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Central Andes

Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:58 pm
by IronDukeGeorge
This map covers the central andes region containing Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina and has 3 eras with 9 objectives between 1830 and 1980. the area is obviously mountainous and contains a wide range of terrain from desert near the coast, through mountains and grassland and finally deep forest in the corner towards brazil. i would appreciate any feedback on the map, particularly if you think it is too hard/easy, whether the cities and industries are appropriate or any bugs you encounter.

a few quick notes:

1. some of the cities in the northeastern corner (the amazon area) don't actually exist: beni is the name of one of the rivers in the area, pilcomayo is a river in the south of bolivia and Guapore is actually much further north in Brazil. since there arent any cities in the area (except the village of san miguel) i used some artistic license :D.

2. some events in the objectives don't actually take place within the same timeframe as they did in real life, but mostly are only a few years out.
(the "bueno, me quedo" reference isn't a mistake, i know that happened in 1980 and not 1900-1950)

3. i have noticed some crashes and problems with graphics, but that may just be a problem with my computer rather than the map. if anyone else suffers the same problem i have found that turning autosave off helps or playing in train table mode.

i would appreciate any comments or criticism.

George

Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:50 pm
by snoopy55
IronDukeGeorge - downloaded your map and tried to run it. It wouldn't even fully load. I checked your files and the only oddity I found was that in the Goods file you have a Good called 'None'. But, with that in or out, it still doesn't want to run. I'll further dig into it. You are not running Ore, so I figure the middle East doesn't have to be there, and it dumps to desktop with or without Santa.

As I said, I'll look deeper into it.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 12:35 am
by IronDukeGeorge
So the map won't even load? I have been having lots of trouble with crashes to desktop but other than that it seems to work. i couldn't find any obvious problems but i'm not very XML-savvy so i may have missed some glaring error. i appreciate the help you are trying to give but i don't understand the middle east comment, could you please explain?

thanks

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 12:51 am
by snoopy55
IronDukeGeorge - the Middle East map is one that d53642 (Daryl) created and used his own Iron Ore files to work it. Some people have tried to use his files also. As you don't use Iron Ore, those files are not required. I cleared and reloaded my game and now I'm reloading maps one at a time to try and find problems.

As your map is a 15 x 15, (map size 15 in the Scenario file) you must be running Ver 1.10. Being this is your first post, have you looked into what is running in the background, done an adware and spybot check? Go up on this page and you'll find Railroads! Wiki. You'll find some other things there.

I stripped your map looking for anything you may have left out, but I can't find anything. If you say you can run it and I can't, this means either you have something on your system I don't or, you zipped your file before you completed it. This has happened before. Move your working copy to another location and download the one you posted and try to run it.

Let me know what happens.


And Welcome to the Forum!! :D

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 1:31 am
by IronDukeGeorge
thanks for getting me up to speed, i deleted my copy (along with the files in the UserMaps folder) and tried it with the copy i posted and although it ran with a much earlier version of the map (missing hills, trees, etc) it ran fine. i will do some more experimenting in the morning but i really don't know what could be causing it.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:01 am
by atani
IronDukeGeorge wrote:thanks for getting me up to speed, i deleted my copy (along with the files in the UserMaps folder) and tried it with the copy i posted and although it ran with a much earlier version of the map (missing hills, trees, etc) it ran fine. i will do some more experimenting in the morning but i really don't know what could be causing it.
I was able to load this map, but only if I have zero AI. My guess is there is not enough starting cities maybe?

In future versions, can you include the file for the terrain editor so we can load it in there as well?

Mike

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:52 am
by dwax
I gave it a try, Tried with 1 AI and it locked up. said Abnormal Program termination. Had to end the process from Windows Task Manager. Tried it without the AI and it loaded up, started to look around and had a CTD.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 3:02 am
by atani
dwax wrote:I gave it a try, Tried with 1 AI and it locked up. said Abnormal Program termination. Had to end the process from Windows Task Manager. Tried it without the AI and it loaded up, started to look around and had a CTD.
Ok, I cant load it in the editor at all :(

I did get to play this map for about 5 years or so and then it CTD :(

Mike

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 4:36 am
by vzbob
I have noticed On a few of these custom maps that if you take out the Clutter Reference and decorations the maps seem to work much better.
I did it on this map and have run it for 3 hours so far without any CTD and also Using A1 competitors.

It Might be a Bug in the Clutter and decorations sytem in the Terain editor.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 5:29 am
by snoopy55
atani - I found 7 starting Cities so there should be enough. And I agree with your idea on the file for the terrain editor, it would be helpful. Oh ya, thats the reason you can't load it into the editor, unless you're just wanting the map.

dwax - I got it to come up with 0 AIs also. I didn't go any further because it's not much fun playing by yourself.

vzbob - I removed the Clutter, Decorations and then the Trees, which are left out of most original maps. I got about 5 minutes before CTD.

I guess we'll see what he can come up with....

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:34 am
by dwax
Oh BTW, don't give up on it1 It looks to be a fun map! :)

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:49 pm
by zzbusch
I opened this in the Editor. Here is the zip from my UserMaps folder. There were no cities when I opened it, and nothing else either, just the map. So just add the proper XML's, etc. and it should(?) work.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 4:29 pm
by IronDukeGeorge
Okay I couldn't figure out what it was so I've created a new zip file with all of the relevant files (including the original map before the XML was changed, just in case). for those who don't already know put the Central_andes folder in scenarios and put the Andes folder and Andes.smr in UserMaps. i doubt that these extra files have anything to do with it but i thought i would make everything available just in case.

Thanks to everyone who is helping for not giving up on my buggy scenario :)


P.S can everyone tell me which version of the map they are getting, the old version only has grass/mountain textures and the proper one also has desert/cliff/snow/yellow grass textures. i only ask because when i deleted all my local files and ran it only using the zip file i got an old version of the map with just grass/mountains.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 7:22 pm
by dwax
Still get the CTD. Tried to save the game and befor it saved it CTD. :(

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 3:02 am
by snoopy55
IronDukeGeorge - you just learned a lesson, never delete until you are sure you don't need it! When I read that I had to go back and make sure I hadn't told you to delete. I can 3 or 4 copies of a map on my drivesthat I moved for one reason or another. The copy I have, the first one, has mountains and trees only. Check your Recycle Bin to see if the one you deleted ins in there.

I had CTD with the last one also. If its running fine for you, make a list of what you have under My Documents/My Games/Sid Meiers Railroads!.

Also, if you're going to use original files, IE Trees, Tunnels, Bridges etc, you don't need to have copies with your map name in them. List them as so:

<TreesXMLFile>RRT_Trees.xml</TreesXMLFile>

or:

<TreesXMLFile/>

The Game will use the original files.
I used your first map and tried to use it in the Editor and it still crashed. It's odd because there are several 15 x 15 maps that are working. I'll try to do some comparing and see what I can find.

Don't give up :wink: