Issue importing a custom object

[SickAlice]

Never ran into this problem before but I've run into a lot of new ones since the new laptop/system and Steam version of 
Anyways I made a building for my map, put it in the Templates tab in the Editor. Went to edit in game, hit C and browsed but it just isn't there.
Any ideas?

Editing to document it and maybe add the clarity I should have, most of the issues are similar and seem to relate to path. Like the new thing other than the system, this is 10 x64, is the C: GOG Games path for the Steam version vs the Program Files path the disc version would normally install to. But the Program Files assignments appear left in in certain places and related programs. I had an issue, talked about it in Alex's thread where there were weird assignments in Editor, changed them of course. But at times it randomly changes back to those assignments, no real visible reason for it to happen. No other system issues happening btw aside the usual over sensitive mouse interactivity that comes with 10. Other standing issues are things like I can't write language files, dats and such. So also I can't install voices. The only things I can seem to install are 1. characters in the typical Custom Directory 2. Missions that utilize in game resources 3. Full mods (FFX, Map Pack, so on), FX with an installer 4. My own FX however the Mods like FFX will not recognize the new additions no matter what I do. I always run as Admin. All directories and files are individually checked to make sure all Security options are allowed and Read Only turned off.

My knowledge of code is mediocre or better to say old school. I learned from DOS For Dummies and on 95. News systems blew past me, I never had the time to invest to understand this stuff. But anyways if this helps suss out what the issue is. I also know from studying I'm not unique with this problem. Game docs suggest a template.txt with no description thereof though I read that's nonsense and again, I never had these issues before. Last system in fact I had a Test Stage where I imported any object and character of my choosing just I could take measurements and check for bugs. It made no difference what directory anything was in, I could navigate to it in the Level Edit. Same with voices and FX just carried over to FFX when installed in Editor (Secondary Data path set to FFX). So I'm not able to see what the issue is. Is it the directory not being Program Files? I know that DID cause problems in the past on other system.

Any help is appreciated. It's a bummer of course to not be able to test out the stuff I make and I make a decent amount of content, much more than I actually release.

[BentonGrey]

So, this may be a silly question, but do you have a "template" text file in the mesh folder with the same name in it as the template entry for the object?  If not, the map editor won't be able to "see" it.

[SickAlice]

I was just editing this while you responded and typed about that thing. I do not though I never had to and I read here and elsewhere anyone has said this makes no matter. Also I have no idea what a template.txt file is supposed to contain, the Help docs don't outline that. They just state near the bottom of a page that a file named template.txt is needed for directories other than Custom characters (which is hogwash because I install FX). But if you know how I would love to give it a shot?

[BentonGrey]

Haha, I really need to make another map-making tutorial and talk about this kind of stuff, the stuff that isn't documented anywhere else and that I've learned through trial and error! 

Yeah, it's actually the simplest thing in the world.  Copy the "template.txt" from any other object and paste it into your object's folder.  Then open the new txt up, erase the text in it, and write in whatever name you gave the object in FFEdit.  It has to match exactly.  Save.  That is it.  Essentially, that is what tells FFEdit's map editor what objects are called.  It can't "see" them without a template.txt.

[SickAlice]

I would appreciate it and I don't think I'm alone. We had a heck of tutorial but the page was lost in the archives. And the game docs just don't cover the little bits.

And that worked. Dropped a copied template.txt in the directory (saved copy elsewhere for easy use). Hit C, showed up. I don't know where it actually placed the object or if it's not visible for some reason but those are the types of things I can work out (it's an issue with how I made the nif I'm sure or texture, probably that used too old of a version of Nifskope, this was all I needed solved. What a silly solution. I suppose it always is. Looking in apple trees for acorns, like I said.

Though if you any idea what might be up with the generating dats for voice packs and such (it only gives me a "Can't create dat" with no description of the problem error) and why FFX isn't registering FX I put in the Editor (I have to write them into FFX's dats don't I? I want to be sure though before doing that) I would be pleased. All this is needed stuff for me to be able to look at creations before releasing them of course.

[BentonGrey]

You made sure to edit the interior text of the template.txt to match the name from FFEdit?  If it's not showing up, then yeah, that's probably something with the mesh itself.  I can't be as much help there, but let me know how it turns out!  Yeah, it's hard to look for what you don't know exists!

Hmm...I'd assume that there is something wrong with one or both of the dats?  I don't think I've encountered that.  I ran into some kind of error once, when I was trying to generate strings.dats after M25's Lang tool had, unbeknownst to me, introduced a bunch of spaces and line breaks that caused the thing to choke.  I had to go through the entire strings.txt (which, for the DCUG, is MASSIVE), and check EVERY SINGLE LINE.  Urg.  It could be something like that, some error in the txts that isn't immediately apparent, but I feel like my issue caused a crash rather than an error message, though I'm not sure.

