Hang up saving since latest update

Lorelei · May 2018

So, since the latest update i've been getting hung up for EXTREMELY long periods of time here (see pic below). I have saved at this high resolution without a problem a few days ago before i updated. Anyone else finding this lag on a high res save?

Loopysue · May 2018

Umm... maybe a bit longer than before, but it doesn't really hang that much for me.

Does it eventually finish?

Monsen · May 2018

There is a change in the code that causes rendering to be a bit slower for certain effects. This was necessary because of a bug. However, that was during the rendering steps, not the conversion step which is the step shown in your screenshot.
I noticed you don't see the progress on the converting step either. Are you on Windows 7 by chance?

Anyhow, that final conversion step can be sped up quite dramatically by manually replacing imagemagik with the 64-bit version and removing memory limits (assuming you have some spare memory), see this post.

Lorelei · May 2018

A bug? Seems to me this update just caused a huge bug in my system, and no I am not using Windows 7, I am using 10. And honestly I have NO idea what to do about this, as the attached thread is like reading mandarin chinese....i understand none of it and have no intention of downloading anything i do not understand. That is beyond the level of understanding i have with computers and frankly and update should not cause anxiety and bog down a product that badly, rather improve it.. I AM NOT A HAPPY MAPPER RIGHT NOW. NOT ONE DARN BIT. I upgraded my RAM specifically to speed up my machine, especially with the large files i save in CC3+, and this is a giant pain in the ass. My world map tooK an HOUR to save last night. A friggin' hour! I don't have an hour of my life to wait for a map to save. This sucks. Some update, pft.

Loopysue · May 2018

Remy - will a better version of Imagemagik be incorporated into CC3+ by way of a future update?

I ask, because I am also very unsure of doing this myself, and would rather just wait until it happens anyway - if its going to.

EDIT: Alternatively, is there a way of rolling back the updates until a point just before the update that slowed everything down. And if there is, what will we sacrifice by going back to that earlier state?

Lorelei · May 2018

no, you can't roll back updates, Sue. I've asked that in the past, as a past update caused problems for me last year. I am really cranky about this. I loved the speed my 16MB of RAM allowed me in saving my world map. I've not had any issues saving such a large map at a high resolution before....it usually took around 10 minutes for my world map....over an hour now is just ridiculous, especially as a result of an update.

Loopysue · May 2018

I can hear you hurting in the things you are saying, Lorelei

That's why I'm trying to find a solution with you

Maybe there could be some more detailed and precise instructions prepared for us simpletons to follow - ones that wouldn't scare the pants off both you and me

Lorelei · May 2018

well, i've tons of prepping to do for a huge one-shot i am running tonight and I don't have the time to wait for PF to find a solution today....so MY solution to this mess is to go back to a recovery point prior to this update. It's not an ideal solution as I avoid doing things like this at all costs, but i've got 5 people coming to play tonight and i need to update my world map. Until Ralf and the guys figure out how to fix this "fix" then i'll stick with the last version. Thank you for your suggestions and help. Signing off to "Recover"

Loopysue · May 2018

Ah!

A recovery point.

Good thinking, Lorelei.

(and what a shame I never had the foresight to do it myself! LOL!)

Lorelei · May 2018

oh its gets better.....my system is now hung up on the System Restore and the only way to fix that is to create in installation USB - WHAT? I don't even know what that is or how to go about it - I just don't understand the language on some of these Microsoft forums - whats the point of a system restore if you have to repair the restore???!!!! I just can't. What a complete nightmare.

Loopysue · May 2018

Oh.... crap

EDIT: What about reinstalling CC3+ from your last downloaded installation file? And then only updating to the point just before the problem occurred - if you still have all the update installations.

I know it will take some time, but if the restore won't work for you....

