Printing Problems
Shessar
🖼️ 34 images Mapmaker
I used to print my maps all of the time but then went to using a TV to display them. Without going into the many hours I've spent mucking with my laptop I will just say that my HDMI port seems to be mostly dead so I must print. I have a new laptop ordered because this one has had just too many hardware problems for me to want to deal with it anymore so I'm not looking for hardware advice, just printing advice.
I also have to DM tonight and need maps. I'm trying to print several different battlemaps to scale and each time CC3+ hangs, reports not responding, and uses very high CPU. The printer shows that it is spooling but never gets to printing (30 minutes before I shut it down. CPU temp was going up. Fans were racing)
I am trying to print to PDF using the Microsoft Print to PDF driver. I've also tried printing directly to my printer with the same results. The map takes 4 x 4 sheets to print, so not huge. The map does use effects but I know I've printed maps many times before with no problem. Forgive my language but WTF?
Help my friends. You are my only hope.
Comments
That's really odd. I've not seen it before.
How large are these exports in terms of pixel dimensions?
Have you tried exporting to JPEG and then printing the JPEG files instead?
Thanks for your thoughts Sue. :)
I have no idea of the size in pixels. The print wizard fits the map at a 1" = 5' scale on 4 x 4 sheets of paper with a 5% overlap. The preview comes up perfect with or without an overlap. It just won't print. I would have no idea how to go about printing a jpg to scale.
I'm out of time on this now anyway, so will just end up sketching it out on the Chessex mat. Bummer to finally make a map again and not be able to use it. Makes me sad.😥
I will need to figure this out for next week though so I'm all ears if anyone has a suggestion.
It sounds like it would be handy to find out how to print a JPEG before next week, since that would completely bypass the issue with sending the map straight to print from CC3.
Try clicking cancel on the CC3 printing dialog (the one that appears after the initial print thing) and then click cancel on the PDF writer a few seconds later. I had this sort of problem with the Adobe PDF writer a couple of days ago and that did the trick.
I am told that there are some changes made to improve security in Windows over the last couple of years that can mess with older programs doing print jobs.
Win 10 strikes again!
I use Bullzip pdf/png printer. I haven't had the above problem with it. it is free.
@jslayton Thanks for the info. Unfortunately this did not work for me. While I appreciate the increased security offered by Win10 I now wonder what new devilry Win11 will cause with older software. Sigh.
@JimP So you have printed maps to battlemap scale with this without a problem? I may try it while I wait for my new laptop to arrive and can get myself to reload all of the software...again. Thanks for the suggestion!
Not battlescale, but I have printed to png and pdf with it. I just checked and under settings it can be set to fit to page or a scale.
As for finding out about Win 11, here is a forum dedicated to it. https://www.elevenforum.com
I've decided to stick with Win 10. Better the Devil you know than the Devil you don't!
I really recommend working out how to print a JPEG. You should be able to print it from GIMP, using the printer settings there to set the size and number of pages you want.