What is the process you're using to try to generate the dat?

Make sure you are editing the FFX mod folder if you want to add FX to it (in your FFEdit data paths).  If you do that, and if the files are in your main data directory OR the FFX directory, they SHOULD show up.

[SickAlice]

Yeah I did except I'm a doofus, or my mind is too much in nunchaku animations and yardwork because I had also instead gave it a distinct name in the editor. Name of file which I put in the text was "xh1" but in editor I named it "bldgx". So I could find it quicker alphabetically and given the Windows 10 mouse sensitivity makes that directory search a bit of a pain to do. Anyways changed it and it showed up now.

Though and I know this is as important as .dds over .tga it's important to save these the same as FX and anything with particle emitters and/or keyframes with versions of Nifskope with black backgrounds. Anything with a grey version before that will break a  file. Just a note for whoever needs it, I do most of my character.nif work with a grey bg version, the later black bg versions have issues with path assignments.

So that's one down though and an important one. Again say the Turtle stuff this is how I measure and create the proper height for things.

Dat is just a speech add on, TigerClaw that someone put together for me. So I'm generating it by going to the language folder and the speech.txt is all. Lines look okay, there's a space at the end and I don't know if that's an issue.

For FX I thought about moving them to the FFX folder yes and then reinputting them. I have to do the last bit anyways, this is one of the things that tends to change randomly in the Editor, FX I added will just not be one day. I assume it's the thing where the data, art and so on paths keep changing back to the one that FFX defaulted to for some reason in Steam. I talked about it and I think to you in Alex's thread and wrote the weird name there. No computer or path name I've ever even heard of.

[BentonGrey]

Ha, no worries; I've certainly done that!  Glad you sorted it out.

Speech dat: so, there can be line-breaks, but there cannot be space at the end of a line.  That will cause it to choke, I think.  Walk me through your process.  You've copied the speech text entries into your speech.txt, and you've got your dat generator line pointed at your Lang/English file where that txt file is, right?  For the record, I like to point the output one level up, as that helps to avoid some errors.

Are you talking about that super mysterious "Shodan Project" or whatever it is, which doesn't correspond to any actual directory?  Yeah, always check your datapaths for FFEdit.

[SickAlice]

The Shodan Project, yes. I fixed all that but every now and then it resets to all that. I don't what cause the bug, I don't see anything significant happening when that happens. Just sometimes I look and those settings are back again.

So starters the input and output directory is as follows, not one directory up here of course:

C:\GOG Games\Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich\Data\Lang\English

The error is bland and just reads with no indication as to why:

Error copying C:\GOG Games\Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich\Data\Lang\English\speech.txt to directory

All files and folders have been checked so all Security options are available and unchecked for Read Only, though again Windows 10 does seem to just reset those.

In the Editor a Template is created, Use Voice is checked and in the Character tab also created, Campaign Only unchecked with a speech ID entered that is not otherwise in use. The sound files are in the pointed to directory which is in it's own as was in the txt file that came with it, /Data/Sounds/Speech/English/TigerClaw/. The text that came with has been copied to the speech.txt file at the bottom and saved. That file was otherwise unaltered since I installed the game until this time so everything in it is as it came minus the new entry at the bottom. And that is as follows with the space at the top which is how it came. Sharing as a txt file due to the posting character limits, sorry:

http://catman.freedomforceforever.com/temp/speech.txt


The file made for me on request is found for dl here and also this is where I brought up the intitial issue:
http://www.freedomreborn.net/forums/index.php?topic=60972.msg832692#msg832692


And that's about it I think? Thanks for the help on this stuff.

[BentonGrey]

Okay, first off, I'd set your output directory one level up to ensure you don't run into weird errors by reading and writing from and to the same place.  That isn't the problem here, I'm pretty sure, but I know it caused me some grief long ago.

So, it looks like you're doing everything right, and it also looks like the problem is definitely with the speech.txt file itself.  Now, it's been a long while since I messed with this, but I think you have to have a line-break after the last line of the speech file.  So, go to the very end, hit enter, save, and try it again. 

[SickAlice]

I know it isn't the line break and the reason is the break was originally there (I remembered to leave that for some reason). It didn't work and the one I uploaded is a second attempt where I moved the line break after the fact. Also didn't work. Is it the break at the top? I'll try changing the directory today yet.

[BentonGrey]

So you put an extra space/line break at the end of the whole document, and it still didn't work?

[SickAlice]

It was there to begin with. I came along when I copied the new lines in so I didn't alter the first time. I only did that later as a test. I changed it back now, put a space at the end. No dice. Up on directory results in a file not found error so I moved back to the original directory. I did all this as Admin. in case that's a step. I pretty much always do now anyways, Win10 seems fussy about it all.