Missions crashing

[-sudz-]

OK so I finally got enough of a breather to check into this in more depth and discovered that problems can show up in-game (that don't show up in the Mission Editor) when filenames become too long.  If a filename (i.e. mission res, bitmap, sound file, or cue card file) is named over 16 characters long there is no guarantee that the mission res will fly without unpredictable results. Note that the mission res file is created using the name of the mission group.

I took bbosen's files from this thread: http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,291478.0.html  (thanks Peabody  )
and did nothing more than Save As a smaller filename and was able to warp twice in a P-38 flight without problems.  We've corrected the problem in code so the ME won't let you put long filenames in the mission when building the res file, but in the meantime, if you're having crashes with a mission you can check that the mission group name isn't too large and all the event files are shorter than 16 characters in length.  The new ME will be available after the next release.

- Sudz

[Stalwart]

 

[Mato]

Could you post the mission that worked?
I did what you did with bbosen's files, saved as hollandia (9 characters), built the Res Library, and it still freezes at the first warp segment.

I used the second version, the one without the bells and whistles

[MachNix]

I too would like to see a mission file with a warp segment -- even if it is short mission -- that works for some one so I can see if it will work for me.

MachNix

[bbosen]

Sorry Suds.... Doesn't work for me.

I appreciate your attempt to explain the workaround.

I tried to recompile the trimmed-down version of my "HollandiaAAN" mission as you described. I renamed the Mission Group to "HaB". I saved the mission as "hab.mis". I clicked "Build RES Library" and it seemed to complete without errors, resulting in a file named "HaB.RES" and a new folder named "HaB", both within the "missres" folder.

I then tried to fly the mission. It starts up as expected, runs to the first warp point, then locks up hard [had to re-boot] as before.

Perhaps I'm having trouble following your instructions, but it isn't clear to me that any of these resources ever used filenames in excess of 16 characters [before or after the changes I describe above].

I hope you will soon have more time to spend on this situation. We appreciate your efforts!


-Peabody-

[bbosen]

Hey wait....

I think maybe I get it now.

In the past (V2.12P4) I could simply delete media FILES without deleting the REFERENCES to those files in the mission source code. My trimmed-down mission version didn't change the source code; I just deleted the media files, and I found that trick worked in prior AH2 versions.

That's the mechanism I used to create the "trimmed-down" mission that we've discussed, so the REFERENCES to those [missing] files have still been present in the mission source code, and most of those filenames are longer than 16 characters.

I note that those filename references are still present in the ".mis" file (for example, all of the "*.wav" files that I had used in the larger versions).

It's going to take me awhile to choose sensible, shorter names for those source-code references, but I'll give that a try and report back to this forum. Maybe this technique will get us all working again.

[bbosen]

Nope....   

I've tried everything I can think of, without any improvement.

I've shortened the referenced filenames.
I've eliminated the filename references.
I've shortened the Mission Group name
I've shortened the "Save As" filename.
I've seen all of the resulting output filenames get shorter.

In every case, my system hangs up at the first warp segment.

I must be missing something.

I'll continue working on this, and if I get it working, I'll post whatever I can get working on my web site (see my sig below).


-Peabody-