MissionComputer: The Saga Continues

I've been having some issues with corrupted preferences. About 3 times now I've gone to launch MC and it throws up 4 error dialogs about the preferences. Can't think of anything in particular that might have caused it. I did notice that it keeps making an empty folder in ~/Library/Preferences though 😛

@sp3cies, on Feb 20 2009, 05:01 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

Very minor, but when you roll the mouse over Prox. radius in the wëap resource it says the same as it does for the Blast radius.

Fixed, thanks.

@guy, on Feb 20 2009, 06:56 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

About 3 times now I've gone to launch MC and it throws up 4 error dialogs about the preferences.

I think that's the same bug I fixed for JacaByte in January - I should probably go ahead and release 4.0.5, since it doesn't look like it's worth waiting for the updated add-ons directory interface to go live, and I haven't been able to make any progress on 4.1.

@guy, on Feb 20 2009, 06:56 PM, said in MissionComputer: The Saga Continues:

I did notice that it keeps making an empty folder in ~/Library/Preferences though 😛

Empty, but not useless - that folder is where MissionComputer stores the cached copies of plug-ins you open while you work on them.

Ah, so it is - should have noticed that. Thanks anyway 🙂

I just started getting these messages after I got home from work.
They showed up in the order I posted them.
Let me know if you need more details.

Attached File(s)

Okay, it looks like you're getting that same preferences problem too. I'll try to get version 4.0.5 up shortly, but in the mean time you can try deleting your MissionComputer preferences file.

Goodie, works again.

Would it be possible to scroll in MC using the touchpad? I have found that new feature one of the best little extras Apple has added to the laptops and was mildly disappointed to find MC does not respond to it.
If it requires massive changes naturally I would say don't worry about it but as I am not familiar with any sort of coding I figured I would put it out there in case it isn't to difficult cause it really is handy.

QUOTE (Sp3cies @ Mar 3 2009, 06:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Would it be possible to scroll in MC using the touchpad? I have found that new feature one of the best little extras Apple has added to the laptops and was mildly disappointed to find MC does not respond to it.

MissionComputer is aware of the scroll wheel in various places, and that ought to cover the touchpad too. Does it not work anywhere, or are there specific windows that are lacking support?

Well it wasn't working anywhere yesterday and before that it worked occasionally in places. Now it seems to be working everywhere though. Is it possible I'm clicking on something wrong or that something else is interfering with it?

QUOTE (Sp3cies @ Mar 4 2009, 04:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well it wasn't working anywhere yesterday and before that it worked occasionally in places. Now it seems to be working everywhere though. Is it possible I'm clicking on something wrong or that something else is interfering with it?

I don't have a laptop with which to test it, so I can't really comment – all I can do is look at any particular place where it isn't working, and add the relevant code if it isn't already there.

One report and one elaboration for you!

Not having had time to do much editing/testing lately, I've only seen the phantom-save bug once since my last update. I didn't think to check if it just didn't tag as saved, but it happened in the wëap editor, so it's not mïsn exclusive.

Second, the wëap editor gets buggy from res IDs 362-383 (the resource cap). It seems to work all right, with the exception of the name, which gets… quite strange. Just for comedic effect, here's a screenshot rather than an explanation. :laugh:

Edit : Well uh, it let me save a version of my data with the buggy outfits, but if I remove them, it tells me it couldn't access the file, asking me to make sure it's not in use by another application. I can remove any other wëap resource just fine. I got rid of them by changing their res IDs to 0-2 and then deleting them.

This kind of reminds me of that time I went in to do a double red-cell donation and the machine wouldn't give me my plasma back…

Further Edit : Going through the later wëap resources, I got up through 365 before getting the weird name behavior. I've gotta run at the moment, but I'll do some more testing on this in the near future.

This post has been edited by Archon : 04 March 2009 - 05:20 PM

It definitely isn't caused by the ID number (I just created a wëap 383 without any difficulty), and the part of MissionComputer with which you're having trouble is the resource browser (which handles all resource types the same way irrespective of content), so the problem isn't the wëap editor. In fact, it would be very difficult for MissionComputer to do anything like this on its own.

