[Crash] How to prevent World Editor crashes with imported assets

[Serendipidus]

Hi

After discovering the World Editor for Warcraft 3 Reforged last week, I've been making maps and wanted to import custom unit models from the site.

It all started well and good. I was able to import the assets, and when I used the models they showed up fine in the Editor, and they also worked fine when I booted up the map to test them. All in all, it was a good start.

The problem arose when I tried opening the map again after closing the world editor, whereupon the Editor would crash when attempting to load the map. I did some testing and found out that the crashes only occurred if the asset/model had been assigned to a unit on the map. Simply importing the asset into the Asset Manager and having them lie there for hours on end caused no issue. The models would work without an issue when first used, and also work fine when playing the map through the game client. It was only after the Editor was completely closed, and then attempting to open the same map that it would crash when loading it. And it would crash 100% of the time when you tried to load the map. By contrast, my backup map with no custom models would load buttery smooth.

I am using Reforged graphics, and if it helps, these are the models I've tried to use.

HotS Traitor King Anub'arak + alts

Nerubian Traitor King Anub'arak from Heroes of the Storm by Blizzard Entertainment. Also included are Anub'arak's Carrion Beetle, Ice Anub'arak from Wrath of the Lich King and Cyb'arak. Well, let's be honest about this-- the only major reason why I fiddled with this guy is because I...

www.hiveworkshop.com

SilithidScarab

www.hiveworkshop.com

Eredar Twins

The Eredar Twins, two powerful female Eredar warlocks known as Grand Warlock Alythess, and Lady Sacrolash.. Both tasked with protecting Sunwell Plateau. _____ ○ Support is much appreciated and can assist in improving my resource(s)' quality/quantity

www.hiveworkshop.com

Gan'arg

This model is a commissioned unit. The gan'args are the main architects and engineers of the Burning Legion. Armed with a mechanical arm and a hammer, these small demons are the basic builders and recollectors of the fel armies. The model is fully animated to serve as the tier 0 builder for a...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Shivarra (Burning Crusade) [COLOR VARIATIONS]

Shivarra, cruel preachers of the Burning Legion! CHANGE SKIN-COLOR TEXTURES TO "Shivan1.blp" TO APPLY YOUR DESIRED COLOR! _____ ○ Support is much appreciated and can assist in improving my resource(s)' quality/quantity

www.hiveworkshop.com

Arcane Golem [COLOR VARIATIONS]

Arcane Golem(s) are powerful Arcane-infused constructs, mainly utilized by Blood Elves. CHANGE SKIN-COLOR TEXTURES TO "ArcaneGolem_Skin01.blp" TO APPLY YOUR DESIRED COLOR! _____ ○ Support is much appreciated and can assist in improving my resource(s)' quality/quantity

www.hiveworkshop.com

Legion Teleporter

Credits to Blizzard Features: 1.Adapted model size 2.Portrait Cam & Click ball 3.Improved light effect with light source and crystal glows

www.hiveworkshop.com

Blood Elf Warrior

Moonlight Warrior standing guard over the fallen Blood Elf City. By my convert model.

www.hiveworkshop.com

This seems to be a recurring theme, and I wonder if there is something I could do to prevent the crashes, seeing as not being able to use custom models would be a bit of a bummer.

 

[Ravager16829]

Refer to this thread below. Someone had posted this kind of issues beforehand.

[Crash] - WE crashing on launch after having a imported model

As the title of this thread states... All my other maps that dont have an import of some sort are fine. The map is fine in game just World Editor that hates me.

www.hiveworkshop.com

There are 2 possible ways (not really a best one):
1.Create a new fresh map with SD graphics, load your corrupted map and delete some of models, then switch back to HD graphics again.
2.If you are using the Quenching Mod, you'll have to do a little thing for your corrupted map with MPQ Editor.

Also, some imported models are made in BLP format, which was not recognized at all on Reforged.

 

[Serendipidus]

Hey, thanks for the reply and link.

Seeing as I have 32gb of RAM, it doesn't sound like that's the issue at least, and I am using the latest vanilla version of the World Editor. So maybe the culprit is the BLP format? I noticed some of the models I was using were imported quite awhile back.

Does this mean that, in order to make ported models from World of Warcraft work, I'll have to extract them anew and convert them to a different format compatible with Reforged?

And in order to find out which models may be corrupted/incompatible, I would have to test each of them individually?

 

[Ravager16829]

Hey, thanks for the reply and link.

Seeing as I have 32gb of RAM, it doesn't sound like that's the issue at least, and I am using the latest vanilla version of the World Editor. So maybe the culprit is the BLP format? I noticed some of the models I was using were imported quite awhile back.

