%$#@! Map Editor

Cipher7071 · #1 March 19th, 2004, 06:07 AM

Well it looks like the map editor just ate about 3 or 4 hours worth of work. I had all the systems in place, and was proceeding to put in the warp points when I saw that I had linked 2 systems incorrectly. So I deleted the warp point at both ends, and it went away. But when I tried to reconnect it to the proper system, the quadrant map showed both connections, and the system maps showed only the second connection. Now I am unable to even open the file (I got a read of address FFFFFFFF error), and I don't see anything I can do about it but start over.

Has this happened to anyone else, and is there anything I can do to keep it from happening again?

Kamog · #2 March 19th, 2004, 06:28 AM

That's terrible.

I haven't used the map editor very much. It's not a very friendly program to use.

Ruatha · #3 March 19th, 2004, 07:56 AM

I have seen frequent occasions of warp lanes being perisitant on the galactic map even after being deleted, but then I usually just save and reload it and they are gone. Sorry that didn't work for you!

bearclaw · #4 March 19th, 2004, 08:34 AM

I've had that same error happen to me too. The only way I've found to avoid that is to have 2 (or more) saved copies of the map. Not the best solution, I admit, but it keeps from losing several hours of work.

narf poit chez BOOM · #5 March 19th, 2004, 09:10 AM

only two? i just made a siege map for NWN and ended up with 18 backup copies.

not because it was particularly glitchy, either.

Cipher7071 · #6 March 19th, 2004, 04:14 PM

......And there I was giving advice in the back-up files thread. That's not going to happen to me again (yeah, right). I knew enough to save every ten or fifteen minutes, but this error caught me asleep at the switch. So.....double copies it is. Live and learn.

And as long as I'm complaining, and as I've said before, whoever designed the user interface for that map editor should be sentenced to work in DOS for thirty days.

A thought:
Most of the files (other than pictures) that SEIV uses are text files. So why do the the maps need to be binary? I even tried reading mine with a hex editor on the outside chance I could make some sense of it and repair it. I suppose it would take a significant code rewrite, but wouldn't this be easier all the way around if map files could be saved as (one or more) text files also? The binary file could then be generated from these, if necessary.

[ March 19, 2004, 14:21: Message edited by: Cipher7071 ]

geoschmo · #7 March 19th, 2004, 04:36 PM

That is very likely what you will see for map files in SE5 Cypher. Or something similer.