H4event limit

[RobB]

I don't know whether this is just a Mac thing or whether it was just a one-off bug, but recently I found a number of timed events had either disappeared altogether or been grouped under "day1", ie my editor window showed "day1 - day24", "day1 - day50". I was able to restore these two by editing the general window so that the day matched the name again, but then I discovered two other events (day80 and day85) had disappeared completely.

So is there a limit on the number of permitted timed events or did the Editor just have a brainfart?

I have certainly noticed that if you have too many items in a Sequence (eg lots of display message dialogue), at some point the editor window either goes blank or shows apparently random symbols - the items are still there - they are still editable and they still work, but it makes it hard to have a quick look and it has scared me enough to make me split long dialogue into 2 or more separate events, and I think it happened once that I was not allowed to add another item.

In addition, I can't write lengthy messages like the ones that appear in the games that come with the disks. I haven't counted the number of characters, but I know that over a certain length, they get truncated - I'm guessing 256 characters, but does anyone actually know?

[Muszka]

Which HoMM? 4?
Interesting! I had never seen such mischievous errors.

[wimfrits]

I've never seen events disappear. Sounds like a brainf..thing.
I did have several cases of the blank screen causing the map to crash.

As for a blank or gobbled screen when having too many items in a sequence; iirc that only happens when the items are inside a conditional statement. It has to do with the script 'block' exceeding the height of the editing box.
That can be circumvened by splitting the conditional into multiple conditionals in sequence.

[RobB]

Muszka: the only Mac version is h4 standard.

Wimfrits: yes, the gobbledy-gook is definitely in condtional actions. I have used multiple conditionals as you suggest to get round it, or else I place an extra event right next to.

The timed events have got me beaten though. Remembering to save a copy first, I will try adding more again and see if it was just a one-time burp.

[Muszka]

I know, you have only H4 std. We already discussed that a few times.
The question was meant like H5 or H4, but now isn't relevant anymore.
I hope you get a bit luck since it seems that you need it, you seem to encounter errors on every step.

[RobB]

Don't forget I'm still very a beginner at this mapmaking, so undoubtedly many errors are my own fault. I remember when I first started writing BASIC programs back in the 80s. Still, the h4 editor, or at least my version, does seem to be very touchy.

[Robenhagen]

As for a blank or gobbled screen when having too many items in a sequence; iirc that only happens when the items are inside a conditional statement. It has to do with the script 'block' exceeding the height of the editing box.
That can be circumvened by splitting the conditional into multiple conditionals in sequence.

You could also choose not to care - the script runs flawlessly, no matter how it is displayed in the editor.

[wimfrits]

Sure. The script will function (or not if it is bugged)

But the editor may crash when trying to edit such scripts. If the script turns out to contain an error or the mapmaker wants to expand the functionality of the script or needs to know the exact effects of a script for any other reason, then an uneditable, unreadable script is a major problem, especially if it was written a long time ago.

[RobB]

Sure. The script will function (or not if it is bugged)

But the editor may crash when trying to edit such scripts. If the script turns out to contain an error or the mapmaker wants to expand the functionality of the script or needs to know the exact effects of a script for any other reason, then an uneditable, unreadable script is a major problem, especially if it was written a long time ago.

Exactly, and anyway, when creating a new map with lots of scripts, I often need to make changes:
eg I just discovered a whole heap of place events, which worked fine in my first few plays with the sole condition that they were for Purple and Human, but then I realised I had to make them all conditional actions to ensure they were only activated when the main hero was present.

Not hard to do - it only took me about half an hour - but with so many events, you tend to forget which one is which, and it is helpful if you can just have a quick look: if you can read the first line, you usually remember, but otherwise you have another step or two to take. If there is a bug, it is even more important.