aliens

Author Topic: Trying to add new alien craft.  (Read 7682 times)

Offline kevL

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Re: Trying to add new alien craft.
« Reply #30 on: April 22, 2023, 10:50:33 pm »
The exact steps I've been doing:
Code: [Select]
. Start MapView 2
. Expand the tftdShips tree so that Craft & USO are visible.
. Select "USO" by Left click.
. Right Click "USO" and select "Add Tileset"
. In the MAP field either type the name of a new map, or click "..." and select an existing map file.
. Click create.
. Select (UEXT2, UEXT3, UINT1, UINT2, UINT3) and move each to the "allocated" window by pressing the "Left" button.
. Click Accept.

I also may have selected the "Save Maptree" option in the "File" menu in the past either right after creating the map or after working on it a bit.

I just tried it again and this time it created a 10x10 file with no routes.

Now that I know it should be 10x10 by default I'll keep an eye out for that, if the new map starts with anything else I'll assume it is corrupted and try to make another one.

it kinda sounds like maybe you typed in the name of an existing Map ... really not sure tho.

Quote
I think the routes on the empty example map came from this craft's map 'Whirligig'. Interestingly the Whirligig's map also seems to have now started using yet other crafts routes and is throwing this error when I click on it:
Spoiler:

i have no idea where that map came from /shrug

Offline The Martian

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Re: Trying to add new alien craft.
« Reply #31 on: April 23, 2023, 08:03:59 am »
Here is a note that may save someone who is searching this thread later a bit of trouble: If your map loads fine in MapView 2 but looks distorted when loaded in OpenXcom.
Spoiler:

Check your ufo: entry for that craft's map and make sure the mapDataSets: contains BLANKS before the rest of your tile sets.
Spoiler:
Code: [Select]
ufos:

    type: STR_EXAMPLE_UFO
    battlescapeTerrainData:
      mapDataSets:
      - BLANKS # <========= Make sure to add this
      - UEXT2
      - UEXT3
      - UINT1
      - UINT2
      - UINT3


i have no idea where that map came from /shrug
The Whirligig map is one I made.


it kinda sounds like maybe you typed in the name of an existing Map ... really not sure tho.
I'm guessing this is not the case but would the map and route files having a dash then number before the file extension cause this problem?

I've been saving map versions like this as I work on them:
Spoiler:
Code: [Select]
Whirligig-1.MAP
Whirligig-1.RMP
Whirligig-2.MAP
Whirligig-2.RMP
Whirligig-3.MAP
Whirligig-3.RMP
Whirligig-4.MAP
Whirligig-4.RMP
Whirligig-5.MAP
Whirligig-5.RMP
Whirligig-6.MAP
Whirligig-6.RMP

So far I have not encountered the route problem again. I've been working around it by keeping a backup of the .MAP / .RMP files in a separate folder just in case I need to revert the .RMP if it corrupts.
« Last Edit: April 23, 2023, 08:06:53 am by The Martian »

Offline kevL

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Re: Trying to add new alien craft.
« Reply #32 on: April 23, 2023, 09:28:31 am »
Here is a note that may save someone who is searching this thread later a bit of trouble: If your map loads fine in MapView 2 but looks distorted when loaded in OpenXcom.
Spoiler:

Check your ufo: entry for that craft's map and make sure the mapDataSets: contains BLANKS before the rest of your tile sets.
Spoiler:
Code: [Select]
ufos:

    type: STR_EXAMPLE_UFO
    battlescapeTerrainData:
      mapDataSets:
      - BLANKS # <========= Make sure to add this
      - UEXT2
      - UEXT3
      - UINT1
      - UINT2
      - UINT3

good pt. For the technically minded: BLANKS.MCD contains 2 tileparts and they are automatically inserted into every missionsite's terrainset. Hence Mv2 regards them as redundant and silently accounts for them. (Those 2 tileparts are the reason that the maximum tilepartID on a Map is limited to #253 instead of Byte.MaxValue=255. That could have been treated redundantly also, btw /sigh)

Quote
The Whirligig map is one I made.

I looked more closely at the Whirligig -- nice Map! But the RMP nodes have nothing to do with what I see in the tileset ... so i don't know where you (or Mapview) got that routefile from ...

A thought that crossed my mind is that since you're on Linux the filesystem is case sensitive; iirc, Mv2 sometimes respects case sensitivity and sometimes not ... iirc I couldn't quite make my mind up as to whether or not that should be respected, since Windows filesystem typically doesn't care about the case sensitivity of paths and/or filenames ... so whether you're on Linux or Windows (or whatever) it's GoodPolicy[tm] to follow the case sensitivity conventions that the original games used -- basically use UPPER case for the relevant subdirectories and filenames/extensions.

So maybe, just maybe, you had two RMP files with the same name but in different cases that created a conflict for Mapview ...

(avoid spaces also -- in fact just use alphanumeric and underscore characters)

I mean, lots of things will work with more than that, but the original map-related resources appear to be firmly based in ASCII Uppercase characters.


have been looking through the load-routines (in Mv2) and don't see anything that's blatantly restrictive ... it pretty much assumes that user "knows what's going on" ...

Quote
I'm guessing this is not the case but would the map and route files having a dash then number before the file extension cause this problem?

I've been saving map versions like this as I work on them:
Spoiler:
Code: [Select]
Whirligig-1.MAP
Whirligig-1.RMP
Whirligig-2.MAP
Whirligig-2.RMP
Whirligig-3.MAP
Whirligig-3.RMP
Whirligig-4.MAP
Whirligig-4.RMP
Whirligig-5.MAP
Whirligig-5.RMP
Whirligig-6.MAP
Whirligig-6.RMP

Maybe. ( see my opinion above )

Quote
So far I have not encountered the route problem again. I've been working around it by keeping a backup of the .MAP / .RMP files in a separate folder just in case I need to revert the .RMP if it corrupts.

good to hear. I figure that once you get a hang of things and follow basic conventions, Mapview will work fine for ya

If you have a .CHM helpfile reader on Linux i suggest taking an extended browse through MapView.chm .....

Offline The Martian

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Re: Trying to add new alien craft.
« Reply #33 on: April 24, 2023, 12:22:45 pm »
I looked more closely at the Whirligig -- nice Map! But the RMP nodes have nothing to do with what I see in the tileset ... so i don't know where you (or Mapview) got that routefile from ...
I've redone the routing for the Whirligig map, could you check if the files are loading now with the correct routes on your end?
. WHIRLIGIG.MAP
. WHIRLIGIG.RMP

The routes should look like this:
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Spoiler:

The concept was to allow for large flying units like the Xarquid or Hallucinoid to patrol from the bays on the the top of the ship.


If you have a .CHM helpfile reader on Linux i suggest taking an extended browse through MapView.chm .....
Thank you I'll look into a way to read the helpfile.
(I think it can be done on Linux via Wine when running MapView 2 so long as 'Wine Gecko' is also installed.)
« Last Edit: April 24, 2023, 12:25:30 pm by The Martian »

Offline kevL

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Re: Trying to add new alien craft.
« Reply #34 on: April 24, 2023, 02:14:02 pm »
I've redone the routing for the Whirligig map, could you check if the files are loading now with the correct routes on your end?

yep looks fine here. (same as the pics u posted)