getting boards to WORK in vasl 4

[Oberst Balck]

Hi,

I am new to VASL 4. I have the program ALMOST working but cannot get any board to show - in particular the only one I have downloaded - Red Barricades.

The RB board is in program files/vassal and vassal/boards. The program says " No board found". Well, its there how do I get the program to find it and then show it ?

I really want to get this up n' running gents.

Thanks in advance.

Eric

 

[Anonymous]

board location in preferences

Go to File>Edit Preferences>General and make sure that the Board Directory listed there is where you are actually putting your downloaded map files. They are usually in the boards subdirectory of the VASL installation directory, NOT the VASSAL installation directory.

 

[Jeff Leslie]

Sorry I didn't reply to this earlier. It amazes me that of all the posts relating to the map fail-to-load problem in VASL 4, the first solution people offer is "make sure you have your boards in the ...\VASL\boards folder". While I'm sure that there may be some people out there that have problems following the directions in the users guide (we don't need no steenking directions...), the real issue here is that there is definitely a map loading bug in VASL 4.

See this post for more info:

http://www.natmallet.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=30

Jeff L

 

[Chris Milne]

Jeff, I don't think anyone is trying to be patronising when they say to check the directory (well, I'm not anyway). It just seems to be best to start with the simplest possible problem and then work up from there. Unfortunately, in my case, once we're past the simplest solution, I'm usually lost

As regards the BRT map, I'm going to try to replicate your problem tomorrow (going to bed now!) Could you let me know exactly which versions of VASSAL, VASL, and the map you are using please? Cheers!

 

[Oberst Balck]

map loading

Hi,

I am still having problems loading. Mine however may have an explanation ( though I hope it can be overcome). I am in korea and this computer ( pc shop) has a Korean character set in it.

Some of the lettering in the VASL window is in Korean alphabet.

I have an idea that in the background it has written in Korean ( or has installed within the internal coding same) .

In any case the choose board pop up is BLANKED OUT, I have not yet downloaded any other boards. I have the RB board in two locations and have tried both in the settings.

Anyway, look forward to any help.

Eric

 

[Chris Milne]

As regards the BRT map, I'm going to try to replicate your problem tomorrow

OK. I had no problems using the BRT map v1.0 (never seen it before, quite big isn't it? )
Version wise, I downloaded the map fresh from the vasl.org site. Also using:
VASSAL 1.0.2
VASL 4.0
Java 1.3.1
Windows 95

I tried it fresh, loaded the RB and Riley's Road maps in between, tried it again, and there were no problemos at all. Restarted VASL, still no problems.

 

[Chris Milne]

Re: map loading

I have not yet downloaded any other boards. I have the RB board in two locations and have tried both in the settings.

Eric, could you try downloading some of the regular boards and seeing if they appear in the Choose Board dialogue? I'm interested to see if the problem is localised to RB or if it's generalised.

 

[Jeff Leslie]

Chris, not accusing anyone of being patronizing; if I was doing that I would have said "stop patronizing me". One thing to learn about me is that I don't sugar coat anything. Of course, often I do tend to put a heavy coating of sarcasm on my posts... :wink:

Anyway, I've been with VASL for 5-6 years now I think, so I know how to use it. I do realize that there are a lot of newbies out there though that may be having problems with the basic operation of VASL, which is why I do agree with you that we should start simple and move up from there.

'Nuff said about all that.

I'm also suprised that you got BRT to load the first time. I have problems loading that map just about every time (just tried it right now and it didn't load...). I'm thinking it's my color resolution, but then why would it work fine one time and not fine the next? Besides, switching to 256 colors is not even a selectable option on my computer. 16-bit is as low as I can go. The only way to change that would be for me to go into my video card hardware and select more display options.

I was also just playing ASL67 Cibik's Ridge on 4.0 and had random loading problems with board 34. That was after I'd already loaded it up on several occasions and played on it. I get the counters to load fine, but then I have to click on the "add boards to current scenario" button, and miraculously board 34 appears there and loads fine from that point.

Therefore, I believe that the only possible cause for these problems has got to be some sort of bug in the coding of either VASSAL or VASL itself because of the randomness of some of the errors.

 

[Chris Milne]

Of course, often I do tend to put a heavy coating of sarcasm on my posts... :wink:

Most of mine have my tongue firmly in my cheek at some point

I'm thinking it's my color resolution, but then why would it work fine one time and not fine the next? Besides, switching to 256 colors is not even a selectable option on my computer. 16-bit is as low as I can go.

Well, I've always used 16-bit on mine, so I doubt that that's the problem.

Therefore, I believe that the only possible cause for these problems has got to be some sort of bug in the coding of either VASSAL or VASL itself because of the randomness of some of the errors.

Well, I know nowt about coding, but it would seem to me that it should act consistently (simplistic view of how computers work? You bet ). My only thought, and it's a real stab in the dark, would be that your OS and Java aren't cohabiting well for some reason. I think that this has graduated to a rk-level problem, though if you want to send me your Cibik's Ridge logfile I'll happily see if the same thing happens on my system. I have to say that I experienced similar problems with beta versions of VASL4, but they seemed to be solved some months ago.

Bah. I shall stop speculating :wink:

 

[Jeff Leslie]

Speculating.... sounds like something my wife mentioned when she came back from the OB/GYN....

I forgot to mention what my system specs were:

Win XP Home
Athlon 1.4 TBird
512 Mb DDR RAM
GeForce3 Ti500

I have not sent anything to RK about my problems, because as you mentioned I am still wondering if it's just me. Besides, RK is a very busy man.

One other thing I noticed, I have had opponents that have been unable to see my units as I un-HIP and un-conceal them during live play. Even in a log file with the "allow opponent to unconceal my units" box checked for both of us (of course he SAID he had the box checked...), I was unable to unconceal his units. Sometimes re-synching helps with the un-HIP'ing, sometimes it doesn't. More randomness once again.

I'm not at all knocking VASL 4 because it's IMO far better than 3.0 as far as features, and besides it's FREE.

Cheers,

Jeff L