Black Nav map problem
 

Hi all - I'm having a strange problem with some DW scenarios I downloaded from Sub Guru's site. They are a pack of Demo Scenario Mods by BrettDez that appear to be modded demo scenarios.

When I start them (DW 1.04) the Nav map is pitch black. I have tried to open them in the editor to see if the Nav map view was disabled, but they don't show in the list.

Here's what I see:

http://www.smithcorp.com.au/images/DW/brettdez.jpg

Any ideas what it could be and whether I can fix it? I'm pretty sure the Nav map should be showing.

Other scenarios work just fine.

thanks

smith

Never heard of this before. Sounds like some kind of graphicscard driver issue. What type of card and driver version do you have?

Judging by the 3d window it looks as if your sub is under ice. Try to use "Shift i" to see if you can get a (different) map overlay, which maybe makes the map not black anymore. Just a wild guess to a solution.

Thanks Pisces. I'm running a Geforce 8600GTS. Not the latest drivers 174.74, but they work well with everything else I have on the machine.

I'll give your Shift I suggestion a try, but I get the same black screen on the other of his scenarios that don't involve ice.

Edit: tried Shift I - didn't do anything. I'm a bit stumped. Might have to just not play those scenarios.

smith

Wel, I have no experience with Geforces. Maybe somebody else can tell more. But I highly doubt it's because it came from Subguru's site. It's safe to say it's the most used place to download them from. If others would have this too it would have been noticed. Besides, the scenario loads so it probably isn't corrupt.

What are your other graphic settings, in DW aswel as in desktop settings in windows: colordepth, resolution, AntiAlias, Anisotropic filtering, etc.

Confirmed. Both my desktop and my laptop are doing the same thing with these missions.

My next idea was that they may have been made with the demo version of the game and so maybe I could load them in the mission editor and re-save them. No dice.They don't show up in the mission editor nowmatter what load screen you use including the import one. You can't even see the files. I think these are the ACTUAL files from the Dangerous Waters demo and they aren't fully compattable with the full game.

Cheers Blacklight - glad to see its not just me. I suspect your suggested explanation is what the issue is. Oh well, I'll just pass over these. BrettDez hasn't posted here since 2005 so I don't expect we could even ask him.

cheers

smith

I've never tried the demo, but I wonder if the mission editor is functional enough to allow us to look at these missions so they can be re-created manually. Then we'd have them.

Whoops, totally missed that part about it being a demo mission.

I think I have found out why:

In the ConvoyAttackDemo.ms file (but the others similarly) are the following 2 lines near the top.

GRIDNAME "Kilo Demo_grid.dgd"
TERRAINNAME "Kilo Demo_terrain.dgd"

In (any) other scenarios (like Subguru's Ambush) I can't find such references to .dgd files. And the Demo_grid.dgd is not part of a propper 1.04 instal of DW.

Maybe if you remove those lines from the demo scenarios the black map is solved.

Guess what ? it seems to have fixed it ! I'll do some playing of the scenario to see how it plays out and if it really IS fixed. Everything so far seems to work fine and I can see the map again !

This makes the mission playable, but it still won't show up in the mission editor.

This is great news. Is there any chance these corrected missions (from the BrettDez pack on Bill's site) be uploaded somewhere please, as I wouldn't have a clue how to fix them myself.

It's these ones: http://www.subguru.com/DW_missions/B..._Scenarios.zip

thanks in advance

smith

VERY easy. Right click on the mission file. Select "OPEN" from the menu. A window will come up saying Windows cannot open this file and will geve you a choice of using the Web service to find the appropriate program or selecting the program from a list.
Choose "Select the program from a list"
Scroll down the list and sellect "Notepad"

You'll find that these scenario files are actually text files.
Then for each scenario delete these two lines:

For Convoy Attack: delete
GRIDNAME "Kilo Demo_grid.dgd"
TERRAINNAME "Kilo Demo_terrain.dgd"

For Convoy Defense: delete
GRIDNAME "Kilo Demo_grid.dgd"
TERRAINNAME "Kilo Demo_terrain.dgd"

For KilovsViktor: delete
GRIDNAME "MH-60 Demo_grid.dgd"
TERRAINNAME "MH-60 Demo_terrain.dgd"

For MH-60 ASuW: delete
GRIDNAME "MH-60 Demo_grid.dgd"
TERRAINNAME "MH-60 Demo_terrain.dgd"

Then just select save. (not Save As) and you're done. :up:

Easy as that eh? Cheers mate!

Quick update: made those edits to the missions and they work fine now. Thanks Blacklight for your help!