Monsen · May 2018

I don't know what state your system is in right now with that failed restore and all, but one workaround to have MUCH faster exports without messing with your installation is to turn off antialias completely (not just lower it), as the antialiasing part is the most time-consuming part of the entire export process. Not a perfect solution, since you probably want anti-aliasing, but it really makes a huge difference in time, and for many maps, the visual difference will be small.
(The reason I say to disable anti-aliasing all-together is because that means part of the process can be completely skipped. Just lowering it will improve the performance, but will still mean that this step of the process needed to be run)

Also do note that the necessary bugfixes I mentioned above related to the rendering part (all those lines saying 'Rendering sheet: YYYY'), and isn't related to anything happening after you see the line "Converting to final format...". I don't know why that part is slower than before (unless you use different anti-aliasing settings)

Loopysue · May 2018

Oh! That's a brilliant idea!

Come to think of it the default setting at 66% is absolutely HUGE amount of antialiasing. I remember turning it way down to just 20% for my last map because it was actually beginning to make the output look a bit fuzzy to my eyes.

Why oh WHY I didn't think of that before Remy mentioned it I have absolutely no idea!

I'm so sorry Lorelei!

If you need to antialias the exported image, just open it in GIMP and go to Filters/Enhance/Antialias, and its done in a matter of seconds

Lorelei · May 2018

I've not had any issues with my system to date. It's only about 2 years old, and i upgraded my RAM about 6 months ago. Aside from that, i've done nothing new or unusual. i usually have my anti-alias set all he way down to 1%-3% never higher than that, so im not sure turning it off completely would have made any difference with that update. Well, i've been able to do the Restore point to a day last week and i'm saving a the file right now...it seems to be rendering along very nicely at a reasonable speed. The test will be the end if i get that strange Converting issue, which never appeared in that fashion before the update. I'll send the info to tech support in the hopes they can address it, or im afraid i will no longer be able to update this program, which would certainly be a bummer.

seycyrus · May 2018

While the mentioned thread about imagemagik might seem to be complicated, it isn't. It's mostly folks talking about the ins and outs.

Install the program.
Copy some files.
Open a file.
Copy and paste the 4 lines. You can copy it right from the forum thread.

Loopysue · May 2018

Remy - any chance of a 'definitive guide for dummies' instruction set on how to do this? Pretty please?

I nearly did it, but when I carried on reading to the end of the thread I was a bit put off by the tech-speak you guys got into about the pros and cons of this or that version, and decided it would be too easy to make a mistake, and for everything to be much worse after I had made that mistake.

You know me - I have a totally literal brain. I've never been able to process any convoluted or hazy bits

Lorelei · May 2018

Posted By: seycyrusWhile the mentioned thread about imagemagik might seem to be complicated, it isn't. It's mostly folks talking about the ins and outs.

Install the program.
Copy some files.
Open a file.
Copy and paste the 4 lines. You can copy it right from the forum thread.

While I appreciate your help in this matter your response doesn't offer anything useful. Although, what may seem uncomplicated to you, is very complicated to me. I am not comfortable installing and copying files into directories i know nothing about, as i have NO computer knowledge other than actually using one. And if i did something wrong, who would be here to fix my error? I'd never offer you advice such as "just stitch up your own wound, it's easy, grab the skin folds and just start sewing, no sweat". So to you, who may know what ImageMagick is, what it does, and why it has suddenly been affected by this update, i do not and just saying "it's easy" doesn't offer any help in the matter - it still scares the crap out of me.

Sorry, to sound snarky, but my point was that the whole point of an "update" is to address and fix issues with the program not cause new ones, and frankly an update that causes more issues and slows things down and require one to start downloading and making code changes, is not an effective update, in my opinion.

elvwood · May 2018

If it helps, this is what I did (only for 64-bit Windows versions). After looking at the fastest version I decided it was too complicated for me at the moment, so went for the easiest option (which should still be a 10x speedup).

