Object limit?

[Sean]

Another problem with JCS. Is there a limit to the number of objects you can put into a map? I put object events in the map but they do not show up. I must have thousands of object events by now.

[Jgke]

Nope, there is no such counter. Try playing the level in local and then /gamemode coop.

[Foly]

I think there actually is a limit (in memory), I once modified a level with a lot of events and it didn't showed new objects except when I deleted some others.

[Jgke]

Oh sorry I meant there isn't such counter in JCS... I should read posts better.

[Speeza]

Indeed. When making a test The springs wouldn't show up. I swear it doesn't spawn objects furthest to the right.

[Obi1mcd]

Yeah, any events placed in the furthest right column or the bottom row won't work. Not quite sure why though. Anybody care to give an explanation?

[Sean]

When we have one. And no. My event is not on the furthest right column or bottom row. None are, in fact. So this kind of is weird.

Oh, and is there a way to fix this problem? It's kind of important. :\

[Jgke]

Less events, or hosting in multiplayer. (Gamemode can be coop)

[Sean]

I host in multiplayer all the time. And coop isn't acceptable. This is a test level.

[minmay]

Hosting it in Cooperative mode as opposed to some other mode will not significantly affect the number of objects that can spawn. Jake only suggested it because that's the closest multiplayer can come to single player (yes, multiplayer Cooperative is more like Single Player than multiplayer Single Player is).

TSF has a somewhat higher limit than 1.23, so consider using that. If you want help with actually reducing the object count you'll really need to be more specific about what objects you're using so many times.

[Sean]

I use TSF, both JCS and the game. And the objects are mostly Jazz <-> Spaz or RF/Ice/Electro Ammo. I removed a substantial amount of RF+15 ammo to make space for more Morphs (estimate 45).

[JustRob]

Every engine has a limit, and JCS isn't the newest piece of technology out there.

[Grytolle]

It's the newest released all-purpose lvl editing software for jj2 afaik!

[minmay]

Remove the +15 boxes and replace them with powerups. Ammo boxes add another five objects every time someone breaks them, after all.

[EvilMike]

Oh, and is there a way to fix this problem? It's kind of important. :\

This is a problem I've had to directly deal with twice.

The first time was when I was making platform tests. Originally, I wanted to make 40 tests (with an option of starting at level 1 or 21) all in the same j2l. This proved impossible because of the number of sprites that needed to be loaded at once. Once the level reached about 30 tests, the platforms started disappearing. So, my only solution was to split the test in half: thus, pt1.j2l has levels 1-20, and pt2.j2l has levels 21-40, and the HOFs in both levels show who has beaten both halves. This is an unideal solution, but necessary. In fact, before JJ2+, pt1.j2l tended to have problems anyway (the platforms would usually appear, but player sprites would often have missing frames).

Since you are making a test level, you can try this solution (if you can't reduce the number of objects). Even though I wanted platform tests to be one big level, it still works as 2 levels (the HOF linking helps).

The other time I've dealt with this problem is less relevant, but I'll explain it anyway.

It was while I was making devres ep5. In the level "The Fortress of Decay" I wound up using a lot of collapsing scenery events. Problem is, when you hit these, they persist even when they move far off the screen (unlike most events in SP)... and too many will cause stuff to disappear (including bullets). I had 2 ways of solving this: either I could split the level into about 3 parts (unideal, for a number of reasons), or I could reset the level at certain points by forcing the player to die (note that you can do this without making the player lose a life). I chose the latter option. That's why the level has those weird "decontamination room" things at the checkpoints. They basically reset all those collapsing scenery events, by killing you! A bit extreme for mere decontamination, but as the text string says, "this might sting a little".

[Obi1mcd]

Ah. I was wondering about those. First time I hit one, I was pretty angry about losing my hard-earned fastfire. Makes a bit more sense now, I suppose, since the level has so much speed destruct scenery. But yeah, my brother made a large level with a bunch of trigger crates that wouldn't show up. Same issue, except he didn't fix it.
Though, how do you kill the player without losing a life, then? Was that in Fortress of Decay? I suppose I wasn't looking at the life counter.

[Puffie40]

The phenonomon Evilmike describes can also be seen by loading groundforce levels in single player.

I have seen another error as well, where jj2 will crash (1.23 is the only version I have seen this happen, and only on two single-player levels) with an memory error if it tries to load levels that have, as the error describes, "Too many enemies or animations".

Strangely enough, loading and launching the level through JCS will load the level with no problems.

[Sean]

Heh, I'll try all your solutions. If they don't pan out, I'll come up with new test ideas.

[EvilMike]

Though, how do you kill the player without losing a life, then? Was that in Fortress of Decay? I suppose I wasn't looking at the life counter.

Two red ctf bases next to each other (or a red and a blue ctf base) will kill you in single player mode. This is because you default to blue team, and capturing the flag in SP will kill you for some reason. However, you won't lose a life.

In order to lose a life, you have to take damage. When you capture the flag, the screen blacks out. At this point, any damage you take will cause you to lose a life. I believe this is because you are at 0 health during the black screen period, so taking damage basically kills you a 2nd time (but for real).

I used this technique for regular death pits in my levels, since I wanted all of them to work without requiring JJ2+. Thus, you fall in a pit -> hit a tube that delays you (so you stop blinking and can take damage) -> capture the flag -> hit a bees event that causes you to lose a life. Other people have used different systems (blur did this with spike balls, I believe) but it's all the same principle.

Note that this means the decontamination rooms in that level CAN make you lose a life. This will happen if a float lizard chases you in, and hits you just at the right moment (i.e. immediately after your screen goes black). This is very rare though, so I never worried about fixing it.

[EvilMike]

I have seen another error as well, where jj2 will crash (1.23 is the only version I have seen this happen, and only on two single-player levels) with an memory error if it tries to load levels that have, as the error describes, "Too many enemies or animations".

This is a different error. When you place an enemy in a level the game loads its sprite. The game can only handle so many sprites. This crash doesn't mean you have too many enemies, it means you have too many different types of enemy. The animations part refers to sprites (I think - as I recall, if you have too many animated tiles there is a different crash, or the game just freezes).

However, this shouldn't happen with normal enemies, because they don't have many sprites (and why would you want to use more than a handful anyway). This will happen if you try to use every boss a single level though. And there is no good reason to do this, either.

[Obi1mcd]

Cool, thanks for clearing that up. I remember trying out the pits and not understanding what the bees were for, but again, I obviously wasn't looking at the life counter.

On-topic, though, would JJ2+ solve the problem? It gives a memory boost, unless that's a completely different issue...

[Dermo]

JJ2 might be able to help you since it does allocate more memory. Though if it's too many sprites, you can forget it. If it's too many of the same event, however, give it a shot. JJ2 does have a more efficient memory allocation.

[Sean]

Nothing worked, so I'll just think up something different. Thanks for chipping in though, all of you. Glad to see such helpful members. :)

[Sean]

Ok, now the problem's somewhat different. I'm trying to revert the test back to an earlier state, when I had a gargantuan amount of objects and everything worked, but JCS isn't taking notice. How is that even possible?

[minmay]

Put simply, it isn't. JCS stores a small number of undo steps, but they don't affect operations like changing level/layer properties (or basically anything that isn't placing tiles and events).

[Xplosive]

I ran into this so many times.

[Shelly]

the limit is like 4060 if i recall... Keep in mind that bullets are objects too,can you tell me your map size?

[Sean]

Hmm... 300x246. And I also have to ask: will increasing the spawn delay help?