Map crashing in mapeditor

[Quintaxel]

I working on a mod that makes BK compatible with Blitzkrieg, Burning Horizon, Rolling Thunder, Panzerkrieg and Stalingrad.
So far everything works fine, so I can load maps and play campaigns from the above mentioned games with the exeption of 2 maps from the Stalingrad game, namely the secret mission 02 from the German campaign and secret mission 02 form the Soviet campaign.
Does anyone have an idea if there something special about these secret missions or how I could find out what is going wrong ?
The maps open fine in the mapeditor of Stalingrad.

[Major Pain]

Quin

Did you create a single Master Unit Folder with all Objects, Sounds, Effects, Buildings and Units?

And did you create a master objects.xml file?

The first thing I can think of is there is something missing that the map needs.

[Quintaxel]

I like to keep the data directory tidy so I created different data paks. (BK, RT+BH+PK, Stalingrad, Community content) All objects, buildings, sounds effects and units have are referenced in the objects.xml file.
The pak files ony contain High resolution textures.
Community objects are kept in a separate pak file and referenced in the modobjects.xml.

During debugging I did the following tests:

Test 1
- Using the mapeditor in Stalingrad I put every object of Stalingrad on the map. (buildings, SimpleObjects, Units, Squads,...)
- Then I loaded these maps in the mapeditor of the modded version of the game to verify if they would be loaded.

Result: Succes, the maps created in Stalingrad could be read in the mod.

Test 2
I've loaded each map of the Stalingrad campaign in the modded version of the game.

Result: Each map loads with the exception of the 2 maps I mentionned.

I also suspect that something is missing that is needed in these maps but hoped that there is an easier way of finding out what is missing. The alternative is that I start removing objects from the map until it loads.

[Major Pain]

It is not a matter of removing items yet.  

Check for a .pak file that may have been overlooked.  

Another possibility is recheck to make sure a object folder does not have several subfolders that were not included in the final .pak.

The other thing to check are the units and objects 1.xml files.  One of the quickest ways to check for issues is to simply click on the 1.xml... and it will open in Internet Explorer x  (x = the version you have).   If the 1.xml does not open in IE, then use the Open With...  command by right clicking on it.

When IE opens the file, if there is a error, it will report the error by line number and the last couple of words on the previous line.

If that does not produce a result, then it is time to check the map and look for an object that appears out of place.  This is a tough job since many objects are hard to spot.

You can convert the maps to xml and look through the file for items that appear odd.

There can be two things causing this.  An object that is missing from the map or an object that is on the map that is not registered in the objects table from the objects.xml file.

I do  not envy the task ahead for you...   sorry

[Major Pain]

By the way... which map are they?   I might take a look.

[Quintaxel]

Aug 27, 2014 14:51:55 GMT 1 Major Pain said:

...

The other thing to check are the units and objects 1.xml files.  One of the quickest ways to check for issues is to simply click on the 1.xml... and it will open in Internet Explorer x  (x = the version you have).   If the 1.xml does not open in IE, then use the Open With...  command by right clicking on it.

When IE opens the file, if there is a error, it will report the error by line number and the last couple of words on the previous line.

...

I opened the 1.xml file but could not detect anything abnormal. I was thinking that if an error in the 1.xml file is causing the crash then  then I would expect the map also to crash in Stalingrad and this is not the case.
The maps are s02 from the Soviet Campaign and s02 from the German Campaign. (You can find them via PM)
These are the only maps that cause trouble.
I'll do as you suggested and hope I get lucky.

[Major Pain]

I have Stalingrad... I'll take a look and see if I find anything abnormal about them...

[Quintaxel]

Thanks. I'll check the object on the map. Maybe I overlooked some obscure object that is only used in these particular maps.

[Major Pain]

Something you might also check that just struck me...  Doubles and Triples of the same object.   If the wrong path is given for the same object, then that might be causing the issue.


I haven't spotted anything weird yet... still scanning line by line and row by row...

[Quintaxel]

I had the following case;

A BK + Homebrew MOD installation, based upon the Anthology version of BK mod works fine on most computers, but crashes on some computers. ( 2 out of 10 in this case). The systems on which the map editor runs have WIN7 x64, WIN x32 and XP operating systems installed.
The computers on which the mapeditor crashes run WIN 7 x32 and WIN 8. Other BK installations run fine on all computers.

The culprit was a sound item in objects.xml file that was refering to a non-existing xml file. in the Sounds\ack\German\sniper\name.xml file.

The objects related to sound objects are the ones I least expected to cause the crash.
Just wanted to share this information. 

[Major Pain]

A very good point was made in  Quintaxel's post.


Every object must be included in the objects.xml or the modobjects.xml.  This is the only way the object or item can be registered into the table.

It is sometimes that little thing that causes the large issues.  

There is only one type of file does not require a listing into the table... the weapon files.  They are brought in with the objects files as listed in the 1.xml files.

Even a weapon file can cause an issue.  In some cases it will crash your mapeditor.  In other cases it will crash the ability to load the game.  So always look at all file associations when a crash occurs.


What is sometimes fascinating is when a BK Object from CDV or another production house has left out an essential file.  I hope at this late date in the life of the game... we have rooted out most of these... and made the corrective repair.