Topic: D2 Map Question for those who've done them before... (Read 2261 times)

Capt Jeff · « **on:** December 29, 2005, 12:01:39 pm »

OK, so I spent 3 hours tweaking and going over my Storm Season 3 map. Put in PinkyGen, Musashi, etc, put in special "areas" for capital, CL and smaller, and even a little space for multiple ships

Got it all looking pretty darn good (if I do say myself). I then clicked save, and it asked me if I wanted to save it as text or binary. I chose text and clicked OK. Then I get a window from Microsoft saying a error occured. I clicked no to sending the report to them, and bink, no more map !!

3 hours down the tubes, and I was actually getting into it, damnit !!

Should I have chosen binary?

THX

Bonk · « **Reply #1 on:** December 29, 2005, 01:20:46 pm »

You should be able to save a map in text format without errors. I do so in order to edit maps with excel macros, but before I use them on a D2 server I load them up in Artifex again (after removing some extra quotation marks that excel adds with wordpad) and save them as binary for use on the server.

Perhaps there is an issue with your Definitions file. Make sure you are using an OP definitions file. Search your hard disk for all instances of Definitions.txt that correspond to artifex and delete them. Then unzip artifex and the definitions.txt file from the build 36 OP serverkit to a new folder you will henceforth use as your map editor folder and start Artifex. (it should prompt you for the location of the definitions.txt file.)

It is possible that you are using a definitions.txt file referenced in the registry that persists from EAW map editing. Did you create your SS3 map from an old EAW map? If so you'll need to start fresh, or look at the differences in an EAW and OP map from the corresponding definitions files and make the appropriate edits to the text version of your map. (can be quite tricky - its best to start fresh).

You should only have one definitions.txt file present on your harddisk that Artifex references. I always just put Artifex in something like C:\MapEditor\ Then if I want to edit EAW maps or experiment with new terrain or empire definitions I rename the definitions.txt files so that the active one is always just "Definitions.txt".

e.g. here is a directory listing of my map editor folder:

Code: [Select]

