In the last couple of weeks Ray and I have been trying to get his SPAW installations to work. They used to, and they have not been modified. The installations on my PCs all work, but every time he tried to fly he got a CTD with a "cannot find TMod204.TPC" error.
The installations on my PCs all work. None of the 3dz files on my entire PC reference TMod204.TPC, and there is no texture mapping involving that file.
He found a TMod204h.TPC copied it and re-named it as TMod204.TPC. This time he got a "cannot find TMod205.TPC" error.
He decided that this would go on forever, 206, 207, 207, 208........ and did no more.
I sent him a standalone working folder with just the SPAW installations. He did not get the error. He put the folders in his 160 installation, ran SPAW and got the error.
In the standalone folder I had included my "eaw.ini" file, and that was the only file not being used in his SPAW installation.
He compared it and found that I had "3dCityTargets=2" where in his case he had "3dCityTargets=0".
He changed his to "3dCityTargets=2" and the problem was gone.
When I changed mine to "3dCityTargets=0" I got the "cannot find TMod204.TPC" error too, and got it again if "3dCityTargets=1"
This value comes from the Config/graphics "GROUND OBJECT DETAIL" setting, so the problem occurred in low or medium resolution.
I went back and made a TMod204.TPC from TMod204h.TPC, and a TMod205.TPC file from TMod205h.TPC. Running SPAW I got a "cannot find TMod206.TPC" error just as Ray had expected.
However, I made a TMod206.TPC file from TMod206h.TPC, and this time it worked.
The three TMod 3dzs (204, 205 and 206) are for the RN, USN and Japanese aircraft carriers. I flew ground started missions from the Enterprise, the Victorious and the Shokaku. The graphics were as normal.
I wondered if the TMod204/5/6.TPC files were being read, so I made three text files and re-named them. This time I got a CTD with no error message, so they were being read. However, were they being used?
My final test was to copy TMod204.TPC and make TMod205.TPC and TMod205.TPC files that were identical. Re-flying the missions from the three carriers gave the correct graphics at each one, so the data in TPCs referenced in the 3dz files was used and not the data in the TMod204/5/6.TPC files.
With the large number of TMods in SPAW ranging from TMOD01 to TMOD255 why is there just a problem that seems to be related to the three carriers 204, 205 and 206?
As I wrote, this is the strangest CTD I have ever encountered. I cannot find anything in the source code that makes the exe look for TMod204.TPC, so it remains a mystery.
However, at least we know what causes the error, and how to fix it. I have the TMod204.TPC, TMod205.TPC and TMod206.TPC files in my GameData folder, and I do not get the CTD
Jel