My suspicion is that your file is corrupt, possibly as a result of being so full (I count 2776 resources listed in the picture you showed me); the high-ID weapons are the ones being hit because they come last in the file. The error message that you're getting is additional evidence, since it means that the Resource Manager is failing to answer MissionComputer's calls (the file being busy is the most common cause, but obviously doesn't apply here).

There are many limits on what a resource file can contain, and some of these are hard to measure; both EV Override and EV Nova were hit by such problems during development, as were many major plug-ins as far back as 1997. I strongly advise breaking this up into at least two files, and would not be at all surprised if the corruption disappears when you do so.

Insight overload! Although knowing the particulars detracts a bit from the hilarity of the situation. Oh well.

Anyways, Anathema is already 5 files, so I suppose that I can switch a few over. Thanks for the reply!

Edits Everywhere! On an unrelated note, if a particular editor –oh let's call him, Archon– were to paste a bunch of –let's say, 30– resources from one file to another, and then accidentally hit paste again , he would (hypothetically) have to click through 30 "which action would you like to take?" menus. Could this perhaps window perhaps sport an "apply to all" checkbox?

MOAR EDTZ!
128 UE Shipping Recruitment
129 Aid the Voinians!
130
1000 These resources are not real.
1001 If you are seeing this text in
1002 the running application, please
1003 email me with the details at
1004 davidathur@evula.net
11024 Bob's resource

…Oops? :unsure:

This post has been edited by Archon : 04 March 2009 - 09:46 PM

QUOTE (Archon @ Mar 4 2009, 09:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Could this perhaps window perhaps sport an "apply to all" checkbox?

I suppose it probably could - I'll take a look at it next time I have the programme open.

QUOTE (Archon @ Mar 4 2009, 09:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

MOAR EDTZ!
128 UE Shipping Recruitment
129 Aid the Voinians!
130
1000 These resources are not real.
1001 If you are seeing this text in
1002 the running application, please
1003 email me with the details at
1004 davidathur@evula.net
11024 Bob's resource

…Oops? :unsure:

That indicates that the file failed to load in a fairly exceptional way. Under what circumstances did it occur?

It happened about 5-10 minutes into breaking the Anathema data files down into smaller documents. Interestingly, that went fine for a while, then after I'd transferred maybe 500 files, I started getting "can't access the file" errors again from the original data file. From what I could tell from opening and closing the file, making smaller and larger adjustments, etc., the error occurred every time I deleted öutf 203. After trying a few things like re-assigning the res ID, öutf 203 (Sensor Boost, I think), started doing the crazy-name-thing. At that point, MC failed to re-open the data file, saying it couldn't read ïntf 128. I told it to try again a few times, didn't work, so I told it to ignore the error and it gave the the non-existent resources.

Fortunately I'd made a backup literally just before (ALWAYS keep a backup, kids!) so I only lost maybe 10 minutes-worth of data. I should also add that the next time I tried splitting the data files, it went just fine.

It still sounds like the Resource Manager is failing to open the file, then; it unfortunately doesn't give MissionComputer any useful feedback when this happens, or even clear signs that it has. Sometimes ResEdit can repair a lightly corrupted file, but MissionComputer doesn't work at anywhere near that low a level.

I think a necessary feature is a planet finder. It will sift through the systems and search for a planet that matches the name or ID number.

QUOTE (IT 000 @ Mar 8 2009, 06:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think a necessary feature is a planet finder. It will sift through the systems and search for a planet that matches the name or ID number.

In the star map editor, do you mean?

QUOTE (David Arthur @ Mar 9 2009, 10:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In the star map editor, do you mean?

I can't speak for IT 000, but I'd certainly appreciate a search-for-spöb function integrated into the star map. Such a feature would make it much easier to work on a galaxy as large as SFA's... and once you've committed to checking spöb resources in order to report their names to the sÿst map, perhaps you'll take it to the next step and check the HyperLink fields to add hypergate and wormhole routes to the map. 🙂

(If it affects what you do next, though, I'd rather have a full shän editor. :D)

A bit of an update on the "spectacular fail":

It's actually happening to any plugin or data file I open right now, so I'll just reinstall and see what happens.

(Oh, and I second Trowel's parenthetical motion.)