Export Bug without Brush Secelction
by Steve Acaster · in Constructor · 12/21/2008 (10:47 am) · 2 replies
I noticed a bizarre bug with Constructor that can cause exports to fail.
Whilst texturing the DIF, if you select a brush face and modify the texture but have not first selected the brush (with Brush Selection), it seems to corrupt the .map file. If you then attempt to "export as Dif" it returns an error "not a power of 2". (except, of course, everything is a power of 2)
However, the DIF can still be exported using map2dif_plus_TGEA (still occaissionally fails but it will export eventually).
The problem gets saved with the .map file, though opening it up in a text editor I couldn't see anything immediately wrong by reading it through (but I wasn't really sure what to look for).
If you select the brush before selecting the face this error doesn't happen.
So, if I select "All Brushes" and then switch to "face select mode", there is no error. (Just that sometimes I forget to do that!)
As I said, can be exported with M2DP_TGEA.
Just a strange little bug I noticed.
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Also whilst I'm here:
During export (using map2dif_plus_TGEA), if I hold down a key (cursor key) or "waggle the mouse like a man possessed" constantly, the lightmaps export 3 or 4 times faster. This speed up seems to help to lessen crashes, and I can't see any difference in the exported DIF, it all seems fine.
This is something useful to know when exporting a large DIF (my current DIF has 9700+ faces to light!)
Whilst texturing the DIF, if you select a brush face and modify the texture but have not first selected the brush (with Brush Selection), it seems to corrupt the .map file. If you then attempt to "export as Dif" it returns an error "not a power of 2". (except, of course, everything is a power of 2)
However, the DIF can still be exported using map2dif_plus_TGEA (still occaissionally fails but it will export eventually).
The problem gets saved with the .map file, though opening it up in a text editor I couldn't see anything immediately wrong by reading it through (but I wasn't really sure what to look for).
If you select the brush before selecting the face this error doesn't happen.
So, if I select "All Brushes" and then switch to "face select mode", there is no error. (Just that sometimes I forget to do that!)
As I said, can be exported with M2DP_TGEA.
Just a strange little bug I noticed.
------------------
Also whilst I'm here:
During export (using map2dif_plus_TGEA), if I hold down a key (cursor key) or "waggle the mouse like a man possessed" constantly, the lightmaps export 3 or 4 times faster. This speed up seems to help to lessen crashes, and I can't see any difference in the exported DIF, it all seems fine.
This is something useful to know when exporting a large DIF (my current DIF has 9700+ faces to light!)
About the author
One Bloke ... In His Bedroom ... Making Indie Games ...
#2
In a previous version of Constructor I too found that I had to select the brush before I could select the faces.
I discovered the "waggle-mouse/hold-key" thing whilst waiting for the 12 minutes it takes to export 9700+ surfaces for lightmaps, and playing with the mouse accidentally.
There was a reason I stopped using csx and prefered map format ..... can't remember why now, though!
12/21/2008 (1:21 pm)
Aye, it is a bit of a bizarre-o-land bug. Maybe we shouldn't call them bugs.... rather characteristics. At least at the end of the day I can get it to export okay.In a previous version of Constructor I too found that I had to select the brush before I could select the faces.
I discovered the "waggle-mouse/hold-key" thing whilst waiting for the 12 minutes it takes to export 9700+ surfaces for lightmaps, and playing with the mouse accidentally.
There was a reason I stopped using csx and prefered map format ..... can't remember why now, though!
Associate Michael Hall
Distracted...
That is certainly weird - mostly because I don't experience that behavior. In an earlier version of Constructor I had to first select a brush before I could select a face of that brush but that problem went away for me, and I don't recall any texturing problems.
I usually run into problems when I use map2dif so I tend to keep everything in native Constructor format (CSX) and export directly to DIF which seems to work equally well for me in both TGE and TGEa.
The cursor/mouse trick does work! How did you figure that one out?