Ryandor.com

Hello,

I am having difficulty with Dragon, and would appreciate any pointers anyone can offer.

- I am using Dragon Mod 11
- I have no difficulties with the functional process of importing a map from a .bmp file to map0.mul
- I also have no difficulties auto-adding static data using DragonSP
- The POL process running on my server does not use *.pol files (this has been disabled for the duration of the development phase to eliminate one step).
- The client is Windows XP SP2, running AoS (fully patched, e.g. now contains Samurai Empire content) with Krrios client. I have also been testing concurrently with an AoS UORICEd client, version 4.0.0p. (I have had no problems with running either, incidentally.)
- The server is running Redhat Linux 9, POL095, and out-of-the-box scripts.

The symptoms of the issue about which I am posting today, revolve around data in the map which seems erratic at best. I am attempting to create bumpy sand for island borders, but it seems any coastal areas (or indeed, any map data at all) does not allow a player to walk around on it.

I have tried:
- ocean and shallow water at altitude -5
- flat areas (sand, grass) at altitude 0, 5, and 10
- bumpy areas (sand, grass) at altitudes varying +/- 2

Sometimes it works, others it does not, but there does not seem to be a set pattern for working map data.

I've also had this problem in Dragon Mod 9, and it seems whatever issue existed there has been carried over to this newer version. Or maybe it's something client-side which is causing the problem? I don't know.

I've examined the problem in Dragon, but I am uncertain what the issue might be, since the altitudes look fine.

Some screenshots:
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3

Any help is appreciated.

- Hawkins

Personally I have never seen or had that problem and would not know where to begin...

The blockage is all the way around these blocked areas or just a small sections?

Dev

_________________
"So...if crazy people don't know their crazy...does that mean your only sane if your know your crazy?"

It's really difficult to tell... some areas it seems to be coastal (which was my original theory), sometimes it's just a single coordinate, sometimes it's an area not even remotely close to anything that -could- block anything.

For the hell of it I installed Photoshop to see if that makes a difference (I am using Paintshop Pro with loaded palettes). I thought maybe PSP was mangling the palette, but here you see Hawkins is unable to run any farther west.

Screenshot 4

I'm really baffled by this. It has to be something in/on the client. I think I will reinstall without patching, because this is getting silly!

I will post my findings here.

This could be because POL is using a different map than the client. Check that out. I've had that problem before.

You may be running into static tiles. Is the client using the same files as the server?

Check to see if the mapdiff files for that map are blank along with the static files. This would cause you to be unable to walk in some areas while not being able to see what is blocking you.

Dev

_________________
"So...if crazy people don't know their crazy...does that mean your only sane if your know your crazy?"

Nope, I'm updating all three (statics, staidx, map) MUL files when I Dragon-ize my bitmap.

Yep, the server is updated each time I put the bitmap through Dragon.

Tried deleting the client-side mapdiff files, but this doesn't seem to make a difference.

Not sure what to tell you then, I'm not a big POL user so thats outside my area of knowledge (or delusion).

Dev

_________________
"So...if crazy people don't know their crazy...does that mean your only sane if your know your crazy?"

Give me (for kicks) the coordinates of one of the places this happens... Does it always happen in the same place(s), or does it change when/if you recompile the map?

Not 100% sure, though I am fairly certain that the blocked areas do not change on a per-compile basis.

I'm at work right now, so I will provide coordinates at a later time. Perhaps you're thinking that what I'm seeing are blocked areas from the default server map? This is entirely possible, and because I'm using AoS/Samurai, which is multiple-map-aware, I fear this might be a problem (or that it's reading coords from the default Britannia map). I'll get you some coords as soon as I can.

Edit: As an example, at location (5220, 4061, 0) I am unable to walk south or west.

Edit #2: Perhaps someone would be kind enough provide me with a zipped test-map0.mul (with but a small patch of grass/sand/water/ocean) that I may publish to the server and see if the problem resurfaces?

Edit #3: I've added a friend's shard's map, and it seems to be doing the same thing. Sigh. Going to reinstall the UO client now!

Well, my only guess is that you're using different static files for the server and the client. I realize you've checked this, but I'd double-check it once more, just to be certain... You might even try pointing the server to the client files, just for testing.

Definitely a server-related issue ? if it looks OK in the client, and you have not modified any non-map data files, then the map creation process went fine.

My guess is that it is indeed using the default Britannia map for collisions.

_________________
Blog: http://www.sydius.org
Web: http://www.sydius.net

Problem solved... I was updating to one location and unzipping "new" files from another location, which turned out to be a file I had uploaded a long time ago.

Thanks to all those who wasted brain cells and glucose on my "technical issue"... the beer's on me!