Two strange problems

Crash & random stamps

Hi everyone,

I have two very weird problems with this game. First of all, the game crashes randomly when I explore one of the maps (the other maps work fine). What could cause such a thing to happen? Will I have to remake the map?

Okay, on to the more interesting one. When walking around in one of the maps, I suddenly see some strange tiles added in the middle of the road at strange positions. "They must be stamps" I think and go to coldstone to delete them. They're not there so I start the game again, go north towards the bandit camp and there they are again. Confused, I open coldstone again and search the entire road without finding those damnable stamps. Is there some kind of bug that would make this happen or is it coldstone being mean to me?

Thanks for any help.

Ledorax, on Jul 6 2005, 08:18 AM, said:

two weird problems: First, the game crashes randomly when I explore one of the maps. What could cause such a thing to happen? Will I have to remake the map?

I see some strange tiles added in the middle of the road at strange positions. Is there some kind of bug that would make this happen or is it coldstone being mean to me?
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The problem with the random crashes traces back to some conflict in the data presented. The first thing I would check is the Location picture. No matter what your map size is, these should be drawn at 440 x 440 (tiles) when you select "Create map preview picture" from the map "tools." If that is not the problem's cause, there is another data conflict hiding someplace. It may prove difficult to find. I doubt that you have to remake the map, but do the words "check everything" sound as disheartening to you as they do to me?

The strange tiles mystery is not a Coldstone bug as far as I know, nor is it a case of CS intentionaly being mean. (Unless you've been beating on your software with a hard mallet.) I have some questions though. These are ground tiles? If so, they are on the "ground" level? Did you make these tiles yourself? If so, are they 16 bit color, pict files, 96 x 96 pixels? Do you have two tiles with the same name in different folders? Is it the same tile which renders incorrectly each time? If so, try redoing just that tile.

Well, it's not really a tile. You see, it is not placed on the same spot as a tile should be. Instead, it appears to be a stamp, even though there is no stamp there in the map editor. Tiles are 75x75 (25x25 movement). The area map is 500x500 pixels, but the interface layout for the map overview is also 500x500. Does it have to be 440x440?

And by "check everything", what exactly do you mean?

Ledorax, on Jul 6 2005, 11:48 AM, said:

The area map is 500x500 pixels, but the interface layout for the map overview is also 500x500. Does it have to be 440x440?

And by "check everything", what exactly do you mean?
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You've stated the map area in pixels, but the map overview (the 440 x 440) is maximum movement tile dimentions as near as I can figure out. This is the default setting which comes up whenever "create map picture" is invoked. I only know from past experience that bad things often happen when this setting is changed. But my experience only involves situations with ground tiles of 96 x 96 pixels and movement tiles of 32 x 32 pixels. It's certainly quick and easy to produce another location picture using the 440 x 440 setting and see if this sets things straight. What I'd do is from outside the CS app. (in other words, while in "Finder") open the "Location pics" folder and drag the pict. files to desktop. Then open CS and under the pull-down menu "Tools" select "Generate map pictures."

By "check everything", I mean go through every directive you have given the game engine and hope to spot whatever the computer is treating as a gap in logic.

All my maps are 200x200 with a 500x500 preview. I don't understand why the map preview would make the game crash though. I've looked through the map, but I can't find anything that would make the game crash as there is is not a single event on the entire map. <_<

Ledorax, on Jul 6 2005, 02:43 PM, said:

I don't understand why the map preview would make the game crash though.
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I make no claim to understanding why. All I know is that this has seemingly caused crashes in the past. Changing to a 440 x 440 setting is certainly worth a try.

Okay, I rendered it at 440x440 but it still crashed. Perhaps the only thing left to do is to recreate the map?

Check your tile dimensions. Find the faulty tile(s).

Tiles are correct size, everything is correct. I tried recreating the location, too. The only thing left to do is to remake the map. Thanks anyway.

The 440 x 440 is the number of pixels to view your map when you hit M or "map" or whatever you have up that the Player can see the map. You can have the fog of war on or off there. To know the exact dimensions, you need to go into options. Coldstone has the map dimensions in the map interface as 440 x 440, but if you have a different interface, you need to adjust your pictures. I suggest that you do not have the dimensions the same as your main interface game area, as the Player would not be able to see the picture, and the game just might crash.

Try going into layers and raise or lower each layer until you see the stamp. I've had this problem, too, and it's always been an error on my part. And I've also had a corrupted map, but just changing the name seemed to make it right. Good luck.

Changing the name of the map didn't help. However, I managed to find those stamps on the map by hiding the ground tiles. In the map editor, they look like normal dirt tiles but in the game, they are actually corner tiles. Weird.

Well, at least one problem is solved. Thanks.