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(Solved) Emergency Red Alert - Map Crashed - Broke

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okay so i misclicked and drug from the icons in the task bar at the bottom of the screen, up into a list of other maps, and i opened a different one
at first i thought oh great all that work gone. well i went to open it back up and it said "do you want to save MAP XXXXX" im like, oh wow sure i'll save it, phew what a relief. but i was opening MAP XXXXX...the one that i just closed out of, the map you see before you.
see the problem? well i said yes. and the map opened that i just got done telling the computer to save. and this is what i get

map gone. i give up.JPG




LUCKILY!!!!!!! i have a back up that is literally 30 days old (LOL) i lost quite a bit
i dont think system restore would fix this?

but. before i give up and start redoing literally everything (if i even do) im wondering if theres something i can do? would a system restore back 5-6 days fix this?


 

Dr Super Good

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Confirm there is a problem with the map in the first place. Completely exit World Editor, open World Editor and then load your map. Due to how World Editor caches assets and data it can potentially misbehave with multiple maps open. Common symptoms of such misbehaviour are imported assets failing to load or the incorrect assets being used.

i dont think system restore would fix this?
If you have volume shadow copies enabled for the folder you could roll back to a previous version that might be more up to date. Like wise if the folder is backed up by cloud storage, such as One Drive, Drop Box, Google Cloud, e.t.c., then usually that keeps a version history and lets you roll back to previous versions to some extent.

would a system restore back 5-6 days fix this?
Not likely. System restore is mostly aimed at program file and operating system file modifications. This is by design as people might want to roll back after installing some badly behaving software but also not lose the last X days of work they did to a personal document.
see the problem? well i said yes. and the map opened that i just got done telling the computer to save. and this is what i get
What is the problem? Did it overwrite your map with the other map? Or did it just fail to write out all the imported assets?

If it just failed to write out all the assets, hence the huge list of "Could not load file" errors, then you can fix that by re-importing all the assets. In current versions of Warcraft III you can even do this in bulk from file explorer by saving the map as a folder. You could even use the 30 day old backup as a source for the folder structure of all the imports and bulk export them using MPQEdit so you can then bulk copy them into your map folder. I recommend closing world editor while bulk manipulating the files like this. After the import is complete you can save the map as an MPQ archive again.

Needless to say poke at copies of the maps rather than the originals. This way if you make something worse you can always start again.
 
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What is the problem? Did it overwrite your map with the other map? Or did it just fail to write out all the imported assets?

If it just failed to write out all the assets, hence the huge list of "Could not load file" errors, then you can fix that by re-importing all the assets. In current versions of Warcraft III you can even do this in bulk from file explorer by saving the map as a folder. You could even use the 30 day old backup as a source for the folder structure of all the imports and bulk export them using MPQEdit so you can then bulk copy them into your map folder. I recommend closing world editor while bulk manipulating the files like this. After the import is complete you can save the map as an MPQ archive again.

Needless to say poke at copies of the maps rather than the originals. This way if you make something worse you can always start again.
yes sir i did everything...-.-
and it is literally every single file i have ever imported. no joke its every single one. i cannot do that without the bulk download thing you speak of.

not sure how to bulk download files. care to give a more detailed explanation real quick? im sure i could figure it out so you wont have to baby me through it even though i would appreciate if you did LOL
 
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also can i ask something else real quick. (kind of irrelevant and probably is but what the f***???? lmao)
because i feel like my entire warcraft 3 download has been f**ked from the start or something (even though my harddrive crashed a few months ago and i started from literal scratch. its doing the same thing that it did before where i have multiple warcraft3 file locations like there are 2 separate downloads or something.)
what is this crap? lmao
each folder with random jargon as the folder name (as seen below) has 1 file in it each. and its the default blizzard maps? lol??

1644443651691.png
1644443712640.png
 
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Uncle

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I use OneDrive to backup all of my maps. You get 5gb free storage which is more than enough for Warcraft 3's file sizes. I accidentally "broke" a map recently and was able to use OneDrive to recover everything in a few minutes. It also makes working on the map on multiple computers a breeze since your saved changes will be shared between them.
 

Dr Super Good

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what is this crap? lmao
each folder with random jargon as the folder name (as seen below) has 1 file in it each. and its the default blizzard maps? lol??
Likely some kind of cache system. The "random jargon" is likely an encoded cryptographic hash of some kind of input related to the map. StarCraft II did something similar.
not sure how to bulk download files. care to give a more detailed explanation real quick? im sure i could figure it out so you wont have to baby me through it even though i would appreciate if you did LOL
I would hope that you kept all the downloaded files in some sort of searchable folder structure in case a problem like this happened. Otherwise you will need to download them from their original sources again, possibly even individually.