Does this mean that, in order to make ported models from World of Warcraft work, I'll have to extract them anew and convert them to a different format compatible with Reforged?

And in order to find out which models may be corrupted/incompatible, I would have to test each of them individually?

I'm pointing out that BLP formats are now unrecognized in Reforged because some older tools (third-party, obvious) don't make correctly formatted BLP files and that it now uses the DDS instead.
Also, Reforged seemingly demands on your RAM usage, with 16 GB being as minimum. The HD assets can literally consume the hard drive up to 30 GB. This is obvious, because you'll most likely getting a random crash if you try to open the map with lots of assets on a weak GPU.

 

[deepstrasz]

I'm pointing out that BLP formats are now unrecognized in Reforged because some older tools (third-party, obvious) don't make correctly formatted BLP files and that it now uses the DDS instead.

.blp files definitely still work, otherwise most if not all pre-1.32 custom maps wouldn't work and no one is bat shit crazy to convert all texture files.

 

[Serendipidus]

I'm pointing out that BLP formats are now unrecognized in Reforged because some older tools (third-party, obvious) don't make correctly formatted BLP files and that it now uses the DDS instead.
Also, Reforged seemingly demands on your RAM usage, with 16 GB being as minimum. The HD assets can literally consume the hard drive up to 30 GB. This is obvious, because you'll most likely getting a random crash if you try to open the map with lots of assets on a weak GPU.

I do have a 3090 GPU, so I think that's not the issue at least

So, I think I have 3 questions, 2 of which are related to the topic:

1. I noticed the Hive have lots of Workshop varying greatly in age from when they were uploaded. Using HD graphics, does this mean models uploaded to the city later are more likely to work(I.E. models made/ported after Reforged's release)?

2. If I were to import a model I extracted/made, what would be the best advice to make sure it's functional?

3. Slightly off-topic, but I want to create an Event Trigger that happens if a unit belonging to a specific player(say Player 16) steps on a Goblin Landmine. Is that possible?

 

[Serendipidus]

I have done some more testing, and it seems to be that the problem lies with the World Editor itself, perhaps the specific version.

On a new map, I imported and used one of the newer and curated models with good ratings. This was the only model I imported.

Kirin Tor Guardian (Reforged)

Captain type unit for Dalaran faction. Based on the Kirin Tor Guardians from WoW, this art specifically used as reference: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dOr263 The unit and many more awesome assets will be a part of the upcoming WarCraft II Reforged campaign: [Campaign] - Warcraft 2...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Like last time, I used the unmodified and updated version of the Blizzard World Editor(24.3.2023) from the Bnet Launcher.


Importing the model worked fine. It appeared on the map in the editor with no missing textures.

Testing the map through the game client custom game menu, the model, texture and animation worked fine.

Shutting down the world editor, restarting it and then trying to open the same map would cause the World Editor to crash when it came to load units as it was opening the map, and I receive this error message.

The map size is also pretty small, so I don't think size is an issue.

Still, the map worked just fine with the imported models when I tried it again in Custom games(after the World Editor crash). The models and animations still worked without a hitch. So it seems the problem lies exclusively with the World Editor(perhaps this version of the World Editor) being unable to open maps using Custom Models.

In conclusion, it seems the problem lies with my current version of the world editor, or possibly the world editor + my system setup. Although since I get the impression maps are still being made with custom models here on the Hive, I assume there must exist some sort of workaround?

 

[FanFictionGaming]

Alright so for the longest time I thought all my projects were unfinishable. I even trashed a few in despair. But don't do it!

After testing I've come to the conclusion that I can open the editor just fine with the models imported so long as I don't reference the dds or blp tag correctly, meaning the mdx will show up white without texture. The editor is getting confused in the bootup about pathing load order I assume. Anyway, once the project is finished I can save a backup for opening further versions, and create another copy with the corrected file paths. I'll never be able to open it up unless I delete the textures in SD, but that's what the backup version is for without corrected model paths. This seems to be working pretty flawlessly so far as I can continue to import all the mdx files and have them represented saved without the texture, and new mdx only models that reference ingame textures are always fine. It's a dds and blp load order issue, I'm pretty confident. Anyway hope this helps, good luck and pass it on

 

[Serendipidus]

Alright so for the longest time I thought all my projects were unfinishable. I even trashed a few in despair. But don't do it!

