posted 05-10-2002 10:16 AM               

The first paragraph gives you the background - jump straight to 'The point' below if you don't want to read the story of my life.

I have been working on a level for about 14 months which I have managed to keep completely bug free (mainly by avoiding the use of custom objects). However, I recently completed the texturing and geometry of the first level and created a custom WAD which I started to use about three months ago. Again, I have maintained a completely bug free operation, never progressing if I encountered any problem which was unfixed.

Two days ago I encountered problems with Runtime modules on my system which led to many custom programs crashing and system slow-down etc. So I re-installed the operating system and.. surprise surprise.. forgot to back up the custom WAD. (First time I've forgotten to back up a vital file in 5 years).

So, of course, when I reloaded my level, it did the Arg list too big etc thing and removed 73 objects from my map. This was all fine by me because I knew what had caused this (missing WAD). However, even after removing all the objects and lights, Lara was causing crashes in specific areas of the map. So.. to avoid having to export the geometry via TR2Prj and re-texture all over again (probably a 4 week job), I used TRFix as a final option (not because I don't trust it, but because I hate not knowing what the cause of a bug is).. which leads me to..

The point:

TRFix fixed several crashes to desktop - thank you for saving me at least a month of re-texturing.

TRFix reported "9 errors" but did not specify what they were. Is there any way that I can tell what the errors were via a log file or something or shall I just have to put my trust in the good lord (a.k.a. Aktrekker) and carry on without knowing what magic spells you cast to fix my work?

WBM

posted 05-10-2002 01:55 PM               

It found 37 errors, and from these 37 errors I was just wanting the effect of one (animation ranges).

The flipmapped rooms become a mess! Aktrekker, if I send you a project with textures, could you manage to get only the textures error fixed??? I mean, the other 36 seems to be more a mess than fixes!

But, well, the animation ranges were working fine after it I could set them without problems.

Thanks.

posted 05-11-2002 11:39 AM            

WBM - TRFix creates a log file with the same name as the level and an extension of FIX. It sends alot of data into the file, so search for lines beginning with FIX:, they list the changes that the program makes. Depending on the fix, the type of data listed differs, but it will tell you what it fixed. The file was meant mainly for me to look at so I could figure out why a project didn't get fixed.

posted 05-11-2002 02:02 PM               

Thanks for pointing me to the file. Could you tell me if I should be worried about any of the following types of errors found? Are any of them serious?

FIX : Light [0x01EB] room [108] lYPixelWorld fixed
FIX : Light [0x01F1] room [65] wYClickAboveFloor = -1280
FIX : Room [0] block [5][7] type

Also, what can I do to avoid creating them again in future?

Thanks again,

WBM

posted 05-11-2002 06:59 PM               

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posted 05-12-2002 03:40 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Tomb_Raider_Nut:
WBM is your wad still deleted? there might still be a posibility on getting it back. (i've had this experience a week or two ago) just open up trwest and load up the tr4 file that contains the wad, add the objects into a new wad, and then save it.

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Doh! Silly me.

That is a very smart solution. Unfortunately my current back-up plan does not include tr4 data files. From now on, I'm going to back up the entire trle folder..

Thanks for the tip Tomb_Raider_Nut, no doubt it will become a life-saver in future.

WBM

posted 05-12-2002 01:38 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by aktrekker:
I've also seen projects where it corrupted a door so it appeared to be a light, then of course could not read it back.

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Okay - now you're scaring me!

So what you're saying is that at the end of the day the editor will inevitably have several bugs in it even if it was constructed by a robot..

If that is the case, would I be right in saying that the only way to deliver a bug-free level is to test it to death and pray?