It’s really strange that this map doesn’t work on your machine. It runs on both 0.61 and trunk version of VCMI. Does anybody else has this problem?
I’ve found the problem. It’s not the map file which causes the bug, but something else: the default map selected after some of the SORT criterias are used, if we try to start the game with that one.
When I open VCMI, I select New Game -> Single Scenario -> Show Available Scenarios, I get this list:
If I scroll down in this list till the “Free for All” scenario and select it like this, the game opens it without a problem.
The bug manifests if I press on the on the bugle which sorts the games based on their version:
After the sorting, when Free for All is automatically selected, if I press on BEGIN, the game crashes with the reported error.
If I select any other game it works AND (more important!) if I click on one of the other games and then come back on Free for All, this time the map is loaded without a problem.
Actually while playing with the Sort buttons, I discovered more cases in which the game crashes. I’ll make some screenshots and come back with more details.
[size=75] Added: 2008-08-04, 23:40 ][/size]
OK. I’ve tested all combinations of Filter & Sort buttons, and I’ll list below the results. I’m listing both bugs, as well as desired/undesired functionality of the buttons (although I’m not sure if undesired functionalities are to be listed here, or in a dedicated thread).
To avoid loading the forum page with two many screenshots, I’m going to load only one which has all the elements I’m gonna refer to below:
- FILTER buttons: filtering the maps based on size
- SORT buttons: sorting the maps based on different criterias
- First two maps listed after applying FILTER and/or SORT
- The name of the map automatically selected after applying FILTER and/or SORT
I. FILTER by size
Working functionality: Maps are filtered correctly (ie. when selecting S - only Small maps listed, when selecting ALL - all maps are shown again)
NOT Working functionality (minor): In the standard game, when a filter is applied, the first map in that list is automatically selected. You can see in the upper right corner of the screenshot above, that although I have filtered only the Small maps, the Medium map “A New Start - Edit” which I had selected before, remains as default map to start the game.
BUGS: No bugs! However after the above functionality will be fixed, we should double check if the bug which appears after Sorting (see below) does not appear here as well.
[size=75] Added: 2008-08-05, 00:38 ][/size]
II. SORT buttons
Working functionality: the maps are sorted according to the main button functionality
NOT Working functionality (medium): in the original game (at least in H3 Complete), when pressing on any Sort button - except for Scenario Name of course - the maps are sorted mainly on that criteria, with Scenario Name remaining always the second criteria (ie. when sorting by Size, we get first all Small maps alphabetically, then all Medium maps alphabetically aso). Here the main criteria works correctly, however for the rest the maps seem to be listed quite chaotically. Most probably because “Scenario Name” is not kept as secondary sorting rule as in the original game, but possibly one of the others. [size=75]**
BUGS (major): Two different types of crashes, for 4 of the 6 SORT buttons. Both crashes occur only if we begin with the default selected game. Meaning if we click on another game, it works; or if we click on a different game, than back on the first, this time it works.
Here they are per button:
II.1. Sort by Number of players & II.4 Sort by Scenario Name -> No chrash here
II.2. Sort by Map Size & II.6 Sort by Loss Condition -> Visual C++ Runtime Library error:
…and the log if needed:
II.3. Sort by Map Version & II.5 Sort by Victory Condition -> System error:
If I go to check what data this error report contains, I get the following:
I hope you can reproduce this on your machine and/or that you don’t need me to send the whole log above, as there are around 100 pages (meaning as many screenshots). If it helps in any way, what I can add here is that if I enable my Zone Alarm Suite, when I follow the same steps as above, first I get this error:
…according to which VCMI.exe seems to be trying to launch C:\Windows\system32\dwwin.exe
Let me know if you need any further details, but I hope the above is enough for you to identify the problems and fix them.
More testing from me next weekend. Have a nice rest of the week and… happy coding! 
[/size]
Thank you very much for testing! Your report is great! Best I’ve ever received 
I’ve checked the bug with crashes after sorting. It’s my fault. When you change sorting criteria VCMI switches selected map but not updates it’s “StartInfo” (information about players and their starting options). If you try to start the game it’ll load new map with the old config - it’ll lead to crash on map loading or other undefined behaviour.
It should be easy to fix.
As for the others bug I’ll check them later (due to really late hour). I’ll try to prepare ASAP new executable with fixes for further testing.
Just give me one more day 
New version of executable for further testing is ready. I’ve fixed all issues that you reported. I hope I haven’t missed anything (check!)
Overwrite all files from VCMI 0.61 with this new package. It’s based on one of our development versions, so it may be less stable in-game than 0.61 but it shouldn’t bring any new problems with pre-game.
Thanks again for testing!
VCMI_impr.7z (441 KB)
Great! Everything works perfect now: functionality as expected and no bugs. I’m refering to the FILTER & SORT buttons discussed above - in whichever combination I press them, they work as expected and game starts without a crash.
What is left from this menu section would be:
° WoG Options Button: Not working - but surely you knew that
° Random Map Button: Opens/Closes the wrong window - “Show Available Scenarios” - not sure if you knew that. As long as the functionality is not implemented (or the design of the “Random Map” window done), maybe it should be made inactive - as the WoG Options button - to avoid any confusion.
° Player Difficulty: Buttons work correctly, the selected difficulty being reflected in the game
° Show Advanced Options: Most features work perfect here (selecting Player flag, selecting starting town/hero/bonus). However there are two exceptions:
» Player Name: We cannot rename “Player” with our name as in the standard game
» Player Turn Duration: We can select the turn duration, but - unlike the Player Difficulty - I saw this one does not apply in the game (but probably you were aware of this as well)
I could notice that, because I have the feeling some of the creatures are moving less fluent on the battlefield. I also have the feeling the monsters on the map were disappearing after defeated in battle. Considering the fact that I might run into bugs you already fixed, shall I stop here with the testing for the moment?
