Mod Crashes When Using Higher Fidelity map_regions file

**BradenLord** · May 05, 2021, 02:41 PM

Hi all! I'm pretty new to modding M2TW and modding maps, although I did do some stuff with RTW back in the day. I've been working on a a brand new map for my fantasy universe when I came into a strange problem. Basically I setup a barebones map that functions well with 10 regions and a basic outline of my continent. Then I went back and started adding better shoreline fidelity and more detail. After completing that I went back to update my map_regions.tga, but with the new borders the mod crashes without any error message (I have logging enabled). A map.rwm is created and Geomod spots no errors in the new map_regions.tga. Attached is my mapping files in a zip. map_regions-rough.tga is the old regions file that loads with the rest of the files and generates the map successfully, but using the map_regions.tga file it crashes. I triple checked my colors, and even tried rebuilding that map from scratch a couple times with no luck.

Is there something about the rough map that makes it work that I'm missing in the other one, or is there a mistake I've made in map_regions that I can't recognize?

Thanks in advance.

Edit: The attachment I tried to make didn't work, so I uploaded the map_heights and the two different map_region files to Imgur.
https://imgur.com/a/Obf1W2d

Let me know if any other information would be helpful. Thanks!

**Vladyvid** · May 06, 2021, 06:59 AM

Im gonna take a guess that it happens because of too many land masses, but i can be completely wrong. Its been a while since i worked on a campaign map, but as far as i remember the regions borders in maps_regions.tga dont have to perfectly match the geography. So it should work even if there are mistakes such as a region that extends into what is geographicly ocean for example. I dont know about the heights map, but i would suggest to check it with only something like 2 base colors - for the sea, and for the land.

**BradenLord** · May 06, 2021, 07:26 AM

Thanks Vladyvid! Yeah, the heights map is only two colors (0, 0, 255 for sea and 1, 1, 1 for land). I also saw some stuff on the forums about this land mass issue, but it didn't really make sense. Do you happen to know how I could calculate the land masses I have or how to debug the landmass issue with the more detailed region map?

Update: So via Vladyvid's suggestion I remade the map_regions.tga. This time I stripped off all the small islands and made sure that each region had some land on the main continent (these are placeholder regions for the time being anyways so their borders aren't relevant yet). And.... it worked! So yes, it must have to do with the landmass thing. Overall I'm happy this works for now as it is much more detailed than my old map. I'll post the new map for those that have a similar problem in the future for reference.

One stubborn error I've been running into, and again after this working, is that there is this error banner that pops on the mini-map. I haven't been able to find anything about it from searching, and I have included the radar maps and radar map background. Any clue on what this means? There's nothing I can see as far as the log files are concerned either. Thanks!

Here's the updated map and the error I'm seeing: https://imgur.com/a/8xJa6qg

**Vladyvid** · May 06, 2021, 09:47 AM

Hmm ok so you say it worked? Good, but im now home and i actually found another problem, and im suprised the game actually works - check the colour of the cities on map_regions.tga, cause they are in RGB 1,1,1 while they should be 0,0,0. Also, your earlier regions map had the correct colour for cities (0,0,0) so i would recommend changing that back from 1,1,1 to 0,0,0.

Then see if you still get the error banner.

edit: I just noticed you only have posts in this topic, so i guess welcome to TWC

**BradenLord** · May 06, 2021, 04:42 PM

Thanks the welcome and the catch Vladyvid! Indeed, it looks like that fix allows the map to generate. A simple miss

But that other error remains regardless, and is there with either of the three map_regions.tga files that are now valid and working.

**Gigantus** · May 06, 2021, 08:58 PM

The 'error' banner on the mini map is the default radar map restriction. Nearly all maps have this removed by adding a line to the data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign\campaign_script.txt file. Simply add this line right underneath the 'script' line:

restrict_strat_radar false

Basically it will indicate an error in the campaign_script file if it still shows, it has nothng to do with the map.

**BradenLord** · May 07, 2021, 07:26 AM

Ahhhh wow. I would have never considered to look there! Yup, I didn't make a campaign script yet, so I just made a dummy one with just that line and added the script to my descr_strat. Viola! No more error banner.
Thank you Gigantus!

I think that's everything I couldn't solve on my own for now. Excited to keep building my world!