In Loader Custom Characters, background disappears. (1 Viewer)

[baldrich]

Thank you in advance for your patience. I am a long time lurker and sometimes poster. I have always struggled with the Loader, but after watching Sby's video, I made lots of progress. (Thanks, Sby).

My custom characters now load and run fine, but the background file I chose will not load. Yes, it is a PNG (if that matters) and yes, it is in the custom character file and renamed BG.PNG

It's a minor issue, but any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advacne

 

[stuntcock]

My custom characters now load and run fine, but the background file I chose will not load.

A few troubleshooting suggestions:

• Run Loader.swf via the Flash Player Projector content debugger. Try to load your character through the roster, as usual. If an exception appears then copy-paste the error message so that we can investigate.
• ZIP up your custom character folder and share it so that we can check for errors.
• Specify your Loader version (such as 5.45) and identify the Loader Pack which you're using (if applicable).
• Copy-paste the contents of your $INIT$\Mods.txt file so that we can check for any special mods which might be overriding some of the character-loading logic.

 

[baldrich]

It's the latest version of the loader, downloaded a couple days ago.

$INIT$ Mods Txt file:
Default/FinishesCounter.swf
Default/VigourCounter.swf
Default/PleasureCounter.swf
Default/BreathCounter.swf
Default/HeldBreathCounter.swf
Default/CumInMouthCounter.swf

One of the affected mod files is attached.

Unfortunately I was too stupid to figure out the debugger. I downloaded it and then couldn't find it.
I have tried this on Flash Player 17 on a portable drive where I keep my STD stuff, and also on Flash Player 11 in SBY's pre configured loader pack (on my C drive), with the same results, the custom background will not load, instead I get the default steel walled dungeon download. This makes me suspect I am doing something wrong in configuring the BG.png file.

 

[stuntcock]

It's the latest version of the loader, downloaded a couple days ago.

I'm reasonably certain that I know which one you're talking about, but when you're asking for tech support you need to be specific.

Because someone might say "latest version of the Loader" when they actually mean "latest version of the Loader modpack created by Krizalid" or "most recently uploaded Loader file" (at the moment of writing, that would be WeeWillie's bundle).

$INIT$ Mods Txt file:

Okay, no problems there.

One of the affected mod files is attached.

I tried it out. It worked fine on the first attempt. Tried it with several different Loader packs, versions, and subfolders. No errors found.

Unfortunately I was too stupid to figure out the debugger. I downloaded it and then couldn't find it.

Find it. Download it again if necessary. Download it via a different web browser if your default browser is stashing your downloaded files in a weird place. Then use the debugger to run Loader.swf. There's not much more that I can do without an actual error message to investigate.

This makes me suspect I am doing something wrong in configuring the BG.png file.

There's nothing wrong with the BG image, and the Loader code is "too simple to fail" in this regard. It doesn't require configuration. It just grabs anything named BG.PNG.

a portable drive where I keep my STD stuff

Very long shot guess here ... but it could be a file-access error because your PC is blocking SDT from accessing the file. What's your OS Version? Are you running any special antivirus software?

Still, it would be very weird for a PNG file to be blocked while TXT and SWF files are allowed. Meh. We'll know more once we get an exception and stack trace.

 

[baldrich]

Please pardon my extreme ignorance, and thanks for all your patience.
I download the debugger for Internet Explorer With Avtive X and installed.
Double clicking on Loader.swf now does nothing.
I then right clicked on the Loader.swf and clicked Open With / Internet Explorer.

Program loaded. I am still getting the default dungeon background, and no error messages.

Edit: Funny thing is, it ran fine for me the first time as well, until I rebooted. That's when the trouble started.

 

[stuntcock]

I download the debugger for Internet Explorer With Avtive X and installed.

You clicked the wrong thing. Try again. Flash Player projector content debugger.

Program loaded. I am still getting the default dungeon background, and no error messages.

You'll need to actually click the character (e.g. Ahsoka) within the roster in order to provoke an exception. It (probably) won't just happen automatically when the game starts up.

Edit: Funny thing is, it ran fine for me the first time as well, until I rebooted. That's when the trouble started.

SDT doesn't touch the Windows registry; all of its settings are stored in SOL files.

It's possible that you've acquired some unwanted software while downloading mods (especially from Solidfiles, they're pretty unscrupulous at the moment). Apart from that, I can't imagine why rebooting your PC would have any impact on SDT.

