. I've tried maps of that size with no problems, and the number of objects/resources/etc shouldn't make much of a difference because of how the map format is stored (an empty cell uses the same memory as a cell with an object in it). Can you upload the map so I can see?

[ChupaReaper]

map problems.zip - 0.02MB
There you go, I zipped two versions, one is called fissure_plain_works.mgm this is the map where I only adjusted the heights and set the locations for all 8 players, it works fine for me.
Then we have fissure_error.mgm this doesn't work at all and I have no idea why, all I did was add trees, rocks,resources, etc and then it wont work anymore? I've never had much luck with maps larger than 128x128, they'll work for a bit but once I've finished adding everything it all goes to pot.

[Omega]

Worked for me. Not sure why it won't work for you (and if I make make a suggestion, there's way too much of the stone surfaces. Most tilesets only have one image for stone, so in large amounts, it all looks the same. A simpler ground surface might look better).

I'm really stumped to why it's not working for you... Perhaps one of the GAE team will know?

[ChupaReaper]

Hmm well that's odd, I'll try messing around with my settings and using admin mode and stuff like that to see if there's any effect.
And yeah the map was kinda quickly done up, I was gonna play on it and then keep fixing it up but I can't lol.

[silnarm]

It loaded ok for me too, with magitech though (and tileset forest)... have you tried it with magitech? Perhaps the 'strain' of just Necribus puts you close to the limits of what your machine can handle, and another faction, or a big map pushes it over the edge ??

With most of the 0.3.1 fixes now done, I'll hack the G3D viewer to strip anim frames shortly, if this is the problem that will help you fix it relatively quickly.

[ChupaReaper]

It loaded ok for me too, with magitech though (and tileset forest)... have you tried it with magitech? Perhaps the 'strain' of just Necribus puts you close to the limits of what your machine can handle, and another faction, or a big map pushes it over the edge ??

With most of the 0.3.1 fixes now done, I'll hack the G3D viewer to strip anim frames shortly, if this is the problem that will help you fix it relatively quickly.

Cool the G3D Viewer will become very useful then , it saves me going through all the .blender files, halving/quartering and re-exporting everything.
I'm now having problems loading both my factions that used to work on GAE v0.3 but maybe that and this map problem is linked somehow, overloading or something.

(click to show/hide)

Dell Studio 1558
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU @ 1.60GHz
4.0gb RAM
64-bit Operating System
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5400 Series
All drivers up to date.

[silnarm]

Found the problem, pathfinder init is incorrectly handling size > 2 units (but only with certain map configurations).

Wasn't hard to find when I tried your map with Necribus... don't ask why I didn't try that days ago    All I can say is there was a long list a bugs to get through, I was very busy...

Ticket #197

Edit: Fixed.

[ChupaReaper]

Excellent, I'm glad that's all fixed, I've got a nice 512x512 map I've been wanting to play for ages lol.
I wonder if this will help my faction clash problem, one way to find out, I test it all with 0.3.1