crash issue with the jungle theme

[bask185]

In Edwin I made a new map, first time in the jungle theme. Than I turned the map into a mission in RAED, but poor me it crashes. I also tried the map without any objects in skirmish, but it also crash. I also could not run the blank jungle map so apparantly red alert really does not like the jungle theme

 

I'm running v3.03 on a windows 7 machine I have the jungle.mix file and nor Edwin or RAED gave any problems.

 

Is this is a known/fixable issue? if so, howcan?

[FunkyFr3sh]

Some theaters only work on cncnet, don't have a list though.

[Lightning Hunter]

I just asked about this same issue yesterday, because I was hoping to use the Jungle and Barren tile sets with the upcoming Mega Compilation.  My idea was to switch things up a bit by having unique tilesets with a few of the missions/campaigns included with the compilation.  However, my game also crashes with both tilesets (Jungle and Barren).  In this thread, Darkstar said the jungle tileset worked with PortableRA (I don't know what the difference is), but the download link of PortableRA doesn't work right now - so I can't investigate.

[FunkyFr3sh]

I just asked about this same issue yesterday, because I was hoping to use the Jungle and Barren tile sets with the upcoming Mega Compilation.  My idea was to switch things up a bit by having unique tilesets with a few of the missions/campaigns included with the compilation.  However, my game also crashes with both tilesets (Jungle and Barren).  In this thread, Darkstar said the jungle tileset worked with PortableRA (I don't know what the difference is), but the download link of PortableRA doesn't work right now - so I can't investigate.

 

Only cncnet skirmish/LAN/Online can read all tilesets. PortableRA can read jungle I think, but can't read barren and some other ones. RA1installer can't read any custom theaters for the campaign.

 

So if you want to make this compilation only for your self then you could use a custom executable, Allen probably got the latest one. If you wan't to keep it highly compatible so you can share it later then don't switch the theaters.

[Lightning Hunter]

So if you want to make this compilation only for your self then you could use a custom executable, Allen probably got the latest one. If you wan't to keep it highly compatible so you can share it later then don't switch the theaters.

 

Well, my hands are currently tied, because many of the modern campaigns released on this forum use the new tile sets - and I want to include them.  I was given a new ra95.exe by Messiah in this thread, and I think I'm going to use that one for now (it works with all tile sets, including barren). I will have the .exe file in a separate package when I release the mega compilation, so it will be optional for people to use.  Also, if the RA1Installer is ever updated (and I really hope it does get updated) - then I can remove the optional .exe file.  I will make a simple note that a few missions will crash for people using the Ra1Installer.exe.

 

Edit:  What would happen if I renamed ra95.exe?  I could simply rename the optional version, so people can run a different .exe when playing Single Player.

[FunkyFr3sh]

There are too many changes in this ra95.exe that were never tested, it might completely fail. It's a really bad idea to use for anything else than a mod.

 

I don't have any plans to update that in RA1installer

[Lightning Hunter]

There are too many changes in this ra95.exe that were never tested, it might completely fail. It's a really bad idea to use for anything else than a mod.

 

I don't have any plans to update that in RA1installer

 

Well, I actually wasn't thinking that you would use the .exe file in that link, but rather hoped that someone could update the .exe in Ra1Installer to add the new tilesets (any other modification is not necessary).  Can it really mess it up that bad to add support for the new tile sets? 

 

But anyway, what will happen if I change the name of Ra95.exe?  I can name it something like "Ra95_SP.exe". Maybe the launcher can even be modified to show a button for playing SinglePlayer?

[FunkyFr3sh]

We don't have anyone working on SP atm, all we have is a old repo that is using a outdated patching system.

 

It would take weeks to port the code over and test it all. Only a few know how to do it and none of them is willing to do it.

 

Then there are forced gameplay changes in this .exe, everything needs to be changed to be optional and disabled by default.

 

 

So, bigger updates are probably not going to happen...

 

 

 

You can rename the .exe to anything you want, there is no problem with that

[Lightning Hunter]

We don't have anyone working on SP atm, all we have is a old repo that is using a outdated patching system.

 

It would take weeks to port the code over and test it all. Only a few know how to do it and none of them is willing to do it.

 

Then there are forced gameplay changes in this .exe, everything needs to be changed to be optional and disabled by default.

 

 

So, bigger updates are probably not going to happen...

 

Yeah, I get it.  There aren't many of us working on such an old game.  That is why my policy is, "if you want something done, you have to do it yourself".  Since nobody is currently around that can update the RA1installer, I will rename the .exe file for the time being.  Maybe once I release the Mega Compilation (which should be within the month), someone will be inspired to step up to the plate and make this thing more user-friendly. 

 

There are also a few bugs I can't fix at the moment, like missions that carry over.  Currently, any mission with these commands won't work as far as I know:

ToCarryOver=yes

TimerInherit=yes

ToInherit=yes

 

Obviously, this is because the missions can only be played one at a time in the custom mission menu, and stuff like a timer can't carry over - which results in a "mission failed" message the second you try to start part 2 of a mission.  This only applies to certain campaigns, like Defection.  An example is mission 8 and mission 8b, which have a timer that is supposed to carry over once you reach the interior portion of the tech center in part 2.  My only solution right now is to label these missions as *Broken* in the custom menu, so people know they won't work.

