Campaign Map Not Loading: RTW

Why Doesn't my Campaign Map Load?

One of most frequently asked questions by new modders is "Why doesn't my campaign map load?" below is some self-help advice; on how to mod efficiently; and for when it goes wrong, what to check and how to ask question on forums so other people can actually help you.

General Modding Advice

• Always use -show_err on your shortcut. If campaign loads but you get a message when you exit, fix what it is complaining about or you might not get new message when you have more serious error.
• Remember to delete the map.rwm file every time you make a change. Deletion is not strictly needed for some aspects like moving armies around but it is much better to get in habit of doing it each time then forget when it is relevant.
• Do one thing at a time - e.g. do not try to create entire map complete with rivers, forests, 10 factions and resources before checking that stripped down map loads. If re-assigning settlements or adding regions do one or two at a time.
• Keep back ups - make sure you have a back up of all vanilla files before you start. Each time you make a change and it works in game make a back up copy of all the files involved in that as well. If you get to point that does not work revert to your back up copy (making sure you copy it again first) and try making same changes again, in case problem was just down to mistyping etc.
• Read Tutorials - yes I know it is boring to read the instructions but it really does help! For most things mapping make sure you have read this tutorial.
• Editors - If using a map editor do not forget that all the above rules still apply, you need to understand which files are being altered and still do things one step at a time.

When Stuck

Well you know what you did last (don't you?) check all the changes you just made for; typo's, wrong colours etc. Some files including descr_strat.txt are quite sensitive to wrong formating, missing tabs, spaces or line breaks etc. Most things in RTW/BI text files are also case sensitive so check capital letters are used in correct places. Make sure you remembered to delete the map.rwm file.

If you can't find anything obvious revert to a new copy of your back-up files for the change you just made and re-do your changes again. Still not working? See next section...

When Really, Really, Stuck

Now is time to ask a question on the forums or ask another modder for help.
To ask questions on RTW/BI game post in either the Rome Workshop at TWC, or in Modding Questions at the .Org.

To avoid your question just being met with more questions you should supply the following information in your post:

What game are you modding? (RTW or BI) Which patch version? (eg 1.2 or 1.5)
Are you modding a released mod that you have downloaded? If so please state which.
Explain what you did last, eg. added region, removed faction, made complete new map etc.
Confirm that you have -show_err on your shortcut and state if it is giving a message or not.
If you are getting a message please quote it.

Also explain in detail the nature of your crash / problem. For campaign map problems that can be;
KTM = Kick-Back to Menu, you try and load campaign but get sent back to previous menu instead.
CTD = Crash to Desktop, if that is what you get please state what screen / stage of loading bar you where in when it crashed.
Other; loads map but with distorted graphics, loads map but crashes on scrolling.

Common Causes of Problems

The same sort of error will normally produce the same crash / message at the same point in the loading process. Where problem occurs in loading process is therefore important to bug hunting. Common problems are listed below in order of 'crash' occurrence:

• Symptom: Game CTD's with no message when arrow is clicked to start campaign - no map.rwm generated.

'Landmass crash' - actually caused by having too large an individual sea area.

Too large an area of impassable terrain - actually same bug as above (if area doesn't work as sea it won't work as mountain or dense forest either.

Rivers incorrectly drawn in map_features.tga. Possibly also

Incorrect height or width listed in descr_terrain.txt - dimensions must match map_regions.tga