After testing I've come to the conclusion that I can open the editor just fine with the models imported so long as I don't reference the dds or blp tag correctly, meaning the mdx will show up white without texture. The editor is getting confused in the bootup about pathing load order I assume. Anyway, once the project is finished I can save a backup for opening further versions, and create another copy with the corrected file paths. I'll never be able to open it up unless I delete the textures in SD, but that's what the backup version is for without corrected model paths. This seems to be working pretty flawlessly so far as I can continue to import all the mdx files and have them represented saved without the texture, and new mdx only models that reference ingame textures are always fine. It's a dds and blp load order issue, I'm pretty confident. Anyway hope this helps, good luck and pass it on

In other words, the best option with the current state of the World Editor is to simply use placeholders/incomplete models, and only fully add them once the map/campaign is pretty much complete?

 

[Killparadise]

In other words, the best option with the current state of the World Editor is to simply use placeholders/incomplete models, and only fully add them once the map/campaign is pretty much complete?

This is the conclusion I've come to, so long as I don't place the units using those models on the map I don't crash, so instead I am going to populate the map programmatically with Lua, I've been trying to find a solution to this issue all week with little luck.

I believe what FanFictionGaming is saying is pretty on point, I looked into the error and dump file, and its a memory corruption issue (at least that's what my crash says) which would make sense if something is trying to load that isn't there yet.

 

[FanFictionGaming]

In other words, the best option with the current state of the World Editor is to simply use placeholders/incomplete models, and only fully add them once the map/campaign is pretty much complete?

You can import all the models as necessary and use the white, textureless model file without crashing on loadup. That way you don't need to change the placeholder model, just leave the dds and blp filepath as default until you are ready to publish, because once you match the file paths the map will be unloadable until the textures are removed. So you'd open up your copy to make new changes because that one still has black textures. But yeah, no need for placeholders, you can use the intended imported model with their textures improperly pathed with no issue.

 

[Blackhoof]

Thanks everyone, have been having this SAME ISSUE that is frustrating me to no end. Will attempt this workaround to see if that works, but extremely disappointed if I can't even look at the pretty new HD custom models I'm importing into the game before I use them! Grrr

 

[FanFictionGaming]

Thanks everyone, have been having this SAME ISSUE that is frustrating me to no end. Will attempt this workaround to see if that works, but extremely disappointed if I can't even look at the pretty new HD custom models I'm importing into the game before I use them! Grrr

I haven't had a crash since I started using this method. You can maybe load some models in with proper textures, but its a game of roulette because the longer your load order, the more likely the editor will be to confuse the texture path and crash. Best advice for seeing those awesome hive models is to load each unit and save to see how many units your editor will load properly before confusing itself and crashing. Again though, you can save the model to the unit without its textures without crashing. If no dds or blp files need to be matched in the loading process, it has no reason to crash from load order. So you can see the imported model, it will just be lacking textures and have a blanket team color. Hope this helps.

 

[DarkIllidan]

I am having the same Issue after 1 year of using Reforged and found like you all said only one method. The spawning trough trigger, lua, jass on map then the map would no crash. So this is common problem. They must have some idea of a fix. Its boring that custom units resolve a crash in world editor except if spawned trough script ingame.

If anyone hears anything new about this issue I would like to know.

 

[Deerlord]

this. How are people doing mapmaking with reforged right now i don't understand. Like the team working on Warcraft CSW project.. is there a way to fix the constant crashing with imported models?

 

[DarkIllidan]

After 1 year of Reforged this problem started happening. There are even some crashes when playing/testing maps which is such a bothersome work, losing motivation easy like this. Wanted to have fun and make maps in the end I'm trying to make the map work more then to work on the map. Stopped making maps many times just because of this issue.

So people let's talk about this more. It seem a lot of have the same issue. Yea I have no idea how Warcraft CSW project manages. I know they reworked some maps because of this bug.

 

[Superfrycook]

Even the latest patch, gives me a plethora of crashes. I tried to open an unfinished project, but suddenly crashed when I have custom models. So I create a new one.

 

[Campocalypse7]

Alright so for the longest time I thought all my projects were unfinishable. I even trashed a few in despair. But don't do it!

After testing I've come to the conclusion that I can open the editor just fine with the models imported so long as I don't reference the dds or blp tag correctly, meaning the mdx will show up white without texture. The editor is getting confused in the bootup about pathing load order I assume. Anyway, once the project is finished I can save a backup for opening further versions, and create another copy with the corrected file paths. I'll never be able to open it up unless I delete the textures in SD, but that's what the backup version is for without corrected model paths. This seems to be working pretty flawlessly so far as I can continue to import all the mdx files and have them represented saved without the texture, and new mdx only models that reference ingame textures are always fine. It's a dds and blp load order issue, I'm pretty confident. Anyway hope this helps, good luck and pass it on

You are a savior and a saint sir! I've spent countless hours trying to get my WIP maps open, and deleting all my dds and blp assets worked FIRST TRY! Thank you for taking the time to post your solution on here, you've saved me literal days of pain. Thanks again!