Campaign Creations

Krazy wrote: After much experimentation, I have reached many conclusions about using SCMDraft, some based on suggestions by others, others based on just what I've noticed.  After you read the first few of these, you might want to just use X-tra or something.  But if you do need to use scmdraft, these I think are some good tips:

-Always use "Save As".  Yes, if you're a save-hog, this is a pain in the ass, but honestly, the "quicksave" feature basically doesn't work, and will in all likelihood, even if it doesn't crash the program, partially corrupt the map file.

-Disable sound.  Do this by going to "Options" and then the second to last item.  Yes, hearing things explode as you delete them is cool.  However, I have not had scmdraft give me a "something bad happened" upon opening a map since disabling this feature.

-Turn off auto-save.  Go to "Options" then "Profile Settings..." then under "Global Settings" uncheck the box next to "Enable Autosave".  Maybe you use this feature, if so, don't.  But, if you have any sound files embedded in the map itself, every time it autosaves you're looking at a multiple megabyte file that you'll probably never have to use (especially if you follow the other tips here).  Also, it's really annoying when it happens while you're busy in the middle of triggering.

I originally thought that the problems I was having were related to the size of the file or using unusual units like disruptor webs, but after doing the above three things, I have had almost no problems with staredit crashing regardless of filesize.

-If you DO get a partially corrupted file, open the map in staredit and then save as.  Because of this, you'll probably want to disable the "place buildings/units/doodads anywhere" features in the options menu toward the beginning of your map so that you don't get hundreds of "could not put unit there" errors in staredit.  It's always a good practice to keep things as close to staredit's style toward the beginning of your map in case you need to open it in a different editor, in my opinion.

Hope this post helps!

Laconius wrote: I also have to add something here; when adding sounds via SCMDraft, I personally prefer importing them as Uncompressed.  Although it will inevitably increase the overall size of your map, this is one way to avoid the "Sound is there but it won't play" bug.

AngelSpirit wrote: [imgwh 640x480]http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/8193/scmd.png[/imgwh]

End of story.

I myself have never had any problems with the quick save however, and use SCMDraft for ALL my needs.  So far, it has not let me down.

Rocco wrote: [imgwh 640x456]http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k323 ... city11.jpg[/imgwh]

Laconius wrote: Hmm, I usually had constant "Something bad has happened!" prompts when the backupDB.scmDB file (in the same directory as the SCMDraft.exe) breached 1 GB.  After I disabled auto-saving, the problem was solved entirely, since the file didn't grow in size.