CA 63 Weirdness
I've been using CC3 (and assorted add-ons) now since November of 2012, and feel somewhat competent in it's general use (though there's still a lot to learn). That being said, I've encountered a weird anomaly with CA 63 John Roberts Cities that I thought I'd share here. Maybe someone can set me straight.
I noticed that there seems to be a problem with stone city walls (both single and connecting). When I place towers over top of the breaks, everything looks OK until I turn on the sheet effects. Once on, the stone walls are always being drawn on top of towers. The only way I've found to correct this is to edit properties and change the sheet for each and every piece, which works but is rather time consuming. Both stone wall types and towers default to the symbols sheet when selected and placed. Oddly enough, this problem doesn't crop up with the wooden city walls. Examples shown below:
Also, the program is giving me an awful time rendering these close-ups with the sheet effects turned on (to save as a rectangular section JPEG). The example 2 pic took 30 minutes to create! It seems like the closer an area you select, the longer and harder it is for the program to render a rectangular section JPEG with the effects on. Maybe it's just my computer. I'm running a HP Pavilion a1640n, Windows XP MCE SP3, IntelCore 2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86 GHz and 2.49 GB of RAM.
I noticed that there seems to be a problem with stone city walls (both single and connecting). When I place towers over top of the breaks, everything looks OK until I turn on the sheet effects. Once on, the stone walls are always being drawn on top of towers. The only way I've found to correct this is to edit properties and change the sheet for each and every piece, which works but is rather time consuming. Both stone wall types and towers default to the symbols sheet when selected and placed. Oddly enough, this problem doesn't crop up with the wooden city walls. Examples shown below:
Also, the program is giving me an awful time rendering these close-ups with the sheet effects turned on (to save as a rectangular section JPEG). The example 2 pic took 30 minutes to create! It seems like the closer an area you select, the longer and harder it is for the program to render a rectangular section JPEG with the effects on. Maybe it's just my computer. I'm running a HP Pavilion a1640n, Windows XP MCE SP3, IntelCore 2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86 GHz and 2.49 GB of RAM.
Comments
I think I'll reload that annual to see what happens. I'll post back with my results.
Looking forward to a fix.
Thx,
Miri
Things to note:
*If I turn off the effects on the sheet, this still happens.
*If I actually remove the effects from the sheet, it works fine.
*Most effects cause this, but the Transparency effect does not.
*The Blur effect blurs the towers but not the walls.
*When any effect is applied, the Bring to Front and Send to Back commands do not function.
*This only happens when the walls and towers are on the same sheet.
I have never seen anything like this before and have no idea what would cause it. I'll submit this for Tech Support.
The technical way to fix this (for existing maps):
- "Edit" the symbol from the symbol manager
- type SHADEPICT at the command line and select the bitmap
- close and save the symbol
The easy way (for future maps):
- extract the attached symbol catalogs over your CC3/Symbols/Cities/CA63 Jon Roberts/ folder overwriting the existing CA63 Walls and CA83 All catalogs.
I had already spotted that difference with the Roof Shades flag, but I couldn't see why on earth that would cause the problem (I incorrectly assumed that since there was no map file, this flag had no meaning), so I assumed it had to be something else.
Ralf wrote:
- "Edit" the symbol from the symbol manager
- type SHADEPICT at the command line and select the bitmap
- close and save the symbol
I assume I start on the existing map - this might be my problem.
I then click Symbols>Symbol Manager which gives me a catalog that allows me to choose the symbol CA63 City Wall.
I select the symbol and select edit. The Command Prompt asks: "New Window Corner:"
I'm pretty sure this isn't were I want to be.
Am I starting off in the wrong place?
Do I need to do this for each placed wall symbol on the map, which, frankly, would suck, due to the number of walls I've drawn?
Do I need to do this on a new blank map?
Thanks,
Miri
Steve
1) I open my city map.
2) I select Symbols from the menu bar, then symbol manager.
This opens a pop-up window "Symbol Manager" with the Display Symbols box checked (but not the Show Fill Style Symbols). The CA63 wall symbols are shown in the pop-up (and on the left side where you select symbols for the map). The Command Prompt reads: Command [SYMICONFNEXT]: SYMMGR
3) I select CA63 City Wall, which lights up the Edit option, which I select. The Pop-up box disappears, the command prompt now reads: new window corner, and the cursor lets me draw a box. The Command Prompt reads: Command [SYMMGR]: I drew the box over the whole map and typed SHADEPICT, then enter. That put a screen-sized blown-up of the wall and crashed the program. A smaller box shows what looks like a tab with the minimize, restore down and close buttons with a red box with the wall symbol in it.
4) If I select the wall symbol in the red box, the pop-up reappears with no symbols in it. My options are New, Purge, Import, Import PNGs, Convert or OK. I select OK, the box disappears. I select x to close the box. I get a box that says "OK to keep changes to the symbol CA63 City Wall - This is NOT undoable." I select yes.
I did this with both the City Wall and the short 20' City Wall symbols.
Redrew the map, turned on sheet effects and still no fix.
Perhaps I not selecting the bitmap. I don't see anything that says save.
Thanks - Miri
1) I should be working with the wall symbols not the tower symbols?
2)From the tool bar: Symbols => Symbol manager which gives me the symbol manager box with the "CA 63 walls catalog"
3)Select "City Wall 20'" (highlights) => select Edit. Draw a box in the white area around the map and the wall segment shows up. Should I draw the box over the bad walls? Command prompt is [SYMMGR]:
4)Type "SHADEPICT" - If I click on the wall symbol in the box I've drawn I get a pop-up of the Symbol Manager with no symbols in it. Is the wall symbol in the box the bitmap I'm supposed to be selecting? Or should I be selecting the wall sections on the map? This is a really dumb question, but does the bitmap = the symbol?
5) I "X" out of the box with the symbol in it. I get the "OK to keep changes..." I agree. Still Bad walls.
Thanks for any help.
Super Frustrated - Miri
2) Actually, the symbol manager will show you the symbols currently in your map, it is not related to any particular symbol catalog
3) Where you draw the box doesn't really matter. You are not drawing anything, you are just defining the position of a new editor window for the specific purpose of editing the symbol.
4) After typing SHADEPICT, make sure to hit space or enter to actually activate the command before trying to select the image. The reason you get the symbol manager pop up when you try to click the symbol is because you haven't activated a new command yet, so CC3 will execute the last command again (which is the symbol manager in this case). And yes, you are supposed to be selecting the wall bitmap in the new window you defined, not in your map. After selecting the bitmap, also remember to right click and select "do it" to finish the command as usual. And yes, the bitmap is basically the same as the symbol (there is a technical difference, but nothing you need to worry about in this procedure)
5) This is correct, but will only work if you got the other steps correct obviously. From your description, it seems to be in step four your problems lie.
Yes - step 4 was were my problem was. After typing SHADEPICT I didn't hit "Enter" or "Space Bar", which was my main problem. Doing that prompted me to select an entity - easy enough: the wall section in the box I drew. (For others - you can't select a problem wall on your actual map - there will not be the box prompt which narrows your choice down significantly). I closed out the box and still bad walls. To finish: YOU MUST RIGHT CLICK & CHOOSE "DO IT" after selecting an entity rather than closing and saving. I eventually figured that out.
Thanks again. I'll post a version of Topaz soon.
Cheers,
Miri