Getting a new map to work

[monsterfurby]

So trying out to make a new map from scratch lately, I of course ran into a couple of problems. After correcting the color depth to 28 bit (log error "sorry, 32 bit is not supported" etc) the game now crashes at "loading graphics..." or, after fixing the default.map to
max_provinces = 28
sea_starts = 28
at "initializing map logic..."

There might be something I missed, but I am not entirely sure - maybe some experienced modder might help me out here?

provinces.bmp is attached, rest here:
http://img142.imageshack.us/i/topology.png
http://img230.imageshack.us/i/rivers.png
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9776/terrain.png

(autoconverted to png by imageshack)

Thanks in advance!

 

[Descartes]

Try removing the yellow island. I suspect that the game doesn't like small things surrounded by PTI, though it does work sometimes.

 

[Kaigon]

This is probably not your breaker but there's a stray pixel of the bottom brown-red color in the tan corner to the left.

I guess you've double-checked the definition.csv file with all the colors.

I would also add just one sea province, just to make sure that isn't causing anything bad.

Also (almost last resort), you could try to put the old province map (and the definitions of cours) on your terrain, topology and so on. My memory is vague but I think I tried this just to make sure the error was in the province.bmp file.

 

[monsterfurby]

Thanks for the quick responses - no luck so far. I have also cut down the topology and rivers.bmp to make everything except the provinced area PTI. No success though. I have uploaded all bmps under
http://www.hanmun.de/RomeMod/rivers.bmp
http://www.hanmun.de/RomeMod/topology.bmp
http://www.hanmun.de/RomeMod/provinces.bmp
http://www.hanmun.de/RomeMod/terrain.bmp

 

[monsterfurby]

Sorry for the double-post, just another update: I just found out that I had misplaced all items in positions.txt - I assigned coordinates from a rotated instead of a mirrored map. Thought that this might have caused the problem. However, this did not help either.

Also, overwriting the provinces.bmp at least advances me past Map Logic (Initializing Databases or something like that?) before crashing immediately. Is it normal that the game crashes with a runtime error/fatal exception?

Edit2: Forgot to index colours on the three non-province bmps. The game loads faster now up to that point. But on Initializing Databases, still crashes. I am a bit clueless now, seeing that it still crashes right before where a working installation shows "Setup[rome_application.cpp:870]: Map Initialized". I'd really be eternally grateful to anyone who can help me out here - I could upload the mod folder if necessary.

 

[Camara]

Use map checker. All you must do to have it work for Rome is add in definition.csv a line for the white (255 255 255, name it wahetever you want). The files must be in the mod/map folder.
After you run it, the file report.txt will appear in the same directory, see it, it says if there are wrong things (like stray pixels in it).

 

[monsterfurby]

Ah, thanks, I have been looking for that kind of program. However, all it spits out is this:

Loading files...
================

++++ You seem to be using vanilla EU3 or Napoleon's Ambition. If you are making a map for In Nomine, please change the 'sea_starts' field in default.map to the new syntax. ++++
WARNING: Unexpected token at the end of line 31.
Error trying to parse 'positions.txt'.
Exception: java.io.IOException: ERROR ('positions.txt', line 11): Unrecognized object in province 1: 'siege'.

Which is pretty much exactly what it gives me for vanilla rome.. so maybe the problem is not with the map itself?

 

[Kaigon]

Make a copy of positions.txt and then clear the original one (empty file). The game will fill in the position data during startup, it will take some time, but at least you can see if that's the file causing problems for you.

 

[monsterfurby]

Ah, that works automatically? Now that would be very useful indeed. The game still crashes at the same point, though... Interestingly, it does not crash until much later if I use all bmps except the provinces.bmp - so the problem is there, without any doubt. I just can not seem to find it...

 

[Camara]

Clear positions.txt before using Map Checker, as you can see it does not like what is inside positions.txt. The command window will say if there's some pixel with a colour not defined in definition.csv in provinces.bmp (that's why you need to put the white in the definition.csv too, as this is for EU3 and in EU3 there was no white PTI).

 

[monsterfurby]

Hm, this is getting rather creepy. I am really running out of ideas on where to find the problem. Could 1-pixel-wide peninsula-like parts of the map be causing it?

Loading files...
================

++++ You seem to be using vanilla EU3 or Napoleon's Ambition. If you are making a map for In Nomine, please change the 'sea_starts' field in default.map to the new syntax. ++++
WARNING: Unexpected token at the end of line 31.
WARNING: There are more provinces defined in 'definition.csv' than the value of 30 defined in 'default.map'. The extra provinces will not be used and might provoke errors if present in the map.
'provinces.bmp' successfully loaded.
All files loaded successfully.


Checking provinces (this may take a long time...)
=================================================

WARNING: Dimensions of provinces.bmp (1920x1228) differ from the original (1872x720).
There are 30 blobs.

Provinces checked.


Checking object positions...
============================

Positions checked.


All tests successfully finished.

 

[Camara]

The map files are ok. Then, it's something more fundamental. You don't have sea provinces, try to add one, bordering the land provinces, try doing that, as I don't know how sea_starts in default.map will deal with that with no sea provinces.

 

[monsterfurby]

Hm, I do have three sea provinces by now - but one question: might a) not having any ports or b) having a landlocked sea province cause problems?

 

[Camara]

Landlocked sea provinces does not seems good to me. Upload your mod please, to test it.

 

[monsterfurby]

Okay, removed it, problem still persists... Anyway, I've uploaded the mod here: http://www.hanmun.de/mod.rar (hires map removed and map changed to extend).
Thanks for your willingness to test this - I really appreciate it. Probably would be pretty discouraged already without your help

 

[Camara]

You have some errors (provinces must belong to regions), but I can't have it working, and I've testes many things. Rome Scenario Editor opens it easily, so there's something weird that escapes our knowledge. If we had a good error log...

 

[monsterfurby]

Hm.. This really seems to be a different problem. Having fixed a few errors (like adjacencies and the province in the lake), it no longer crashes - it just does not load past "Initializing Maplogic" now. Just loads for an unlimited amound of time and does not continue. Probably the same problem though?

 

[monsterfurby]

More errors fixed, but still nothing. If I recall correctly, a similar problem (i.e. infinite loading times) usually might occur on loading a new game when some localization lines are missing. Could someone please reiterate which loca files should have been changed considering I added and replaced: provinces, nations and a culture?

 

[Kaigon]

ARMY_NAME_imperial;$NUM$$ORDER$ Army;;;;;;;;;;;x
NAVY_NAME_imperial;$NUM$$ORDER$ Fleet;;;;;;;;;;;x
REGIMENT_NAME_imperial;$HOME$'s $NUM$$ORDER$ Regiment;;;;;;;;;;;x
imperial_femalename;$NAME_FEMALE$ $FAMILY_MALE$;;;;;;;;;;;x
imperial_malename;$NAME_MALE$ $FAMILY_MALE$;;;;;;;;;;;x
imperial;Imperial;;;;;;;;;;;x

You need some (thus better go with all) of these for every culture_group (imperial in my case) you have. I know the three first are the most important ones.

 

[Descartes]

The last time I had a crash at "Initializing Maplogic" was when I accidentally saved the map in 32 bit. You say 28 bit in your first post, but you mean 24 bit, right?
A good way of checking that the map files are saved properly is to look at the file sizes. Provinces.bmp should be 6,88 MB, while rivers.bmp, terrain.bmp and topology.bmp should be 2,29 MB.
Btw, I think things associated with culture crash at scenario loading.