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Troubles in batch files

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 8:43 am
by mauronen
Hi Aaron, me too... :oops:
When i tried to run a .run file the following message appears:

Code: Select all
CMapGroup::HF_HybridMethod error:
Design map is not initialised


and the batch not start.

But the worst is that into the <xxxxx>.mgf files all reference to the maps (DM,HF,WM,WS,AM,LT,TX) are disappeared!!!

Fortunately i've been backup of the .mgf and .def files, but....it seems a bug, or not?

Cheers.
Mauro.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:00 am
by Aaron
Hi Mauro,

Could you please e-mail me the .run file and the .def file(s) to which it referred?

Cheers,
Aaron.

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:21 am
by Aaron
Hi Mauro,

Thanks for sending me the files.

The problem was that your .def file is a definition of a map made with the 'design/inflate (blank)' algorithm, which can't be cloned by the batch engine. This is because the design map is made 'by hand'. If you use the regular 'design/inflate', the 'fractal' or the 'perlin' algorithms, the batch engine will be able to run your batch.

Mauronen wrote:But the worst is that into the <xxxxx>.mgf files all reference to the maps (DM,HF,WM,WS,AM,LT,TX) are disappeared!!!


This happened because in your .run file you specified the output filename to be the same as your original map, so L3DT overwrote your .mgf file (even though the batch ultimately failed).

Cheers,
Aaron.

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:15 pm
by mauronen
Hi Aaron.

I understood that the batch purpose was to automate the generation process of a new and previous made landscape (design/inflate blank also), an not for the new regular design/inflate map only.
Actually i can't delete my hand-made design map, because is the CORE of my project (to make 3D landscapes beginnings from artworks of other people). If i should restart my work with a regular design/inflate map, i had to thrown away weeks of work.

If i have no other choice, i must be obliged to wait the ending of generation process for each step (often between one step and another passes dozens hours). Usually i submit longest generation processes by night, but often they ends when i'm sleeping...and i don't want to wake up only to start next step.

Can you give an alternative choice?

Thanks a lot.

Mauro

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 4:50 pm
by Aaron
Hi Mauro,

mauronen wrote:I understood that the batch purpose was to automate the generation process of a new and previous made landscape (design/inflate blank also), an not for the new regular design/inflate map only.


The batch engine was intended to generate new random maps from a set of map-definition parameters (which are now stored in a .def file). I wasn't designed to to finish existing, partially complete maps. If you're curious to see it working as intended, download and run the 'acidtest' batch file from the examples page:

http://www.bundysoft.com/L3DT/downloads/examples/AcidTestBatch.zip

This batch file generates something like 10 maps, based on a set of ~7 map definitions (feel free to cancel the batch before it's complete; it usually takes hours). The batch engine was developed in response to a request something like "I want to to generate 50 maps of type X, 10 maps of Y, and 30 of Z...".

With that in mind, the reason the 'design/inflate blank' algorithm won't work with the batch engine is that the .def file doesn't adequately define the design map, indeed it doesn't define anything about the design map other than the size. The batch engine therefore cannot automatically generate a new design map, which is what it expects to do.

mauronen wrote:Actually i can't delete my hand-made design map, because is the CORE of my project (to make 3D landscapes beginnings from artworks of other people). If i should restart my work with a regular design/inflate map, i had to thrown away weeks of work.


No, I don't propose you do that. I merely suggest that the batch engine does not do what you want it to do.

mauronen wrote:If i have no other choice, i must be obliged to wait the ending of generation process for each step (often between one step and another passes dozens hours). Usually i submit longest generation processes by night, but often they ends when i'm sleeping...and i don't want to wake up only to start next step.

Can you give an alternative choice?


I'm sorry, In the current version there is no alternative (other than get a good night's sleep, and start it again in the morning ;)). However, the next major release (2.3e?) will have an automation feature that will basically generate the rest of the maps for you. Unfortunately, I've also started on a few other big-things for the next release, so it's probably going to take a few weeks. Sorry I can't be of more immediate help.

Cheers,
Aaron.

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:37 pm
by mauronen
Thank you Aaron for your answers.
I'm waiting impatiently the next version.

Any spoilers for us? :wink:

PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:19 am
by Aaron
Sorry, nothing for show-and-tell just yet. I like surprises.

Cheers,
Aaron.