How to find errors in my mod?

**Mad_Max** · 12-09-2012, 14:11

Hi!

My original game (MTW VI v2.01) runs rather fine on my win7 system. There are some minor crashes (about 1 in an hour), but reload and continue is ok.

I have a copy of the game to experiment with my mod. And that is where the problems start. What i have done so far:

* small changes to the map: added sahara, added rivers for some countries, added ressources and trade goods. The map shouldnt be the problem, because without any other modding the map works.
* added some units, changed prerequisites, and unit stats. All self created units are tested and work on quick battle and campaign (except some corpses)
* played around with the hero-file. I dont like heroes with bad v&v. The stand-alone heroes work fine.

I havent changed any graphics or sounds.

But when I play my mod with all three changes the game will crash between the years 1100 and 1110. Unavoidable. When ending the turn, the game will crash to desktop. Save and reload does not work. Is there any method how to find out what the problem is?

Max

**caravel** · 12-10-2012, 11:15

Well unless you've modded the eras, 1100 to 1110 don't fit that kind of crash scenario...

I would guess it's the mods you've done to the default heroes file which are causing this. Probably a syntax error somewhere. Heroes are available at specific dates, and then appear when a suitable unit (A good "general candidate" - see the unit prod file) is trained. This also ties in with it not happening on one specific year.

Try temporarily restoring the original heroes file and run the game to 1110 and see if it still crashes?

I know it's time consuming, but when modding, save regular backups of known working files. Also use comments where possible to indicate where you've changed something and comment out the original line (don't remove). This will save you a lot of headache (take it from me).

Also when creating units, testing in battle is just one part of the test - incorrectly converted/rendered lbms or bif files can crash the campaign map. Make sure your own content is working correctly - i.e. review panel icons, info pics and unit icons. Missing portraits are not fatal, but will show an error message which you might need to alt tab to see.

**Mad_Max** · 12-10-2012, 13:23

Thank you for your advice.

I took existing graphics for the infopics, reviewpanel and so on (unfortunatley I'm not an artist) and testing was fine. So I will try it with the heroes-file. It seems to be plausible.

Max

**caravel** · 12-10-2012, 17:19

Bear in mind that you can't just add names to the default heroes file - they have to be references to values in (if I recall correctly) names.txt or one of the other localisation files (in /loc/english).

**Mad_Max** · 12-13-2012, 17:37

Ok replaycing the heroes-file with the original one causes the game to crash earlier; around 1095.

some more questions:

The startpos-files... is it possible that errors occur during the game? My experience is, that if there are any mistakes, the mod will not show up in the startup menu.

Self created units... all of them are tested for one or two turns on the campaign map and on the battlefield. All of them seem to work. Besides no faction should have those units at that early stage of game, is it necessary to test all of them separatly (one by one)?

**drone** · 12-13-2012, 18:59

If it's not the heroes, then maybe a building or unit is produced that has an issue with it's related files. If you have a save of the year prior to the CTD, I would suggest using the -ian mode to look in the build queues of all the factions to see what is being built that might cause a problem.