One thing I can report already though (in case it’s easy to implement): The SHIFT key does not work for splitting creature stacks.
For the rest I see a lot of functionalities which still need to be added in the Town Screen, but that you’re prolly aware of, so I’m not gonna list them here. I’m first going to wait for your answer if I should continue testing on this version, or should I wait for an update.
All the best,
Zam.
If can be done without any problem. 
These features rather won’t be supported in the near future. Player name isn’t used anywhere and won’t be before 0.8/0.9 (when we’ll have multiplayer games). Turn Duration also isn’t needed for single-player mode.
Heh… I see no point in testing battles now, since we have made a huge amount of changes in their implementation in 0.62 (which we hope to be published at the end of this month).
You may test if already implemented features of Town/Hero/Adventure screen work correctly. There is no need for reporting lacking features because we are aware of vast majority them.
Just to have it clear: does that include hotkeys functionalities (ie. Shift key which does not work yet for stack split in Town/Hero screen)?
No, it doesn’t.
Thanks.
Well, I’ve been playing around a bit, and all I can find is missing functionalities (nothing resambling a bug).
The few issues which cought my attention - I’m sure you already know about:
Hero screen:
- Disband Hero acts without confo window
- Disband Hero works also when hero is in the castle (in the standard version it didn’t).
Adventure map:
- Can’t select and enter castle from the map (a bit annoying)
- (First) Hero does not get automatically selected after End Turn (ie. selection defaults on the tow if last thing was building sth)
- Underground Pillar of Fire does not work
Town screen:
- Hero portrait not available
- Impossible to select hero and move to Garrison.
- Can’t hire other heroes (Tavern doesn’t open)
Now, if none of the above is of interest at this stage, you don’t even need to reply to any of them. I’ll understand that it’s not an issue in scope for the 0.61 release.
I’ll try to look for real bugs tomorrow, but there doesn’t seem to be any so far. :))
I’ve discovered a new menu functionality detail that needs adjustment (minor):
When starting New Game - Single Scenario, the “Show Advanced Options” button only opens the appropriate screen, but does not close it when we click on it a second time (as in the standard game).
And another (minor) detail in Hero screen:
The backpack scrollable arrows are available (yellow, clickable) even when backpack is empty. In standard game they become available only when hero has more than 5 artefacts in backpack.
[size=75]PS: let me know if you’d like to keep this thread for bugs & crashes only - and I can open a new one with functionality issues only, as most of these might be issues you already know about (but of course, I wouldn’t know exactly which)[/size]
Sorry, I know you said there’s no point in testing battles now, but as this is the only crashing bug I found in 2 hours, I thought of reporting it anyway:
CRASH BUG
Reproductable: Always
Attacking a monster stack on the adventure map with Master Gremlins in your army, causes game crash when the battle screen opens:
The VCMI log window shows the following line at the moment of the crash:
No def: CPGRE.DEF
(let me know if you need any further details, in case the bug is not reproductable on your machine)
There was a typo in cr_shots.txt that might cause that error. Check if a new version of this file attached to my post removes the problem.
Many thanks for the report
cr_shots.zip (434 Bytes)
Thanks. No problem with Master Gremlins now.
However I do experince the same crash, once I get Magi in my army and I try to attack. This time the game log says:
No def: PMAGX.DEF
I saw what you added in the text file to fix the M.Gremlin problem, but I wouldn’t know what the unit_ID of the Mage is, in order to do the same (they’re certainly not in order of the creatures in the alignment, as I tried 178 but it didn’t work).
Uh, there are more mistakes. Please, replace all PMAGX.DEF with PMAGEX.DEF in the file.
They are, 173 wasn’t Master Gremlin but Santa Gremlin. M.Gremlin’s ID is 29 and therefore Mage’s 34.
The complete lists of practically all important ID formats is included in the ERM Help (it’s part of WoG ERM Tools package).
Thanks. It works now.
Also good to know how to fix it if it occurs again with other creatures (of course, I’ll report it here as well).
TOWN INTERFACE BUG
Reproductable: ALWAYS
Same map as above: Fort Noxis. The second town starts with 3 upgraded buildings and hero in town. If we enter the town and double click on any of the creatures in the army, the “UPGRADE” button should be available (even if functionality not yet implemented). However the button is missing:
(I marked the building and town creature icon to show they are correct)
If we just exit and reenter the town interface, nothing changes. Hiring creatues or building something also doesn’t remove the bug.
Only when we move the hero out of the town, and bring him back in, the bug disappears:
Thanks for info
I’ll try to fix this bug (and add upgrades functionality) soon.
A new development version will be probably released here within several days.
Both good news. Looking forward…
Hi. This is not a bug, just a functionality implemented different than the original game.
In the recruit creature screen, the box with the Available creatures, keeps showing the total amoung of creatures available in the building, regardless of how many we recruit:
In the original game, the amount of Available creatures decreases with the amount of creatures we intend to Recruit (so that we clearly know in advance how many creatures are left after the recruiting):
I’ve fixed it. If everything goes right, new dev version will be available tomorrow
Ok, new development version is ready. There is a changelog in the package, so I won’t list all changes here. The most important one (though it’s practically invisible for user) is a new client-server architecture. Don’t let firewall to block VCMI_server.
Firstly, let me know whether this version at least starts and loads map properly. Because of new architecture we had to change runtime distribution model and I didn’t have opportunity to test this package at any other machine than mine.
Later, you may check if new features (e.g. fort screen, upgrading) work as they should. Test also old features - most of them was modified and there may be new bugs.
vcmi_061c.7z (1.36 MB)