If you are talking about bulk importing assets then you save the map as a folder. This is done by opening the map in World Editor, going to save as the map to a new location and then changing the file format it is saved at to folder rather than archive (w3x/w3r). Then close World Editor. Then Use file explorer to move the imported files into place relative to the map folder. You can also save your old backup as a folder and then copy all BLP, DDS and MDX files from it using file explorer, at least restoring all imports to the map like they were in the backup while still keeping the map, data and triggers more recent. Once you have finished bulk importing the assets you open the map folder using World Editor and then save as the map to a new location back as an archive.
 
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I use OneDrive to backup all of my maps. You get 5gb free storage which is more than enough for Warcraft 3's file sizes. I accidentally "broke" a map recently and was able to use OneDrive to recover everything in a few minutes. It also makes working on the map on multiple computers a breeze since your saved changes will be shared between them.
eh. one time long long ago i use google photos to bank 5000 photos from 7th grade - 11th grade. my entire teenage life.
well my 10 year+ old Gmail account got banned for no reason. i appealed it for MONTHS (about 20 times) before finally the response was a little different, as if a human had sent it but they basically said the same thing. absolutely ridiculous. i will never trust that kind of trash again. bill gates is an evil man.
I would hope that you kept all the downloaded files in some sort of searchable folder structure in case a problem like this happened. Otherwise you will need to download them from their original sources again, possibly even individually.
Well i did. BUT i have a few stray folders that i would throw into this map's folder just for convenience for another map or what not. so if i were to just copy and paste all of them in i woudl be getting stuff i either wanted for a different map (very few). OR i would get models i threw in because i planned on using them but never did (a lot).
If you are talking about bulk importing assets then you save the map as a folder. This is done by opening the map in World Editor, going to save as the map to a new location and then changing the file format it is saved at to folder rather than archive (w3x/w3r). Then close World Editor. Then Use file explorer to move the imported files into place relative to the map folder. You can also save your old backup as a folder and then copy all BLP, DDS and MDX files from it using file explorer, at least restoring all imports to the map like they were in the backup while still keeping the map, data and triggers more recent. Once you have finished bulk importing the assets you open the map folder using World Editor and then save as the map to a new location back as an archive.
and okay i think i got it. so when i do all this i can just take my "MAP XXXXX" folder, with all the resources, copy all of those folders and simply drag them into the MAPXXXXX.folder file (<---after i make it a folder thru the editor) or do i need to open up the folders individually and drag the files in? lmao because i would drag the downloaded models (winrar) into my "map resources" folder and import them from that folder so they arent just raw files. they are in their individual folders as seen below vvvvvvv
1644451916595.png

just drag all these folders in im guessing?


ALSO!~!! i just realized even if i do drag files/folders into the map that werent previously there. they would show up as warcraft3mapimported right? so i could easily detect which are suppose to be there (as /texture/ and what not.) and which arent (warcraft3mapimported)
 
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1644452634510.png
(red line was me deleting that part of the name and getting the error box)
also this has happened to me before but i was always able to just close all of the editor windows out (object/import/trigger) save the map or something like that, then open up the import window and change what i needed to change.

but this time freshly opened it is saying this? any idea why before i attempt to do your bulk-import, make-file-into-folder method?
 
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Dr Super Good

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well my 10 year+ old Gmail account got banned for no reason.
bill gates is an evil man.
What does Bill Gates have to do with Gmail? Bill Gates is Microsoft not Alphabet Inc...

We are not saying to persistently store your map in the cloud. We are saying you can use the cloud as a sort of off-site backup solution for small files like maps. You could even use multiple cloud storage provider's free tier to do this in case one of them pulls the plug on your account.
just drag all these folders in im guessing?
If they are structured so that their imports are where they are expected then yes. Otherwise you will need to move the files individually to where they are expected.
but this time freshly opened it is saying this? any idea why before i attempt to do your bulk-import, make-file-into-folder method?
I do not know. If they show 0 kb size then they are corrupt. You might want to screenshot the import list to know all the paths you need to put the asset files at.
 

Dr Super Good

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ffs man -.-....it just gets deeper and deeper!!!@!
Actually that was what I guessed it would say right from the start. For some reason when you saved the map it failed to write out and then read back the data for all the imported files. As such these files were left empty in the resulting archive and the data for them lost. At least 1 person has this problem every month and it has been known to happen for over a decade.

does this mean i can no longer try this method?
Method still works fine. You will want to save a list (or screenshots) of all the 0kb imports so you know the paths they were at and what files must be imported. Then delete all the imports and go with the bulk importing method. Even if you still have to move the files individually to their final location it will be a lot faster than using the clunky import manager of World Editor. You can also bulk grab the imports from the old backup which might save time.

If you are using a legacy version of Warcraft III then you can try keeping the import paths in the import manager, closing world editor, and then using MPQ edit to bulk import the missing file data for the imports. Not as convenient as file explorer but only recent versions of Warcraft III support saving as a folder.
 