Download the 64-bit portable version of ImageMagick. It's currently the last one on the list on this page. Note this is a zip file, not an exe. At the moment the file is called ImageMagick-7.0.7-35-portable-Q16-x64.zip.
Make sure Campaign Cartographer isn't running.
Find your CC3Plus install directory (for me it's "C:\Program Files (x86)\ProFantasy\CC3Plus"). Rename the ImageMagick folder to something else (e.g., ImageMagick.old) so you can get it back easily if something goes wrong. Create a new ImageMagick folder.
Open the downloaded zip file, and copy three files into the new ImageMagick folder: convert.exe, LICENSE.txt, and magic.xml. (In theory you only need the exe, but I found it complained about the xml file being missing when I did my first export, and I take the license file just because you're meant to.)
Find your data directory (the path should end in Profantasy\CC3Plus, but it's the one where all your symbols are rather than the program install).
Make a backup copy of CC3PlusCfg.xml. Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V is the simplest way (the backup file will then be called "CC3PlusCfg - Copy.xml").
Open CC3PlusCfg.xml in a text editor and find the line with just "<XP>" on it (on mine it's five lines down). The previous line should contain "<CampaignCartographer3Plus>". Add three lines in between them so it ends up looking like
```
<CampaignCartographer3Plus>
			<ImageMagickCmdLine>
				<memory/>
			</ImageMagickCmdLine>
			<XP>
```
Save it, and give it a try.

Is that any use?

Lorelei · May 2018

Thank you for your comment Elvwood....but how would i know if I have 64-bit Windows version???? I don't even know what that is. See what i mean??? My remedial computer knowledge : 1. Install program. 2. Open program. 3. Program should work. The End. Thank you, but i am not going to be making any changes such as this to my system. I also have NO idea how it will affect anything else, as I don't even know what ImageMagick is. This is really just very annoying and frustrating that one should have to make these kind of changes to ones system in order for an update to function properly. Just negates the whole point of an "update" if you ask me. So, thank you all for your advice, but until PF can come up with solution that doesn't require it's users to know and utitlize more than remedial tech knowledge, i will be refraining from doing anything further.

elvwood · May 2018

Yeah, it's definitely not ideal. I was just hoping a single, step-by-step report of what I did might be enough. Sorry it doesn't do the trick. :(

(By the way, I limited it to 64-bit because that's what I'd got so it's the only one I'd done, and I didn't want to just make assumptions about how the rest works and send people up the wrong creek.)

If you need to know if your system is 64-bit, by the way, it's one of those things that's easy to find once you've been told what to do and very hard if you haven't. Go to your Windows settings (for example by holding the Windows key and pressing i), then click on the System button, then click on the About button at the bottom of the list on the left. You get a screen of information - under "Device specifications" there's a line beginning "System type". If it says "64-bit operating system", that's what you've got. It doesn't matter about the rest of that line.

Grr, it takes so much longer for someone to describe these things and then someone else to follow the description than it does to show or direct someone when you're in the same room!

Lorelei · May 2018

Thanks Elvwood. So, I do have a 64-bit whatever

I think i'll ask my techy player I DM for next week on our meet up to take a look at this and the other thread regarding ImageMagick, etc. If he is comfortable with the changes, then i'll have him do it and hope for the best. For now, i'll just stick with the last version, as it gives me no problems saving my world map at such high res and anti-aliasing

Loopysue · May 2018

Thank you for all your hard work, Elvwood.

It is much appreciated

JimP · May 2018

Some of this stuff seems written in Sanskrit to me to, and I've been a computer tech for over 30 years.

ScottA · May 2018

Yes, not to beat this dead horse, but I'm also one of those tech-phobic folks who are too scared to go in and start changing lines of programming text, although I think my system could benefit from it as well, as I am experiencing some long rendering waits and memory error messages, too. If only a patch of some sort could be made by the techies that would just do the changes with a download and a click, that would be fantastic. But maybe that's not do-able..?

Loopysue · May 2018

Just for the record - tech support has already been informed of the problem

Ralf · May 2018

Thanks everybody for reporting this and the comments on how to circumvent it. We are aware of the problem and hopefully will have a fix soon. We are also working on a solution to provide the improved 64-bit export in an "official" way.

We most certainly do not expect anyone to mess with the details of the Windows system and program installation to solve any technical issues! Always do only those things you feel comfortable with. Alternative solutions and technical help by the community is much appreciated though.

ProFantasy Community Forum

Hang up saving since latest update

Comments