G_FindConfigstringIndex

[AKPiggott]

Damnit...

 

Near the end of my level, it crashes and I get this error:

 

G_FindConfigstringIndex: overflow adding sound/weapons/saber/bounce1 to set 266-256

 

Anyone got any idea what the problem is? I've never encountered it before, and the area where it appears used to work fine and I haven't made any changes to it since the last compile (when it worked fine).

[AKPiggott]

I think I've figured out some of this problem...

 

It seems there's a limit to how many sounds you can have in a level, which really sucks because my level is hudely dependent on sound effects for atmopshere.

 

Is there a compile option or anything that can change this value?

[AKPiggott]

Does anyone have any idea? Please? This level is very near completion and it'll be a shame if I have to cancel its release because of this stupid error.

[AKPiggott]

OK.. I've been searching all over the net for more info on this error. I've searched gaming forums for every Quake III game that I can think of and I haven't found out much at all. It seems that the level just has too many sounds in it, which is a right pain. In its current state, it has 141 lines of dialogue. There's still about 20 lines that need adding. There's also lots of atmospheric sounds in the level. Since my last compile, the only sounds I've added are 11 lines of dialogue. So that means, if I remove the same amount of sounds, the level should work alright. But this poses a huge problem, because I don't want to remove any sounds, in fact I still want to be able to add sounds.

 

Is there any way I can unload sounds? For example later on in the level, I could remove the atmospheric sounds that appeared earlier on? I've tried having it so that all of the "target_speaker" entities near the start of the level are deactivated and removed later on, but I still get the error. My guess is the sound file is still registered in the level, or something.

[AKPiggott]

Hmmm.. I coverted all of my sound effects to mono (they should've been like that anyway), that's helped prevent it, I still get the error though, but less frequently.

[AKPiggott]

Problem solved. I lowered the quality of all the voices. They now take up a quarter of the space that they used to.

 

I'd like to say it's been riveting discussing this topic with you all, and thanks for all the advice you gave. I'm sure I couldn't do it without you.

[AKPiggott]

I suppose I was wrong.

 

I tested the level again and the error is still there.

 

I swear, if I don't find a way of removing this error then I am going to scrap this level.

[Code]

void trap_GetConfigstring( int num, char *buffer, int bufferSize )

int num: The config string to be read

char *buffer: A pointer to a buffer to fill with the config string value.

int bufferSize: The size of the buffer.

 

This is a server side callback used to get the value of a config string. It is only used once in the q3 source, by the G_FindConfigstringIndex function which in turn is used by the G_ModelIndex and G_SoundIndex functions.

 

so (i guess) its probably a problem with a model and or sound

near the end of your level ??

 

/me wants party crasher

 

hope this helps a little ...

[wedge2211]

If it's related to the number of sounds, you could try stringing some of the ambient sounds into one file to reduce the total number...

 

<desperately thinks of ideas to sustain Party Crasher>

[Kyle_KatarnJedi]

I have no idea about the error, but if it is about to many sounds, perhaps you could chop the level up from like 1 big level to perhaps 5 medium sized ones? Then Again thats a lot of work, I'll keep looking for you....

[master_thomas]

In agreement with Kyle_KatarnJedi, you may have to chop the level. Two pieces released together could work. I think Mainframe did that(haven't played that in a while so I don't remember). This would work as Kyle_KatarnJedi said. Since one level is easier and smoother, are you sure this is the problem? Try deleting the 11 speakers you added just before the error. If this works, it is either too many sounds, or one of those sounds has a problem, so try putting those back in and temporarily removing 11 others. If this works, it is too many sounds and if it doesn't it was a faulty sound. If nothing I said works, that isn't the source.

 

If it is too many sounds and you aren't going to get rid of any of them, you may have to split it at a door.

 

Please don't cancel Party Crasher.

[Kengo]

Originally posted by AKPiggott

Problem solved. I lowered the quality of all the voices. They now take up a quarter of the space that they used to.

 

I'd like to say it's been riveting discussing this topic with you all, and thanks for all the advice you gave. I'm sure I couldn't do it without you.

 

This is the problem you get when you ask a question no one has a clue about, no one has ever used enough sounds in a level to have the problem before I guess? I'm sure everyone would want to help (if for nothing else then for the selfish wish to play the level), but no one wants to say anything that might be obvious to someone who knows their stuff.

 

All I can think of is the kind of stuff other people have already said. Spliting the level into two would be a bit of a pain I know, but it's surely massively preferable to quiting the whole project when its about 97% complete by the sound of it? There must be at least one point where there is a natural kind of break or half way intermission where you could cut it in half, I don't think any players would mind (remember all those damn load things in the middle of corridors in HL, hundreds of them).

 

Also as has been suggested, maybe try taking those 11 samples you added in out, and see what happens, then you can at least eliminate the possiblity that there is anything specifically wrong with them.

