Content Browser Issue

[DannyDinDins]

I'm making a RO2 map but have not come far enough for it to warrant its own thread. I'm experiencing a rather annoying issue with the content browser. It seems to only happen after I have used the content browser and applied a selected material to a bsp surface.

When I go to the content browser and hover over materials with my mouse, they instantly become black. I am talking about the thumbnails only, in the 3d viewport the materials display correctly. It can happen to any material regardless of if its in use or not. I have tried closing and reopening the content browser, reloading package, changing the size in which the thumbnails are displayed, etc.

The end result is that before long, all materials in the packages I'm working with have their thumbnails turn black, which makes it very arduous to find the one I'm looking for.


Anyone have any idea what's up?

[Moskeeto]

It happens to me too. I'm not sure what causes it though.

[Srinidhalaya]

The left side of the content browser is a file structure type system. At the top of it, is "EXTERNAL"
Right click on it, and "FULLY LOAD"
Do this multiple times.

I also recommend not using the thumbnail tiles, until you have refined your search, unless you have a BEAST of a rig. It doesn't take much more time.

For example, lets say you want a grass material.

Check Box Materials
Type "Grass" in the search field parameter
THEN select thumbnails.
After you find desired material/static mesh/whatever
Go back to listview
AND be sure to DELETE anything typed into the search field parameter (to prevent possible crash on next load. if you forget its an easy fix)

[DannyDinDins]

Originally Posted by Srinidhalaya

The left side of the content browser is a file structure type system. At the top of it, is "EXTERNAL"
Right click on it, and "FULLY LOAD"
Do this multiple times.

I tried this, multiple times as well. Unfortunately it doesn't change anything. You seem to have previous experience with this issue, do you think you can explain more detailed what is causing it?

Originally Posted by Srinidhalaya

I also recommend not using the thumbnail tiles, until you have refined your search, unless you have a BEAST of a rig. It doesn't take much more time.

For example, lets say you want a grass material.

Check Box Materials
Type "Grass" in the search field parameter
THEN select thumbnails.
After you find desired material/static mesh/whatever
Go back to listview
AND be sure to DELETE anything typed into the search field parameter (to prevent possible crash on next load. if you forget its an easy fix)

Why do you recommend this? Are there any benefits from holding back with going into thumbnail view until after you've found a good package, other than increased performance? So far I've had no problems whatsoever with performance. Sorry for sounding nosy.

[Srinidhalaya]

Don't worry about being noisy. All good.
The answer to your question, is stability. I've experienced tons of crashes resulting in lots of lost work. Every possible step to reduce the chance is very important to me. Some people don't experience the crashes though, so don't be too alarmed. And my computer exceeds the recommended specs by a bit, but it still crashes occasionally when too many assets load at once.

What about saving, closing the SDK, and reloading? Are they still black after that?

Also, have you tried to import a TGA file as a texture, making it into a material, and seeing if it does the same thing?

[DannyDinDins]

Originally Posted by Srinidhalaya

What about saving, closing the SDK, and reloading? Are they still black after that?

No, but it does not take long before they turn black.

Originally Posted by Srinidhalaya

Also, have you tried to import a TGA file as a texture, making it into a material, and seeing if it does the same thing?

I imported a TGA file, made it into a material and applied it to a surface in my map. It turns black as well.

Actually I just reopened the editor and some/most textures were black from the very start. It seems that it is when I fully load a package that the thumbnails start turning black when hovered over. Packages that are not fully loaded work fine, except for those materials that are currently in use. It's pretty bizarre

[Srinidhalaya]

While it is annoying, do you need to see the tumbnails of the materials you have already used?

With brushes, you can (I believe) hold alt and click on a surface, that will select the material being used on that brush face, then you can just hit the cnt button and click on a surface that doesn't have a material and it will assign the selected material that you pickted with the alt click.

I may have alt an cnt backwards, its been a while since I used brushes, I mostly just use Static Mesh now.

[DannyDinDins]

Yeah, it's not like I can't continue with my map because of this issue, it's just a minor annoyance.

What I usually do is right click on a surface that has the texture I want and press 'find in content browser'. This way it gets marked and I can apply it to other surfaces.

I got a hint that it might have to do with the updates that you get a question about when you start the editor for the first time (can't remember exactly what the question was). I'm trying to reset my SDK so that that question will pop up again. Reinstalling the SDK wasn't enough. I have tried removing .inis (so that they can be autogenerated with default values) but it either changes nothing or crashes the SDK on startup.

Anyone know how to reset the SDK? Or rather, anyone know where the .ini is for the SDK? It's not exactly self-explanatory

[Srinidhalaya]

If im not mistaken, it just asks you if you want to verify your assets in case of updates. It shouldn't be related to your problem. I think reinstalling the sdk will prompt it again. It doesn't take long, as most of the assets are in the game folder.

Your ini is in documents/mygames/redorcehsta2/ROgame/Config

[danh]

One time I had over 150k assets loaded and my sdk crashed. SDK is so good because it remembers your last settings so when you open teh sdk all your settings are restored. Guess what my last setting was? To load 150k assets. So crash upon crash until I had to delete my settings.

[Srinidhalaya]

One time I had over 150k assets loaded and my sdk crashed. SDK is so good because it remembers your last settings so when you open teh sdk all your settings are restored. Guess what my last setting was? To load 150k assets. So crash upon crash until I had to delete my settings.

There is a line you can "edit" in one of your editor ini files. It basically is the last search you made, and by deleting the search entry, the sdk loads with nothing in the search field, like it should; preventing the crash.

I can post the exact details after work...if I remember :/

[-=THOR=-]

I hope this workaround helps:
http://forums.tripwireinteractive.co...31#post1060131