Custom maps crashing when CPUs place ships

[Senso]

I have this problem on two different PCs. At work (on Windows 2000), when I start a game with at least one CPU, it will crash right afer they place all the land stuff. I have this problem with the Indonesia, Australia and Middle East (my work in progress) map mods.

On Windows XP at home, Indonesia and Australia don't crash even with 6 CPUs though. My own map crashes when I place a CPU on 3 specific countries - the other 3 are fine. If *I* play one of these countries, it does NOT crash when I place the ships.

Someone said in another thread that sometimes it can crash if ship-placement areas overlap. I made sure none of mine overlap but it still dumps me out. Also, Indonesia and Australia overlap without problem.

On Win2K, it crashes with a "Division by 0" error but on XP it's just the common "An error has been encountered, etc."

So, what the hell? I made sure the travel_nodes.bmp file has 22 white dots on water. I didn't touch the AI_markers.bmp file since nobody seems to have bothered to change it. I've double-checked and compared all my BMPs with the ones from Australia, Indonesia and the vanilla game - there doesn't seem to be real big differences. I tried loading the mod without including the ai_markers.bmp and/or travel_nodes.bmp, same problem.

Here is the current Middle East map mod, if you want to try it. Try setting 6 CPUs and let me know if it crashes. The 3 countries that crash are Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. Though it will not crash if you play those and set your ships manually - so it seems to be a problem with the AI.

Anybody has an idea as to what I did wrong here?

[zach]

I didn't touch the AI_markers.bmp file since nobody seems to have bothered to change it.

This is where you're mistaken, I think.

ai_markers.bmp contains 2 sets of information

Green Points
The green points on the map represent placement guidelines for the AI. An AI player will always try and place its ships close to a green point inside its own territory. They are positioned with the general idea of stopping the AI from placing a unit in a tactically unsound location (eg, too far from the action, too close to the coastline.)

Red Points
The red points act as guidelines for tactical positions that fleets should use for attacking an enemy territory. For example, a fleet of subs would move close to one of the red points in order to nuke enemy cities. Red points should be fairly close to a territory's coastline, within range of a resonable number of cities.

There are a few rules that need to be followed when placing these points:
The point must be a valid location for a fleet to move too. This means not too close to the coastline, or on land.
Each territory must have AT LEAST one green point and two red points. Ideally, each territory should have at least 4 or 5 of each.
There should be no points outside of a valid territory, or anywhere on land.

Hope this helps.

If you're still having trouble after applying this, feel free to ask again

[denzil]

Yeah zanzer finally helped me work out how it all works! Oh and Icepick an Introversion dev, lol!

If you need help still grab one of us, msn or PM

[Senso]

If you're still having trouble after applying this, feel free to ask again

Thanks, I'll work on this and see what happens. You should definitely add this to your modding guide. *hint hint*

[denzil]

We plan on it, zanzer and I are going to be doing some mod work and hopefully write a string of tutorials on how to make anything and everything in Defcon, modding wise that it

[Spacemonkey]

Sorry, when I made those two maps, I didn't fully understand the AI markers ( Just put lots of red and green dots everywhere in the water)

I might fix it, or i might not

[zach]

Congratulations on stating every possibility (regarding you fixing it) in the known universe

[LordSturm]

Now how would i got about modding my ai markers to make the standard AI really dumb?

I want an open country to just bomb lolz! ( Fun for stress relief! )

[denzil]

well ai markers just sets where the AI will try to attack land from (red dots - they position themselves near), and green dots are where they lay their fleets (in their own territory)

you need atleast a couple in each territory, 2 red 1 green I seem to remember, so you could put them in stupid places near no cities or anything?

[Spacemonkey]

I'm working on a new map atm, when i'm done, i'll fix up the other two, then release all three of them together

[zach]

Seriously can't wait for more map goodness from the map godess ... or god or whatever