Bugs and Feature Requests for PlanetsCentral and other VGAP software

[Posting] PCC 1.99.20
Thread opener
Posted Tue, 2013-03-26 20:18 GMT, edited Tue, 2013-03-26 20:20 GMT

After downloading and installing the newest version (I uninstalled the previous first) my PCC worked right as it should. (without pictures ;-)

Since I wanted to make use of the new labels dropdown as soon as possible, I did some tests with editing the expr.cc.

First I tried to include a new line into the planetlabels. Which PCC outright ignored. I find that surprising, since I then tried renaming the predefined labels as well as editing them. Which both worked.

However after closing and restarting PCC about a dozen times, always slightly editing the expr.cc PCC began to start slooowly. I had to wait 30 seconds for it to start. I also saw my desktop changing resolution (I start always with fullscreen) before the main menue coming up. I never had that with version 18.

And the worst was the dropdown beginning to lag hard. When I clicked it, the lines would be generated one after another with pcc freezing 10 or more seconds after every line.

Restarting my computer did not help. So the only clue I have is that my previously used expression for the planet label was very long. That long:

Label.Planet = if(0,"",if(1,if(1,if(owner=my.race,if(1,if(natives.tax>0,"N:"&natives.happy$&" "&natives.change$,"")&if(colonists.tax>0," C:"&colonists.happy$&" "&colonists.change$,""),if(factories<factories.max,"yes "&min(supplies,money/3,factories.max-factories),"no")),""),if(owner=my.race,ground.N&"N "&ground.T&"T "&ground.D&"D "&ground.M&"M",natives&natives.gov&" "&natives.race&" "&Temp)),if(1,natives&natives.gov&" "&natives.race&" "&temp,temp$&"°F")))

which are approximately 350 characters. And that was listed 3 times in the "formerly used labels" section.

OK, I am now back to 1.99.18, still without pictures but working smoothly again. :-)

[Posting] Re: PCC 1.99.20
Posted Tue, 2013-03-26 20:40 GMT

After downloading and installing the newest version (I uninstalled the previous first) my PCC worked right as it should. (without pictures ;-)

Uninstallation is not needed. The installer contains all information to update a previous version.

Since I wanted to make use of the new labels dropdown as soon as possible, I did some tests with editing the expr.cc.

If you create a second file, expr.usr, you can keep your settings separate from mine. expr.cc will be overwritten by updates.

First I tried to include a new line into the planetlabels. Which PCC outright ignored. I find that surprising, since I then tried renaming the predefined labels as well as editing them. Which both worked.

Did you remember to use two spaces to separate description and expression.

Yes, the format is weird, but hey, it worked fine for 15 years in PCC 1.x :-)

However after closing and restarting PCC about a dozen times, always slightly editing the expr.cc PCC began to start slooowly. I had to wait 30 seconds for it to start. I also saw my desktop changing resolution (I start always with fullscreen) before the main menue coming up. I never had that with version 18.

And the worst was the dropdown beginning to lag hard. When I clicked it, the lines would be generated one after another with pcc freezing 10 or more seconds after every line.

Restarting my computer did not help. So the only clue I have is that my previously used expression for the planet label was very long. That long:

Label.Planet = if(0,"",if(1,if(1,if(owner=my.race,if(1,if(natives.tax>0,"N:"&natives.happy$&" "&natives.change$,"")&if(colonists.tax>0," C:"&colonists.happy$&" "&colonists.change$,""),if(factories<factories.max,"yes "&min(supplies,money/3,factories.max-factories),"no")),""),if(owner=my.race,ground.N&"N "&ground.T&"T "&ground.D&"D "&ground.M&"M",natives&natives.gov&" "&natives.race&" "&Temp)),if(1,natives&natives.gov&" "&natives.race&" "&temp,temp$&"°F")))

which are approximately 350 characters. And that was listed 3 times in the "formerly used labels" section.

I cannot reproduce the "take longer to start" part. There are no algorithms of more than linear complexity in label management.

However, I can reproduce that your expression is listed multiple times. There seems to be an encoding problem caused by the "°" sign. I'm not yet sure where it comes from.

--Stefan

[Posting] Re: PCC 1.99.20
Thread opener
Posted Tue, 2013-03-26 21:52 GMT

I cannot reproduce the "take longer to start" part. There are no algorithms of more than linear complexity in label management.

However, I can reproduce that your expression is listed multiple times. There seems to be an encoding problem caused by the "°" sign. I'm not yet sure where it comes from.

--Stefan

Oh yes, that would explain these weird symol which was included before the last "F" or the "°" for a hundred times. It was somehow ignored and I just deleted that inside PCC.

Meanwhile to restore the pictures I looked for that cc-res you mentioned. Did not find it. Instead there is this inu.ini besides the pcc2.ini. I was curious and opened it. The editor crashes instantly. Easy thing its about 6 MB. :D Beside it's obvious purpose it holds a "テ" and then mainly a line "εδづつづ" instead of the mentioned "°" in the first and second expression for last used planetlabels.