 

I tried linking these missions together by doing stuff like renaming them ea and eb, but everything I tried resulted in a crash or "mission failed" message.

[FunkyFr3sh]

Oh right, totally forgot about that...

 

Try this with the other new .exe you have:

 

[basic]

NextMissionInCampaign=cmu101ea.ini

 

 

 

 

e.g. if mission 1 is cmu100ea.ini, then add cmu101ea.ini

And also change this: OneTimeOnly=No

 

I need to add this to the converter, actually very useful for campaigns. But I don't know if it allows you to carry things over too

 

[Lightning Hunter]

Oh right, totally forgot about that...

 

Try this with the other new .exe you have:

 

[basic]

NextMissionInCampaign=cmu101ea.ini

 

e.g. if mission 1 is cmu100ea.ini, then add cmu101ea.ini

And also change this: OneTimeOnly=No

 

I need to add this to the converter, actually very useful for campaigns. But I don't know if it allows you to carry things over too

 

That appears to have worked, thanks!  I also had to set SkipMapSelect=yes and SkipScore=yes to get it to change levels properly.  The transition is kind of odd (the game just suddenly jumps in to the briefing of the next mission), but it seems to work.  I haven't fully played through a mission that carries over units yet, but I will test that when I get the time.

 

Am I able to name missions stuff like cmu101eb so they don't appear in the list, but are able to be played by having the ini file switch to them?  In other words:

NextMissionInCampaign=cmu101eb.ini

That way, players don't accidentally try to run the second part of the mission by itself and crash the game.

 

Edit:  It seems to work fine when I have a mission named cmu101ea that goes to cmu101eb next.  This is handy, because then part 2 won't appear in the mission list.  What I will do is name the mission something like, "part 1 & 2", or "mission 1 & 2" depending on how the author had them set up.  I haven't fully tested if units are actually carried over yet though.  Will do more testing.

 

Edit #2: Does anyone familiar with mission making know how to create a quick test mission where units are carried over so I can test? I don't have time to play an hour long mission right now to see what the results are, and I know nothing about mission making.  In the time it would take me to learn, I could be adding dozens of maps to the compilation instead.

[FunkyFr3sh]

Made a test version: http://downloads.cncnet.org/Games/RedAlert/RA1MissionConverterTest.exe

 

It converts the full campaign in a way to jump from one mission to another, not just the ones that carry over stuff.

It skips B and C versions, but B and C are still showing in the list and can be selected manually.

 

If you win a B or C version it will jump to the next A version automatically

 

Edit:

Yeah it's a problem actually that it can crash the game if you run a wrong mission :/ But not sure if it's a good idea to remove all these missions from the list.

 

 

You should convert all campaigns again now xD

 

 

[Lightning Hunter]

Made a test version: http://downloads.cncnet.org/Games/RedAlert/RA1MissionConverterTest.exe

 

It converts the full campaign in a way to jump from one mission to another, not just the ones that carry over stuff.

It skips B and C versions, but B and C are still showing in the list and can be selected manually.

 

If you win a B or C version it will jump to the next A version automatically

 

Edit:

Yeah it's a problem actually that it can crash the game if you run a wrong mission :/ But not sure if it's a good idea to remove all these missions from the list.

 

 

You should convert all campaigns again now xD

 

You know, I was actually doing some thinking about this - and I think the best method is to only combine missions that carry stuff over.  I say this, because there is a good chance some of these missions will crash or have issues, and the player should be able to skip the map and go on to the next if that happens.  A good example of this is the "Wounded Eagle" campaign in the Huge Collection by Chimas for TD. One of the missions is broken in this campaign, and as a result, I never got to see the other levels. If I had the option to skip that mission, I would have.

 

A campaign would look like this for example:

 

Defection:  Allies Mission 1

Defection:  Allies Mission 2

Defection:  Allies Mission 3 and 4    (or Mission 3a and 3b, depending on what the author named it)

Defection:  Allies Mission 5

 

Also, I can't seem to get units to actually carry over yet.  I tried messing with some maps in a random campaign, but so far nothing actually carries over.  Maybe I have something set up wrong in the .ini, or maybe the map itself is not designed to carry stuff over.  Like I said, I never created missions (only skirmish maps), so I don't know how to set up this stuff to test.

[FunkyFr3sh]

Yea it's a good idea, I can try to convert them automatically. But need to know which ini keys are related to the carry over logic and I also need to know if the carry over trick works with the NextMissionInCampaign thing

[Lightning Hunter]

I was finally able to test and confirm that units do in fact carry over properly when using "NextMissionInCampaign".  I had to play a whole mission to determine this in the end.  I tested using the Cocaine campaign, mission 3 (which carries stuff over to mission 4).  In the test, my units were carried over, as well as my funds.

 

Funky, I think you can keep the previous version of your MissionConverter (not the test version), since I think maps that carry over should be manually set up (maybe you can just make a note of this on the mission converter page).  I will combine all such maps in one slot from now on, using "ea" and "eb" with the same mission number.