Cannot Compile inside ObjPlacer but can outside

[nigelgrant]

Hi Arno

I am now working with ObjPlacer0.8 and I am basically successfull (with decimal degrees!). I have opened an existing XML file I previously created placing lights around CYVR (35 in my file), then added 4 more lights. There were a few hiccups on the way but still each time I compile within ObjPlacer I get an error message and none of my lights show in FS.

BUT if I compile my modified XML file outside of ObjPlacer it compiles fine. No big deal because I have found a work-around but it would be better if my ObkPlacer worked the way it should.

Following is my error message when compiling inside ObjPlacer:


F:\Design Tools\ObPlacer XML>bglcomp compile.xml

Parsing document: compile.xml

ERROR C2014: Failed to load model data in file: lights.mdl
ERROR C2149: Failed to load model data!
ERROR C2340: Failed to finalize MODEL_DATA!
ERROR C2032: XML Parse Error! Element tree follows:

ERROR: <FSData
ERROR: version = 9.0
ERROR: >
ERROR: <ModelData
ERROR: name = 2671AADA478C753686CBCBB767A49A1C
ERROR: sourceFile = lights.mdl
ERROR: >
ERROR:
ERROR C2024: Failed to process closing element tag <ModelData> near line 190!


Parse complete!

regards
Nigel

[arno]

Hi Nigel,

That is indeed not how it should work :).

Can you send me your compile.xml file and compile.bat file (both are located in the root of ObPlacer XML). Then I can try to debug it.

[nigelgrant]

Hi Arno

These are the only files I have in my ObjPlacer folder, there is no compile.XML or compile.bat

Nigel

[nigelgrant]

I thought I had uploaded a screen shot but I don't see it, I will try again
Nigel

[arno]

Oops, I forgot that I now remove those temp files :).

Are ObPlacer XML and the MDL/XML files on the same partition or not? I expect something like this is causing the problem.

[nigelgrant]

Hi Arno

They are both in the same partition "F:" which I use for all my design activities, viz:

F:\Design Tools\ObPlacer XML\obplacer_xml.exe

F:\FSScenery\design\scenery

regards
Nigel

[arno]

That looks very similar to my setup here. Can you show me the XML file you made? Maybe that gives me a clue.

[nigelgrant]

I have been using a couple of existing XML files prepared before manually, and was adding to them. As I say, the bgl compiler outside of ObjPlacer worked okay, it was within ObjPlacer that I could not compile.

So in light of your question above I created a couple of XML files using a couple of default objects. The compiler within ObjPlacer worked fine. So I guess the question and concerns have been answered, thx Arno.

regards
Nigel

[arno]

Hi Nigel,

Ah, that explains a lot. If you wrote the XML file yourself, it could be that your MDL files could not be found.

To make sure that ObPlacer also works when users don't have the MDL and XML files in the same folder, I store the absolute path in the XML files. But BGLComp sometimes gives errors when you compile a file with absolute paths, therefore the XML file and BGLComp must be in the same folder. This is the reason that I make a temp file compile.xml in the ObPlacer XML root.

So if you store relative paths, then they can probably not be found from the ObPlacer XML root and that explains your error.

[nigelgrant]

Hi Arno

Does this mean that I should have my XML, MDL files and the BGLCOMP.exe files in the same folder (as I do now in the design\scenery folder)? So should I edit this path into the ObjPlacer config file under the XML entry, or what? So that when I compile inside ObjPlacer it would go to that location, where I want my bgl files to be?

thx
Nigel

[arno]

Hi Nigel,

No, I made these changes in the design so that you do not have to worry about that all. You can just have it in the folder you want.

But when you write part of the XML file manual, you need to store the path to the MDL files as an absolute (full) path. If you do not tweak manual, there is nothing to worry about.