Help me diagnose Cheapo

[Proxima]

So, the game's working fine, but when I try to open the editor I just get a black screen and I have to use ctrl-alt-delete to get the computer working again. Any ideas what may be wrong and how to solve it?

[ccexplore]

I haven't had this problem before myself, but there's a chance I can fix it for you.  In the same folder where you have the Editor program, there should be a file named "wledit2.cfg".  PM that file to me and I'll try a few things for you.

[Proxima]

Um... how do I attach files in a PM?

[ccexplore]

Hmm, I guess you can't attach files to PMs on this forum.  Why don't you post the file in this thread instead?  There's nothing private in there, just a bunch of settings like the screen resolution etc.

[Proxima]

OK

[ccexplore]

Well, I didn't find anything obvious wrong in that file.  My current theory is that maybe the file was corrupted or otherwise has a setting for screen resolution that your computer doesn't support, but the value in the file is 800x600 which should be supported by just about any computers running Windows.

Nevertheless, I've attached two revised wledit2.cfg files (in the attached zip file), one which sets the screen resolution to 1024x768, and another to 640x480.  Try them out and see if any of them fixes the problem.

If none of them works, you may have to try downloading a newer video driver from Windows Update.  You could also try re-downloading Cheapo in case there's something wrong with the program itself.  Download Cheapo.zip from http://membres.lycos.fr/createmania/lemmings3.html and extract just wledit2.exe.

[Dullstar]

I wonder if those might work in WINE?  Cheapo isn't working that well...

I think the editor could be classified as garbage on the scale of how well things work in WINE.  Ah, it was good, but I don't think I'd reboot my computer just to use it.  Besides, there's always Lemmix and LemEdit.  And I only tried the version with extended music support, so the regulars just might work.

[ccexplore]

Actually, Ctrl+Alt+Del in Windows doesn't necessarily reboot the machine.  It gives you other, less drastic options that works just as well to shut down Cheapo.  I do hope that Proxmia isn't actually rebooting the machine every time to recover from Cheapo!

Unless Cheapo hung, the easiest way to shut it down is Alt+F4 (it's a generic keyboard shortcut in Windows to close the current application window).

Cheapo has been working fine for me on both XP and Vista.  I don't use WINE, but I think it would be WINE's fault if Cheapo doesn't work on it, since Cheapo isn't doing anything strange, non-standard or even demanding for graphics or sound.  There are plenty more games out there with greater demand on graphics and sound capabilities.

[Proxima]

Thank you -- the 1024x768 version worked perfectly, and now I can edit levels again! Mwahahahahahahahahaha!!!

[Proxima]

Okay, I have another problem. Just yesterday I decided to *finally* get round to working on my levels again. Everything was working fine until I realised I didn't have the latest versions of my styles, and I wasn't going to lose the benefit of all the work I put into drawing that trap on the Pink style so I got all the styles off my old computer. Copied all the styles onto my current computer, then copied the MIDIs as well because I was missing some of the ONML ones ccexplore made for me.

So, what's weird is, now when I play Cheapo, there's no music. I've even tried rebuilding one of the styles, after updating the STT to recognise the location of the files on my new computer -- worked fine, but still no music. Nothing wrong with my headphones, because the sounds are playing. (And just to make it absolutely clear, the music was working fine yesterday, and I haven't replaced the Cheapo program itself with the version from my old computer.)

Any suggestions? (BTW I'm going to be away for the next two days, so if I don't respond it's not because I'm ignoring you.)

[ccexplore]

If you're using Windows XP, I've encountered a bug where if you use Windows Media Player to play a MIDI (eg. to test out how it sounds) and then close Windows Media Player, it may reset the MIDI volume to 0 (but only the MIDI volume, so you can still hear non-MIDI sounds).

You can fix this by right-clicking on the sound icon at the bottom right of the screen and select "Open Volume Control".  A window with various sliders will pop up that looks kinda like a sound mixer.  There should be a slider that reads "SW Synth" or "MIDI" or something similar, and if it's the problem I described above, you'll find the slider all the way down.  Drag it back up and MIDI volume should be restored.

If you're using Windows Vista that shouldn't happen anymore, since there's no longer a separate MIDI volume in that version of Windows I think.

Another thing to check is to make sure you have music turned on in Cheapo.  Press ESC to bring up the menu bar and then go to I think "File", "Options...".  A window pops up with various options, make sure there's a checkmark next to "Music On" (or something like that).  If not, click on the checkbox to turn it on.

[ccexplore]

Any suggestions? (BTW I'm going to be away for the next two days, so if I don't respond it's not because I'm ignoring you.)

Keep in mind that I will be away soon for a week, so the next day or two is the last chance you'll get with technical help from me like this, before you'll need to wait an additional week.

[Proxima]

Okay, problem solved I couldn't find this "Open Volume Control" thingy, the nearest I can find is "Media Audio Configuration", and the volume tab for that doesn't have a MIDI slider. But I played a MIDI in Windows Media Player and then played an MP3 before I closed it, and now it works fine. Thanks again!

[Proxima]

Something else is going wrong now, just when I wanted to get back into working on my levels again When I try to open the editor, I get an error message "Cannot Set Coop Level", and the wledit2-error file reads

"Level Editor Crash Info:
Cannot Create Primary Surface"

Any ideas?

[ccexplore]

Hmm, haven't seen this one.  While not necessarily related, perhaps you can try the same fix for your "black screen" problem before and see if it helps.  I also assume you've already tried rebooting the machine?

When's the last time the editor was working on that computer?  Do you remember any major changes in hardware, system configuration, or new software installed between then and now?

[ccexplore]

Something else is going wrong now, just when I wanted to get back into working on my levels again When I try to open the editor, I get an error message "Cannot Set Coop Level", and the wledit2-error file reads

"Level Editor Crash Info:
Cannot Create Primary Surface"

Any ideas?

Any updates on this?  Has the problem been resolved, or is it still happening?

If it's still happening, there's a program in Windows that can be run to collect more diagnostic information that might help with your problem.  Let me know.

[Proxima]

Oh, sorry. I've unexpectedly become very busy lately with a couple of Repton projects and haven't had time to have another look. I'll try to find time for it tomorrow.