 

This is party of personal interest, but what sound quality did you set the voices down to? In Occupation I had over 10meg of voice files, and no problems of this kind, it was maybe 12 or 13 meg, I can't say for sure as the file isn't on this pc, but about that much. Was the amount you had more than that?

 

I had a massive problem with lights on a map a while ago, nothing I tried worked, and in the end I had to delete the lot and put em all in again. It was a pain, but it did work fine after. As a final option you could delete ALL the sound entitys in the map, all the target_speakers, compile, and see if it works. If it does, and you added them all back in, you might find it works (possibly after selecting the whole map minus those speaker entites and copying and pasting it to a new map, and saving it over the previous version - don't ask me why, it can work for some problems with no explanation) - I know this is an awful amount of time, but again it seems infinitely preferable to quiting the whole thing at this stage.

 

I genuinely hope you solve the problem, and I'm sure everyone else here feels the same.

[AKPiggott]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

Splitting the level into two is not an option I'm afraid. Mace's saber will change to blue on the second level.

 

I e-mailed Mike at Raven, but I am yet to hear from him.

 

One thought I did have, the part where you fight the end boss has a lot of target_speakers. So I thought it might be that. But I tried spawning the boss earlier on in the level and the problem still persists. So there's nothing wrong with the area. I might delete all the target_speakers anyway though and replace them with a soundset trigger. The target_speakers have been in place for a while now though and I've never had this problem before. However, as well as adding those 11 samples, one of the last things I did was set the target_speakers triggerable because I could hear them throughout some of the level. It seems unlikely, but maybe that is contributing to the problem also.

[AKPiggott]

I just an an inspiring notion...

 

As well as implementing the 11 sound effects and changing the target_speakers, I also added eight trigger_multiples, eight target_deactivates, eight target_activates and eight target_scriptrunners.

 

My guess is the level has too many entites, and I know exactly how I can cut down on them.

[Emon]

I say you try Q3Map2 again. Version 2.5.2 completely redid the raytracing code and made a huge number of changes. 2.5.3 added lightstyle support for JO and SoF2.

 

There's a decent chance it would work now. Remember, Q3Map2 cuts down on numbers of entities in the actual BSP, e.g. light entities.

[Emon]

You can also use fx_runners to simulate the ghost object sound used in JK.

 

Just make an EFX file, add a sound object, give it volume, radius, etc. In the entity's properties, set it's loop time to the exact length of the sound in milliseconds, which you can find with Goldwave or another utility. Pong! You have a new way of adding sound that's more flexible than target_speakers.

[AKPiggott]

I'll try Q3Map2, but it probably won't work again.

 

Can you please list what extensions I need on it to make a full compile?

[Emon]

q3map2 -game jk2 -bsp -meta -patchmeta

q3map2 -game jk2 -vis

q3map2 -game jk2 -light -fast -patchshadows -super 2 -filter

 

Add -bounce 8 to the light stage for radiosity, but that will have to go overnight, possibly into the day (8 bounces, it's like relighting the map 8 times) but looks amazing if used right.

[Leslie Judge]

Emon, what about fs_game and fs_base?

[AKPiggott]

It's OK, I found my old Q3Map2 BAT.

 

Damnit... I forgot how slow Q3Map2 is on "vis", it takes about three times as long as SOF2Map.

[AKPiggott]

After five hours of compiling (as opposed to SOF2Maps two and a half), I was greeted with this:

 

 

Although the error is pretty much the same in effect, the message given is different. It used to say "NullPolyShader ERROR".

[Code]

originay posted by shadriss in the WIP:RPG commenor thread

he was referering to the error "NullPolyShader ERROR"

 

OK, I got it all figured out. I's always been under the impresion that that error happened because you were using to many shader FILES. THis, ,apparently, was incorrect. It's how many surfaces a shader is applied TOO that causes this.

 

hope this helps

[wedge2211]

Originally posted by AKPiggott

Damnit... I forgot how slow Q3Map2 is on "vis", it takes about three times as long as SOF2Map.

 

?

[master_thomas]

Originally posted by AKPIGGOT

 

Splitting the level into two is not an option I'm afraid. Mace's saber will change to blue on the second level.

 

In your other thread "Suggestions for SP editors" I think it was, didn't someone post a solution to this? This may only work when hitting the new game icon, but I hope this works. If not, you can always switch the gfx/effects/sabers/blue_glow2.jpg and gfx/effects/sabers/blue_line.jpg and the purple ones so the default blue saber is purple. That way, it will always be purple as long as the mod is activated.

[Emon]

Originally posted by master_thomas

In your other thread "Suggestions for SP editors" I think it was, didn't someone post a solution to this? This may only work when hitting the new game icon, but I hope this works. If not, you can always switch the gfx/effects/sabers/blue_glow2.jpg and gfx/effects/sabers/blue_line.jpg and the purple ones so the default blue saber is purple. That way, it will always be purple as long as the mod is activated.

 

The dynamic light color won't change.