Commander Keen 9.5 The Eight Accumulators...

Bubbatom · Post by **Bubbatom** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:15

Thanks for that tulip, much appreciated...

Bubbatom · Post by **Bubbatom** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:51

Hi. The Omegamatic is having problems at the moment while I'm editing.
Basically I open the omegamatic, edit the maps, save the maps and then after about 30 minutes the program closes and gives me this message:

Error code 491
ezCreateFont:SaveDC failed.

Win32Lib v0.70.4 17-Jun-2008

Press Enter...

And its quite annoying. All the gamemap files work as per usual.

Any help is once again, much appreciated...

Post by **Ceilick** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 19:24

This is a frustrating bug that Mink hasn't been able to work out yet. My best advice is to not run much else on your pc while working with TOM--I experience less crashes this way. Otherwise it's just something you have to put up with for now

Syllypryde · Post by **Syllypryde** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 20:43

Ceilick wrote:This is a frustrating bug that Mink hasn't been able to work out yet. My best advice is to not run much else on your pc while working with TOM--I experience less crashes this way. Otherwise it's just something you have to put up with for now

Best advice to free up some memory it to work on TOM while you Internet is disabled and then disable your Anti-Virus program as well. You only need it while you are on the Internet.

kuliwil · Post by **kuliwil** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:41

Would getting more RAM work?

And if you're looking to free RAM: CLOSE ALL WEB BROWSERS. Moder browsers are almost all pigs when it comes to RAM.

Post by **Ceilick** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:54

I'm not sure you'd have to go to such extremes; but not having a web browser open like Kuliwil suggests, any media devices (I often have to turn my music off while level editing), and other extra stuff may help.

Then again, maybe not. Gridlock experiences this crash regularly without much running.

Bubbatom · Post by **Bubbatom** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:46

Yeah, I experience this when I have basically nothing running, anyway the game is almost done...

It's just strange how it's only started happening lately... Maybe the gamemap files are getting too big?

Gridlock · Post by **Gridlock** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 12:02

That's very likely a factor considering how huge Atroxian Realm's levels are getting. The good thing for me is that when I get the crash, TOM stil gives me the option to the save the levels (though some of text on the save or don't save box doesn't show up)

Bubbatom · Post by **Bubbatom** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 4:44

This is the problem I've been experiencing lately.

This is what is in my graphics folder but it comes out all messed up in the game. The colours in the files are dark due to 16 colours when saving.
The picture turns out fine when I use 24 colours when saving but modkeen wont allow it. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Gridlock · Post by **Gridlock** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 15:59

What method are you using to take the screenshot? DosBox's screenshot feature should be able to take screenshots with the correct colors that you can use for the help section.

Try copying a pallete of sorts from other graphic files and then using those colors on the image. Maybe you just don't have the exact color you need.

Bubbatom · Post by **Bubbatom** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 9:06

Thanks for that gridlock. It's all fixed. I think the reason it was happening was because I accidentally opened the file in paint for windows 7 instead of the xp version.

Anyway new problem.
I know a while back I asked why dosbox displayed this message when first entering an underwater level:

RF_PlaceSprite: Placed an uncached sprite: 416

And that was simply fixed by adding a dopefish to the level.
But now I am faced with another one of these "uncached sprite" messages. Here it is:

RF_PlaceSprite: Placed an uncached sprite: 163

This only happens when I run into a sprite (the enemy).

Two more things to note:
Half the time the Place uncached sprite message displays 162 instead of 163.
This only happens on one of my water levels (Yes, I have two)

kuliwil · Post by **kuliwil** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 11:38

Bubbatom wrote:
This only happens when I run into a sprite (the enemy).

Two more things to note:
Half the time the Place uncached sprite message displays 162 instead of 163.
This only happens on one of my water levels (Yes, I have two)

I'm not a modder but I have a suggestion on what this might be:

You have to think what happens when Keen gets knocked out: the death animation plays. There are two sprites in Keen for that - the starjump sprite and the "sat on myself" one. (That last bit was a Black Books reference for those not yet enlightened.)

It seems that you don't have both of those sprites cached.

_mr_m_ · Post by **_mr_m_** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 20:07

kuliwil wrote:
Bubbatom wrote:
This only happens when I run into a sprite (the enemy).

Two more things to note:
Half the time the Place uncached sprite message displays 162 instead of 163.
This only happens on one of my water levels (Yes, I have two)
I'm not a modder but I have a suggestion on what this might be:

You have to think what happens when Keen gets knocked out: the death animation plays. There are two sprites in Keen for that - the starjump sprite and the "sat on myself" one. (That last bit was a Black Books reference for those not yet enlightened.)

It seems that you don't have both of those sprites cached.

That sounds about right. The underwater levels have unique Keen sprites (for moving, and dying). IIRC, this can be resolved by placing the appropriate INFOPLANE tile for underwater Keen (I just don't remember which one it is). This should cache both sprites that are needed.

Bubbatom · Post by **Bubbatom** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 21:15

The only I don't understand is why only one level has this problem.

Could the Level number have any impact on the Problem?
If so the level numbers are: 16 and 17. 16 being the one with the problem...

Gridlock · Post by **Gridlock** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 21:21

Yes, level number is directly related. Level 17, the original Well of Wishes, had special settings to make it work properly (such as a special camera and probably stuff related to caching). I believe patching can resolve some problems, but I'm no expert on this. Make sure that whatever level you use that isn't in slot 17 isn't too vertical, as the camera won't work as well. This was a problem in the Shoal level in Keen 7. It's possible that someone has found a solution to this by now, though. I would reference Keen 7 if you run into any problems with the other level.