 

[baldrich]

Here's where it gets really weird. I loaded the game in Chrome, rather than flash player. One of the affected Loader characters loaded with the correct background, I clicked on the second, it had the default dungeon background. I clicked on the first, which had the correct background just seconds before, and it loaded with the default hallway background....

 

[baldrich]

I downloaded flashplayer_22_sa_debug.exe, no errors reported.

And it's Loader 5.45 from this link: SDT Loader

 

[baldrich]

UPDATE:

Okay, with each of the buggy characters loaded in turn (hitting 'Reset' in between), I manually changed the background, using the BG from the relevant Mod File. Then I clicked Save Character. And on the save screen, I got the error message "Path Not Found" for each of the backgrounds in question. Everything else was green. So clearly, the Loader is NOT finding the BG.png in the character files.

I built these with the Mod Manager, so I may just try doing them over from scratch.

SOLUTION! (I hope)
The path to the BG file was corrupted in the Code.txt. Furthermore, I was having issues copying and pasting the generated code from the game to the txt document. It seems to be working now.
Fingers crossed. I'll give it a day or two and post the final report.

Much thanks for Stuntcock for his or her time and patience.

 

[stuntcock]

I downloaded flashplayer_22_sa_debug.exe, no errors reported.

Please describe the process in greater detail. If you mean "I downloaded the debugger tool and encountered no errors during the download" then that's irrelevant.

What I'm looking for is something like "I launched the debugger application by double-clicking it, and then used File > Open to select the Loader.swf file. SDT appeared to start up normally. I then activated my character via the in-game roster. The skin color changed as expected, and all of the clothing mods appeared. The custom background flickered into place for a half-second but then it switched back to the dungeon BG and an exception message popped up. I've copy-pasted the message below."

Okay, with each of the buggy characters loaded in turn (hitting 'Reset' in between), I manually changed the background, using the BG from the relevant Mod File. Then I clicked Save Character.

You're now using the vanilla-game character saving method. It is unrelated to the Loader method (character folders) which we were talking about at the beginning of this thread.

Newbie Guide
Getting Started with SDT

The distinction is important, because it's now possible that you have TWO copies of this character, with the same name and with similar thumbnail images, in different slots within your roster. The vanilla-generated version of the girl will not load your BG.PNG file automatically; it uses different logic (which accepts a custom filepath for each character's background image, and which allows multiple characters to use a single custom BG file instead of needing to copy-paste the file into several places).

More importantly: loading the vanilla-generated copy of the girl via the Loader will not provoke the exception that we're hoping to see. While running the debugger application, you must choose the Character Folder version of the girl - in the hope of generating an error which we can then troubleshoot.

Or you can forget about using the Character Folder feature and instead rely on vanilla charcodes. If you do that, then you'll probably want to setup MoreClothing so that your characters can wear custom outfits.

I built these with the Mod Manager, so I may just try doing them over from scratch.

There's nothing wrong with the contents of the Ahsoka folder itself. I loaded it successfully on my end, using several different versions of the Loader. Rebuilding the Character Folder is unlikely to change anything.

 

[baldrich]

Again, please pardon my inexperience.

I launched the debugger application by double-clicking it, and then used File > Open to select the Loader.swf file...

I did that, had the same problem, and got no error message.

I also noticed that I had a second copy of the Loader on my hard drive. Don't know if that caused a conflict or not. I deleted it.

I had been playing around with the custom codes, trying to update after I altered a skin. I think that may have something to do with my problem.

I did not mean to imply (but I did, sorry) that I had saved the character as vanilla.

But I did use the feature to look at the paths, and noticed the BG path was not found.

I then checked the custom character code, and found the section referring to the BG to be corrupted.

I changed the background, did not 'save' the custom character as vanilla, generated a new character code, copied it, and used it to replace the custom code in the character mod folder. That seemed to do the trick. It is still working.

I don't know if this makes any sense from a programming standpoint, but it seems to have solved the problem. If it recurs, I will run the debugger (now that I know which one to use), and post the results, if any.

Again, thank your for your time, advice, and dedication.

EDIT: I created a new character folder and had the same issue. I checked settings. I noted that settings had flagged 'Load Last Code' on start. I set that to 1 "off" and now everything is fine again.

 

[Faceless]

The loader intermittently failing to load BG.png is actually a fairly old problem. But it was also something that @ModGuy couldn't reproduce to troubleshoot. *shrugs*