Catalogue symbols are all red crosses
Hi everyone,
It's been a while since I've used CC3+ and I've got a completely new computer. I've got all my symbols from the old computer transferred over and they are working fine, which is great, but I also made loads of symbols catalogues. They are not working and I need a little help if that's ok?
Basically, I set up loads of symbols catalogues for helping me to make battle maps for D&D. For example, I had a trees one that was set up as an FSC that would give me a different tree every time I pressed the button. As it stands they are just coming out as red crosses on a white square. Any help at all would be great!
Tim
Comments
Basically, this means that CC3+ cannot find the image files used in the catalogs. The catalogs contains references to image files on disk, and a typical problem when you move computers is that you didn't put these image files in the same location on the new computer as the old one.
If you made the symbol catalogs using relative paths, it should be enough that the location inside the CC3+ data directory is the same as on the old computer, even if the directory itself is in a different location, but if you used absolute paths in the catalog, the path to the images must be exactly the same as before.
I wrote a blog article about it here. I talk about maps there, but the exact same applies to symbol catalogs (there's no technical difference between symbol catalogs and maps)
Let us know if this helps you figure it out, or you need more help.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. That is a very clear description of the problem. I definitely used absolute paths, because when I tried the other ways it just didn’t work.
I use google drive to store all my files so the route should be exactly the same apart from the fact it’s not stored on the C drive, but on another drive because the laptop I’m using has very little space on its C drive.
Is there any way to fix this without putting my google drive on the C drive?
Beware you may have other issues if you are using a remote (active backup) drive when using CC3+ the syncing can cause you additional issue with the program, because when your Google Drive sees a change it will sync the file. Recommend you pick up an external drive as they are pretty cheap these days.
I have the data drive on my D: drive and have a folder for my active and archive files I'm working also on the D: drive.
That’s interesting Jeff. I’ve used google drive for a while and not noticed any issues. What sort of problems have you had. If possible, I’d really like to keep using it because it keeps my data safe from my own personal brand of idiocy
Is there any way to fix this without putting my google drive on the C drive?
Yes. If you look at the second half of the blog article I linked above, under the heading "How to Fix your maps" there are step by step instructions. I use a lot of changing absolute paths to relative paths in the instructions there, but you can of course change one absolute path with another.
You can also jump down to "Everything at Once" heading to find the instructions how to use the REPLACEIMAGENAMESDWG command to replace everything at once.
Do remember you'll have to fix both your symbol catalogs, as well as the maps you have inserted those symbols into.
This is one of the main disadvantages with absolute paths. Using them lets you store artwork outside your CC3+ data directory, but the price is that things will only work on the current computer, or one set up exactly like it. Personally, I prefer to keep things on the data directory, and use a backup script instead to put a copy in a safe location, like a cloud drive.
Thanks so much for helping me Monsen! I'll have a good look at the article.
Ok, I decided to take some time and make the routes exactly the same on both computers that I use. My laptop and my PC.
On my PC everything works fine.
On the Laptop, this has worked fine for my symbols, but for some reason not my symbols catalogues. So for example I have loads of different trees to make forests. If I open the file with the individual pictures of the trees I can place them fine with no red crosses. However, if I open a symbol catalogue that I had made a while ago set up to give me a random tree every time I press the button I get red crosses again.
I want to be able to use both computers with the drives syncing up, so I am concerned if I change the symbols catalogue on my laptop then it may no longer work on my PC. Will that be an issue? I also really don't understand why it works fine on the PC and only partially on the laptop. The routes have to be the same on both PC and laptop because it is coming from google drive, which is of course exactly the same on both computers.
I hope you can help!
On the Laptop, this has worked fine for my symbols, but for some reason not my symbols catalogues. So for example I have loads of different trees to make forests. If I open the file with the individual pictures of the trees I can place them fine with no red crosses. However, if I open a symbol catalogue that I had made a while ago set up to give me a random tree every time I press the button I get red crosses again.
The reason for this is simply that paths are embedded in the symbol catalog the same way as with the maps. When you load a symbol catalog, CC3+ looks for the images where the embedded paths in the symbol catalog say they are, which may or may not point to that folder of images next to it. When you just open up the folder of images on the other hand, it will always work, simply because you are opening up the path they are right now. Simply opening up a folder of images will always work (Well, at least there and then, maps created using the symbols like that may still display red X's when viewed from another computer), so this isn't really a good test if thing works.
The fact that it works on one computer and not another do tell me that there are some difference in your path somewhere. For example, is your google drive folder inside our profile folder on your computers? If they are (they normally would be), are you using the exact same username on both computer? If not, there will be a difference there.
A good, easy way to spot path problems is to first go to one of the computers, then using windows file explorer, hold down shift and right click on of the problematic image files and pick the "copy as path" option. Paste this into a text file. Then repeat on the other computer, making sure to pick the exact same file as before, and past this into the same file on the line below. This should make any differences very easy to spot. If those two lines are not 100% identical in their entirety from start to finish, you have your problem
One last note, when testing if symbol catalogs work, I recommend always starting a new blank map to test the symbol catalog with. Once you place a symbol in a map, CC3+ is going to keep using the reference in the map, so if this is incorrect, the symbol catalog will appear not to work even if things are OK. By starting with a blank map for each test, you can always be sure that the reason for whatever result is due to the symbol catalog, not existing symbols in the map.
Situations like these are why relative paths are STRONGLY recommended. Making absolute paths sync up across multiple PC's are a real hassle. I understand your desire to use a cloud drive for easy backup and synchronization, but this does complicate things a lot for CC3+, as once it is outside it's normal domain (the data directory), the only real way to specify file names are with absolute paths. If you feel comfortable using the command line in Windows, you can also create file system links (NOT the same as the shortcuts you can make in the Windows GUI normally) to make one folder appear multiple places, but that is a bit advanced and not recommended unless you already feel comfortable with filesystem type commands.
Ok, so both computers have the same user name and I have copied the info the way you suggested and this is what I found
"C:\Users\timhi\My Drive\D&D\D&D pics\CC3 symbols\Randoms\rocks2020.FSC"
"C:\Users\timhi\My Drive\D&D\D&D pics\CC3 symbols\Randoms\rocks2020.FSC"
They look identical to me, but maybe I'm being stupid. I have tried opening up a blank dungeon map with SS2 Dungeon A and still have the red crosses :(
Well, those look fine. Would you mind just attaching one of the problematic symbol catalogs here so I can just have a look at the symbol definitions in it? I don't need the image files, just the symbol catalog itself.
Sure and thanks!
Here's the path from the file for one of the symbols. Notice a bit of a difference?
"C:\Users\timhi\Google Drive\D&D\D&D pics\CC3 symbols\Randoms\rock new 2020\rock1.png"
With this path, it shouldn't work on either of the PC's. Why things may seem to work on your desktop pc may be one of these:
Ok, the first bullet point was correct. I created a route exactly the same and placed all my symbol catalogues in there and they now work. Also worked when I did the second bullet point. I will now see if I can simply rename parts of my google drive to get it all working perfectly, but in all honesty as it works now I'll probably just leave it as it is. Thank you so much for all the help I really appreciate it and I hope this thread helps someone else in the future :)