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Actually that was what I guessed it would say right from the start. For some reason when you saved the map it failed to write out and then read back the data for all the imported files. As such these files were left empty in the resulting archive and the data for them lost. At least 1 person has this problem every month and it has been known to happen for over a decade.


Method still works fine. You will want to save a list (or screenshots) of all the 0kb imports so you know the paths they were at and what files must be imported. Then delete all the imports and go with the bulk importing method. Even if you still have to move the files individually to their final location it will be a lot faster than using the clunky import manager of World Editor. You can also bulk grab the imports from the old backup which might save time.
okay man perfect thank you.
wish me luck lol
 
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@Dr Super Good
1644455582636.png

do i pull everything? or just the
BLP, DDS and MDX like you previously said because this one is blp and im thinking probably not lul
1644456133358.png


and when i do i just need to drag and drop them into their corresponding folders? some folders are missing (obviously) so i assume i would just copy and paste the folders from the backup into the up-to-date/latest map and the folders should take as long as i dont change the names or mess with it
1644455816890.png


just squeezing as much info out of you as i can! LOL. but i think i know what to do im just scared to make a decision. LOL.
 
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Dr Super Good

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do i pull everything? or just the
BLP, DDS and MDX like you previously said
Just the BLP, DDS and MDX. These will be most of the assets. If you used custom UI, AI or script files you will need to import those separately as well.

If you were to pull everything then you might as well use that old map since you will be replacing what you did since then. For example the war3map.w3e file contains the terrain mesh data.
and when i do i just need to drag and drop them into their corresponding folders? some folders are missing (obviously) so i assume i would just copy and paste the folders from the backup into the up-to-date/latest map and the folders should take as long as i dont change the names or mess with it
Yes copying or moving the folders should just work. It should auto detect all these files as imports when you open the map folder in World Editor and have them placed at a path appropriate to the folder structure.
just squeezing as much info out of you as i can! LOL. but i think i know what to do im just scared to make a decision. LOL.
As mentioned earlier you should be doing this on copies of both maps. So in worst case you can just delete what broke, copy the originals and try again. As long as the originals do not get damaged then there is nothing to worry about really.
 

Dr Super Good

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im guessing i prob shouldnt touch this or anything that doesnt look remotely like a skin/texture/model file
I think that is the minimap texture file so should not be copied across. Even if you do move it across it should be overwritten and replaced by a new one on next map save.

If you used a custom minimap texture then you might need to move it across.
 
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@Dr Super Good one last question and i post it here instead of messaging you for those that might google for answers and read through this (not to spam)

i read somewhere that its best not to control + s (or save) your maps. but to "save as"?
is this important? im going to do it anyways but im wondering if "saving as" and overwriting the map you're working on (as if you just normal saved/control+s) is going to defeat the purpose of this? do you have to save as and make a new file every time?
thanks
 
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Dr Super Good

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i read somewhere that its best not to control + s (or save) your maps. but to "save as"?
is this important? im going to do it anyways but im wondering if "saving as" and overwriting the map you're working on (as if you just normal saved/control+s) is going to defeat the purpose of this? do you have to save as and make a new file every time?
I suspect whoever said that was meaning that you save as a different map each time. That way if a save breaks you still have the previous save available to restore to. You could have various slots for the map that you cycle to keep the last N versions. JNGP used to do this automatically long ago and it saved many authors a lot of grief.

If you have volume shadow copies or cloud backup enabled then this is kind of pointless since you can always use that functionality to roll back to a recent historic version.
 
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I suspect whoever said that was meaning that you save as a different map each time. That way if a save breaks you still have the previous save available to restore to. You could have various slots for the map that you cycle to keep the last N versions. JNGP used to do this automatically long ago and it saved many authors a lot of grief.

If you have volume shadow copies or cloud backup enabled then this is kind of pointless since you can always use that functionality to roll back to a recent historic version.
okay wasnt sure if there was like a higher chance of a map breaking when you control+s or something which i have NEVER experienced so
but thank you alot bro
 

Dr Super Good

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okay wasnt sure if there was like a higher chance of a map breaking when you control+s or something which i have NEVER experienced so
but thank you alot bro
I forget the exact cause but it is basically the result of the save process being interrupted or disturbed before or during the stage it is writing out or sourcing the imports.

If World Editor was better written it should throw some sort of error saying the save failed and not update the save file, prompting you to resave and hopefully achieve better results. However instead it silently fails and deletes all the file data for all the imports...
 
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I forget the exact cause but it is basically the result of the save process being interrupted or disturbed before or during the stage it is writing out or sourcing the imports.

If World Editor was better written it should throw some sort of error saying the save failed and not update the save file, prompting you to resave and hopefully achieve better results. However instead it silently fails and deletes all the file data for all the imports...
interesting
just makes me daydream more about a warcraft 4 game/editor :dreaminghard:
 
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