Battlefield 1942 Mods, Modding Tutorials & Forums

Hello there.

I am a long time mapper, but a newb to bf1942 mapping. I just started my first bf42 map a couple months ago and I am now in the process of wrapping it up. However, I have a problem here. After I added static objects, control points, spawns, and spawnable objects I now recieve the following error when I try to run the "Generate Terrain Shadows" function:
Before adding the content I described above I had no problems with the "Generate Terrain Shadows" function.

I searched the net for an answer, but found nothing.

Any help would be great.

Thanks.

Hi redfella,

I take these statics etc are just existing/stock BF42 objects and nothing custom added?
Is this a Battlecraft error or from BF42?


I prefer to use a little app called BF_Light. You can download it here: BF42_Light.exe-imlist.dat_generator.rar

You setup the paths etc in the file menu and then hit generate shadows directly. You will need to make sure you have a shadowwork/levels/cairo folder setup in your BF install directory too. Maybe have a play with it and I can help if you get stuck

fo0k wrote:I take these statics etc are just existing/stock BF42 objects and nothing custom added?
Is this a Battlecraft error or from BF42?

Yep, everything is stock and I haven't played with anything.
And this error is from Battlecraft 42.

fo0k wrote:I prefer to use a little app called BF_Light. You can download it here: BF42_Light.exe-imlist.dat_generator.rar

I downloaded BF_Light, unzipped it, clicked on the .exe.... but got an error! It won't let me install it.

-I'm unlucky today.

Just remembered you need to have the VB 6 framework installed to use it so that's causing the fail. I was going to post a bit of a tutorial on using that tool but had not done it yet.

Have you tried making a copy of your map in BC and then attempting shadows ?

fo0k wrote:Have you tried making a copy of your map in BC and then attempting shadows ?

I've tried just about everything that I can think of.

The most interesting thing I've discovered thus far is this: ...I am using El Alamein as a template of sorts for my map. Knowing this, I figured that I should try to generate terrain shadows for El Alamein. I tried it and it worked... without any problems at all (I made a backup of course). So El Alamein works fine, but my map, which is very similar to El Alamein, does not work. What's the difference?

-World settings, control points, spawns, spawnable objects and static objects are very similar between the two maps. Why does El Alamein work, but my map doesn't? The only noticable difference between the two maps is that my map has more detail/complexity in the terrain heightmap. Would this additional detail/complexity cause the terrain shadow generator to malfunction? Am I overloading something? -Or is it something else entirely?

Any ideas?

Hmm, nothing above should cause issues.. I've never seen this issue before to be honest. Either works fine of does nothing at all I find! Never had an error as such.

If you want to upload your map (rarred/zipped) here i can take a look. Unless anyone else chimes in on this it's hard to tell what is up but probably easy to spot on inspection!

Interesting tool, fo0k - do you happen to have the VB6 source code as welll, or maybe know something about the author? Just unpacked it and saw it's only the compiled exe, unfortunately...

I actually worked with the author at dice although only realised that when I downloaded it. He's one of the DC guys who ended up with EA. I will find a copy of the vb6 I used and post a link. On phone atm.
I will give him a shout and see if any source still exists.

Thx a lot!