I'm trying to build a "base game" from scratch, rather than starting from a template. I've got a launchable game with a startup screen in place, with "quit" working as a clickable link and from the menu; so far so good. I'm now just trying to get a game to start, and just have a character that can stroll around a blank map (as the next step).

I created a new map (blank and filled with dummy "blank" tiles), a location with the same name, and wired the "start game" link into an event calling the "New Game" engine call, and the "Main" event sets the player position and teleports to the map. The loading dialog appears briefly and it gets about 1/3 of the way into the "loading ground" process, then crashes.

I'm guessing I'm still missing something - any idea what? It would be great if the engine could say "can't find (required element) - exiting" if that's what's happening. As it is I'm a little stuck for where to look. Any suggestions? I borrowed the "hero" character map from the tutorial, everything else is from scratch. As far as I can tell, the events and so forth parallel those in the tutorial.

TIA.

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Hi,

I'd suggest checking the (url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/Forum48/HTML/001163.html")game minimum checklist(/url) and making sure everything there is in your game. That's always a good place to start.

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"... For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause..." - Willaim Shakespeare, Hamlet

Hi Celchu. Sorry, I should have mentioned that I did follow that list, and I'm pretty sure I did everything on it. (I'm still fuzzy on the difference between "main interface" and "map interface", and the manual is very thin on this subject - there was some debate in the thread you referenced over whether you could use both or just one, and I did have trouble with this in the tutorial... has this question been definitively answered, what the two are for and which one is meant by the "use interface layout for this location" checkbox in the Location Editor?)

The location for the map I'm trying to load does have that box checked, and I have a map interface, but no main interface. That was an arbitrary choice, as I recall, given that I apparently had to pick one, but couldn't find any information about what they did or what the difference was.

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(url="http://"http://tomatoman.net")tomatoman.net(/url)

A simple problem to fix really. Used to happen to me all the time until I figured out what was causing it.

Check how many layers you have for the map. If you don't have two seperate layers for the player and the other elements, this crash occurs. I haven't heard of it occurring otherwise (yet ) so try adding an extra layer, and recreating the ground in it. That should do the trick.

And yes, I know I'm not here for a week. But I'm at Uni after an exam, dropped through, and decided tohelp out. Sue me.

-Andiyar

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"Any good that I may do here, let me do now, for I may not pass this way again"

Ah! (your_karma++)

I definitely don't have two layers in the map, so if that's a crasher, that's why it's crashing. Thanks for the response, I never would have found this.

Two requests for the CS developers:

1. Please, please do better error-checking and give better error messages. Don't assume something is there and try to jump to it, check to make sure it's there first and complain specifically if it isn't.

2. Is somebody collecting all these tips and so forth for a revision of the manual? This is the second major undocumented "gotcha" I've come across personally that has stopped my development cold (the first being lack of support for 8-bit images in the game, although they work fine in the editor). I'm an old-school programmer myself, so I know how many things slip through the 1.0 release of anything; this isn't a criticism. I just know I won't be the last person to hit these issues, and it would be good to update the documentation or start a "known issues" list in some central place.

I can't do much on #1, obviously, but I'd be able to volunteer some time on #2 if someone wants to coordinate it.

Thanks for the tip, and good luck at Uni!

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(url="http://"http://tomatoman.net")tomatoman.net(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Tarnćlion Andiyarus:
Check how many layers you have for the map. If you don't have two seperate layers for the player and the other elements, this crash occurs. I haven't heard of it occurring otherwise (yet;) ) so try adding an extra layer, and recreating the ground in it. That should do the trick.

I don't think this is necessarily correct - I have a map with nothing but ground tiles and the auto-created <<PLAYER>> layer, and it loads just fine. Or do I misunderstand you?

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I would rather discover a single fact, even a small one, than debate the great issues at length without discovering anything at all. - Galileo Galilei

Quote

Originally posted by Glenn:
**I don't think this is necessarily correct - I have a map with nothing but ground tiles and the auto-created <<PLAYER>> layer, and it loads just fine. Or do I misunderstand you?

**

FWIW, I added a second layer and that did fix the problem.

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(url="http://"http://tomatoman.net")tomatoman.net(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Glenn:
**I don't think this is necessarily correct - I have a map with nothing but ground tiles and the auto-created <<PLAYER>> layer, and it loads just fine. Or do I misunderstand you?

**

No, that's more or less what I meant.... however, whenever you create a new map, it shouldn't actually show any layer names until you create a second one. Then it should create a layer named <<PLAYER>> and another named whatever you want. If your list is blank, this crash occurs on game startup. If you have <<PLAYER>> and something else, then it should load.

At least, that's how it works for me anyway.

-Andiyar

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"Any good that I may do here, let me do now, for I may not pass this way again"

Oh, right - I forgot I was using Coldstone 1.01b3 for that map. Please disregard my previous statement.

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I would rather discover a single fact, even a small one, than debate the great issues at length without discovering anything at all. - Galileo Galilei

Quote

Originally posted by Glenn:
**Oh, right - I forgot I was using Coldstone 1.01b3 for that map. Please disregard my previous statement.:D

**

Brag, why don't you.

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