And a "テ" and about 1100 pages of "εδづつづ" in the third. I am not sure about the rest of it either. The shiplables look somehow suspicious too, because I never changed them in that way. So I am posting all the interesting stuff:

[SHIPLABELS] if(1,"",if(owner<>my.race,name,if(0,name&" "&Cargo.N&" "&Move.Fuel,comment))) if(1,"",if(owner<>my.race,name,if(0,name&" "&Cargo.N&" "&Move.Fuel,comment))) if(1,"",if(owner<>my.race,name,if(0,name&" "&Cargo.N&" "&Move.Fuel,comment))) if(1,"",if(owner<>my.race,name,if(0,name&" "&Cargo.N&" "&Move.Fuel,comment))) if(1,"",if(owner<>my.race,name,if(0,name&" "&Cargo.N&" "&Move.Fuel,comment))) if(1,"",if(owner<>my.race,name,if(0,name&" "&Cargo.N&" "&Move.Fuel,comment))) if(1,"",if(owner<>my.race,name,if(0,name&" "&Cargo.N&" "&Move.Fuel,comment))) if(1,"",if(owner<>my.race,name,if(0,name&" "&Cargo.N&" "&Move.Fuel,comment))) if(1,"",if(owner<>my.race,name,if(0,name&" "&Cargo.N&" "&Move.Fuel,comment))) if(1,"",if(owner<>my.race,name,if(0,name&" "&Cargo.N&" "&Move.Fuel,comment)))

[PLANETLABELS] if(0,"",if(1,if(1,if(owner=my.race,if(1,if(natives.tax>0,"N:"&natives.happy$&" "&natives.change$,"")&if(colonists.tax>0," C:"&colonists.happy$&" "&colonists.change$,""),if(factories<factories.max,"yes "&min(supplies,money/3,factories.max-factories),"no")),""),if(owner=my.race,ground.N&"N "&ground.T&"T "&ground.D&"D "&ground.M&"M",natives&natives.gov&" "&natives.race&" "&Temp)),if(1,natives&natives.gov&" "&natives.race&" "&temp,temp$&"テδεつεδづつεδεつづδづつεδεつεδづつづδεつづδづつづδεつεδづつεδεつづδづつづδεつεδづつづδεつづδづつーF"))) if(0,"",if(1,if(1,if(owner=my.race,if(1,if(natives.tax>0,"N:"&natives.happy$&" "&natives.change$,"")&if(colonists.tax>0," C:"&colonists.happy$&" "&colonists.change$,""),if(factories<factories.max,"yes "&min(supplies,money/3,factories.max-factories),"no")),""),if(owner=my.race,ground.N&"N "&ground.T&"T "&ground.D&"D "&ground.M&"M",natives&natives.gov&" "&natives.race&" "&Temp)),if(1,natives&natives.gov&" "&natives.race&" "&temp,temp$&"テδεつεδづつεδεつづδづつεδεつεδづつづδεつづδづつづδεつεδづつεδεつづδづつづδεつεδづつづδεつづδづつーF"))) if(0,"",if(1,if(1,if(owner=my.race,if(1,if(natives.tax>0,"N:"&natives.happy$&" "&natives.change$,"")&if(colonists.tax>0," C:"&colonists.happy$&" "&colonists.change$,""),if(factories<factories.max,"yes "&min(supplies,money/3,factories.max-factories),"no")),""),if(owner=my.race,ground.N&"N "&ground.T&"T "&ground.D&"D "&ground.M&"M",natives&natives.gov&" "&natives.race&" "&Temp)),if(1,natives&natives.gov&" "&natives.race&" "&temp,temp$&"テδεつεδづつεδεつづδづつεδεつεδづつづ

[1186 pages of that εδづつづ stuff]

δεつづδづつーF")))

[FIND] Orbit$=0 And Owner$=My.Race$ And Type.Short<>"F" []Orbit$=0 And Owner$=My.Race$ And Type.Short<>"F"

I guess that this encoding problem additionally messes up with my settings for japanese language.

[Posting] Re: PCC 1.99.20
Posted Wed, 2013-03-27 17:49 GMT

However, I can reproduce that your expression is listed multiple times. There seems to be an encoding problem caused by the "°" sign. I'm not yet sure where it comes from.

Oh yes, that would explain these weird symol which was included before the last "F" or the "°" for a hundred times. It was somehow ignored and I just deleted that inside PCC.

Meanwhile to restore the pictures I looked for that cc-res you mentioned. Did not find it. Instead there is this inu.ini besides the pcc2.ini. I was curious and opened it. The editor crashes instantly. Easy thing its about 6 MB. :D

The file is "lru.ini", "lru" standing for "last-recently used".

The problem is that PCC2 writes this file as Unicode (UTF-8), but reads it back as latin-1. This means that whenever it encounters a non-ASCII character, that one comes out different than before, making the list longer, and each iteration doubles or triples the special character. If you say it has 6 megabytes, you probably have opened and closed your PCC more often than I did. Like 20 times.

Thus, the only advice I can give is to not use special characters in search expressions / labels. If you insist in having a degree symbol, use 'Chr(176)'.

--Stefan

[Posting] Re: PCC 1.99.20
Thread opener
Posted Wed, 2013-03-27 20:53 GMT, edited Wed, 2013-03-27 20:54 GMT

The file is "lru.ini", "lru" standing for "last-recently used".

The problem is that PCC2 writes this file as Unicode (UTF-8), but reads it back as latin-1. This means that whenever it encounters a non-ASCII character, that one comes out different than before, making the list longer, and each iteration doubles or triples the special character. If you say it has 6 megabytes, you probably have opened and closed your PCC more often than I did. Like 20 times.

Thus, the only advice I can give is to not use special characters in search expressions / labels. If you insist in having a degree symbol, use 'Chr(176)'.

--Stefan

Thx a lot. That helps. Also when I next encounter such troubles I can simply delete or edit lru.ini instead of pcc. :)