 Directory of C:\Map Editor

11/23/2005  03:43 PM    <DIR>          .
11/23/2005  03:43 PM    <DIR>          ..
02/07/2005  06:14 PM            32,568 43x22.mvm
02/07/2005  06:14 PM             1,162 43x22.zip
02/07/2005  08:35 PM            34,680 44x23.mvm
04/02/2001  05:36 PM           151,552 Artifex.exe
11/22/2005  07:00 PM             2,052 Definitions.txt
08/27/2005  10:23 PM    <DIR>          Definitions_new
08/17/2005  04:23 PM             2,255 Definitions_new.txt
08/27/2005  10:19 PM               932 Definitions_new.zip
04/19/2001  05:08 PM             1,967 Definitions_orig.txt
09/30/2004  08:41 PM             1,977 Definitions_rod.txt
11/22/2005  07:00 PM             2,052 Definitions_stockmap.txt
05/01/2001  11:21 AM            15,820 EarlyMap.mvm
11/22/2005  05:35 PM            55,807 EarlyMapt.mvm
06/01/2001  12:22 AM            40,024 FE.mvm
10/11/2004  11:57 AM           154,071 FEtext.mvm
02/24/2004  12:38 PM            39,376 fne01.mvm
02/24/2004  12:59 PM            39,376 fne02.mvm
02/26/2005  08:13 PM            57,784 HoMaster.mvm
09/14/2004  07:33 AM           196,087 KCW.mvm
09/26/2004  03:04 PM           196,087 KCW2.mvm
09/26/2004  03:04 PM            50,296 KCW2a.mvm
10/13/2004  06:41 PM            50,296 KCW2b.mvm
08/22/2005  04:59 PM            79,384 Map10.mvm
08/22/2005  04:59 PM             8,332 Map10.zip
08/24/2005  04:14 PM            79,384 Map11.mvm
08/24/2005  12:26 PM           314,308 Map11t.mvm
08/25/2005  05:26 PM            79,384 Map12.mvm
08/25/2005  05:26 PM             7,059 Map12.zip
08/25/2005  08:02 AM           314,308 Map12t.mvm
08/25/2005  08:02 AM           314,308 Map13t.mvm
11/22/2005  08:03 PM           313,878 Map14t.mvm
11/22/2005  11:23 PM            79,180 Map15.mvm
11/23/2005  01:03 PM            79,180 Map16.mvm
11/23/2005  03:04 PM            79,180 Map17.mvm
11/23/2005  03:32 PM            79,180 Map18.mvm
11/23/2005  03:43 PM            79,180 Map19.mvm
12/26/2003  01:04 PM             3,164 Map1t.mvm
03/15/2005  10:05 PM            79,096 Map3.mvm
08/17/2005  05:44 PM           314,078 Map3t.mvm
08/17/2005  05:43 PM            79,384 Map4.mvm
08/17/2005  06:09 PM           310,947 Map4t.mvm
08/17/2005  07:34 PM           314,710 map5t.mvm
08/17/2005  07:56 PM            79,384 Map6.mvm
08/17/2005  07:56 PM             8,389 Map6.zip
08/17/2005  07:43 PM           314,710 Map6t.mvm
08/22/2005  01:22 PM            79,384 Map7.mvm
08/22/2005  01:22 PM           314,702 Map7t.mvm
08/22/2005  03:55 PM           314,411 Map8t.mvm
08/22/2005  04:00 PM            79,384 Map9.mvm
08/22/2005  04:00 PM             8,326 Map9.zip
08/26/2005  01:39 PM             5,784 Map_n2.mvm
08/26/2005  02:29 PM             5,784 Map_n3.mvm
07/02/2001  09:46 AM            29,104 MediumMap.mvm
05/01/2001  11:27 AM            15,820 MiddleMap.mvm
11/22/2005  06:58 PM            31,232 new_terrain_to_old.xls
06/22/2004  05:38 PM             2,173 race01.mvm
06/22/2004  05:39 PM             2,173 race02.mvm
06/22/2004  05:41 PM             7,877 race03.mvm
06/22/2004  05:50 PM            21,093 race04.mvm
06/22/2004  05:54 PM            21,347 race05.mvm
06/22/2004  07:40 PM             7,096 race06.mvm
06/30/2004  04:41 PM            21,349 race06t.mvm
05/30/2001  09:24 AM               245 readme.txt
09/30/2004  08:53 PM            22,016 rodstest_bin.mvm
09/30/2004  08:53 PM            80,496 rodstest_text.mvm
02/22/2004  02:39 PM            22,008 sfbop01.mvm
02/22/2004  02:51 PM            22,008 sfbop02.mvm
02/22/2004  02:59 PM            22,008 sfbop03.mvm
02/22/2004  03:21 PM            22,008 sfbop04.mvm
02/22/2004  04:09 PM            22,008 sfbop05.mvm
02/22/2004  04:18 PM            22,008 sfbop06.mvm
02/22/2004  05:27 PM            22,008 sfbop07.mvm
02/22/2004  06:50 PM            22,008 sfbop08.mvm
10/22/2004  06:05 PM            39,376 sfbop09.mvm
02/20/2005  02:19 PM           150,133 sfbop09_text_test.mvm
02/15/2004  08:58 PM            55,807 SFBOPmap.mvm
10/01/2005  02:58 AM            53,496 SG5_Final.mvm
10/05/2005  07:57 AM            53,496 SG5_Final_2.mvm
10/05/2005  09:16 AM            53,496 SG5_Flatfile_Final.mvm
09/14/2005  06:52 PM            48,792 SG5_Test Map.mvm
09/30/2005  12:48 PM            53,496 SG5_testmap_2.mvm
09/30/2005  07:08 PM            53,496 SG5_testmap_2a.mvm
08/23/2005  08:35 AM               502 Shortcut to Artifex.exe.lnk
01/22/2004  10:33 AM             5,580 Small10x10.mvm
11/19/2003  11:30 PM            23,768 TourneyMap2.mvm
12/26/2003  01:00 PM            89,964 TourneyMap2t.mvm
12/26/2003  02:04 PM            27,384 TourneyMap3b.mvm
12/26/2003  02:04 PM           102,987 TourneyMap3t.mvm
12/31/2003  05:52 PM            27,384 TourneyMap4b.mvm
12/31/2003  05:52 PM           102,486 TourneyMap4t.mvm
              89 File(s)      6,723,831 bytes
               3 Dir(s)  24,402,919,424 bytes free

Clear as mud?

Also, if I might reccomend saving more frequently than every three hours, and save mutliple versions as you go so you can go back if desired.

Capt Jeff · « **Reply #2 on:** December 30, 2005, 05:59:20 am »

Well, this is a new machine. 3.0 GHZ dual core processor with a gig of ram XP pro media center edition (updated everything when came out of box). Nothing other then OP on the hard drive until I unzipped Build 36.
My old machine would totally puke if I even attempted to make a map. I figured it was win ME that was causing that...

I'll relocate the artiflex and it's definitions to a seperate folder and just set up the map dimensions and try saving it and see what happens.

Thanks for the advice !

Bonk · « **Reply #3 on:** December 30, 2005, 08:59:35 am »

Odd, perhaps the machine is too fast or the video card too new. Got an old box you can edit maps on?

Tracey has been putting some time in on creating a new map editor, so hopefully these troubles with artifex will eventually be a thing of the past.

762_XC · « **Reply #4 on:** December 30, 2005, 10:14:06 am »

PinkyGen!!! ACCCK!!!!!

Capt Jeff · « **Reply #5 on:** December 30, 2005, 10:53:06 am »

Anyway Norton could do anything to it? Cause I just did it all over again with zero problems. Only difference is that I have the map maker in a different folder and I remembered to turn Norton completely off before I started doing anything and everything went great.

Gonna try loading the map into singleplayer now

Bonk · « **Reply #6 on:** December 30, 2005, 11:00:57 am »

Good chance...

http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163362447.0.html

The other thing to watch is legal values for hex properties. Look at the Definitions.txt file to see what values are allowed.

Capt Jeff · « **Reply #7 on:** December 30, 2005, 12:09:44 pm »

LOL, I made it too big I think

Looks nice though, and the Storm Season series have always had "Epic" sized maps....

4500 hexes. Could've swore SS2 was 5000, but I just dug it out of my old computer files and it was only 3300....

Maybe I'll just tweak that one......glad I can get this going now...

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