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I am returning to BattleTech and HM Map after a year away (move is finally complete!). I whipped out HM Map, loaded Mountain Lake, and desired to print it without the graphics. Just a blank hex grid with all of the lettering and numbers in place. Then I can color in the grid with colored pencils.

To accomplish this, I opened all of the images in the Basic Palette folder and replaced them with pure magenta backgrounds. Then I loaded up HM Map, loaded the map (Basic is it's default palette), and chose to Save Map As Image. But the output is garbled. I read somewhere that it might be a memory issue, but this is the only program I have memory issues with. Anybody know how I can do this successfully? Is there another way than my current method for removing the graphics?

It is worth noting that my blank graphics will perform "Save Map As Image" just fine. In fact, the garbled stuff below was generated when trying to print a single map. The double maps makes it seem like I was trying the Multi-Image Map method, but that isn't the case. Also, I did this right after I launched the program. So I don't think it is a matter of a Multi-Image Save affecting a Single Image save after the fact.

Any help would be greatly appreciated .

It is worth mentioning that it doesn't matter what maps that I use. I tried changing my desktop resolution as small as it could go (800x600) and closed all other programs. I am running Windows 7 HP and have 3GB of ram and an Nvidia Geforce GTX 260. It is older, but it is quite a capable card (not sure if HMMap uses Video Memory though). I have 3GB of RAM. At the time this is crashing I still have over 1GB of physical memory that is being reported as Free by Process Explorer.

When the map is being build and you see the progress bar, it gets to 69% and then my mouse cursor turns into an hour glass. It freezes for about five seconds, jumps to 83%, and then the bar closes. On the best runs only the top right map has the repeating pattern, but I can never get it to fully print out.

I can't be the only person who wanted to print blank hex grids with all of the hex tile information shown. Is anybody else see this kind of issue? Any idea what could cause it? I don't ever remember having issues with this in the past. I've used HM Map since it was released

EDIT
I opened up Process Explorer (its a Task Manager) and monitored the memory usage while it is building the image of the map. Before the map, I idle around 60kB of memory usage. As soon as the process starts it jumps up to 199kB of usage. When it hits 69% progress, it climbs over five seconds to 470kB. At that point the progress bar jumps to 83%, the progress bar closes a second later, and the program memory usage returns to 60K.

I also found the NA.gif image in the main HM Map directory. This is the image that shows up if you just delete the graphics from a palette folder and then try to load HM Map. So I made this image fully magenta, saved it, deleted the image files from the palettes folder, and then tried to print. There is no change in the behavior I am experiencing. Still, it makes sense that without having to load images for each hex, that less memory should be used during the image creation process.
Sorry guys, I don't mean to ramble on. Just trying to work the problem .

Alright, I whipped out resource monitor (cmd prompt, type "resmon"). It paints a pretty clear picture of running out of free memory while the map is building. So that is what is happening and most likely the source of the problem. It is frustrating, but at least it is explainable. I was worried I'd never find out why it was happening, haha! Didn't need any help after all. Guess I will need to upgrade, eventually. At least, for now, I can print them out as single images and rejoin them in Photoshop .

do not Forget that you Need Windows in a 64-bit Version to use more RAM.
it should also be possible to use the HD instead, Windows is able to do that, if it is allowed to use enough HD-space.(if you have the Patience to wait a bit)

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typos and spelling-mistakes are property of the finder. english is not my mother-tongue.

It was only reporting that 430-ish megs were free for the program to use. So some more ram, added to my 32-bit system, should still increase the capacity that HM Map is currently able to use, right? Since it isn't using 2GB, which I've read is the limit for 32-bit applications under Windows. Are you referring to virtual memory or a page file or?

the theoretical Limit for RAM used by a 32 bit System is 4 GB, some of that adress space is used by other stuff so effectively a System that has 8 GB physical RAM(for example) that is run with WIN 7/32 can effectively only use 3 GB, the rest is a Waste.
4GB because 2 to the power of 32 is about 4 Billion.
This has nothing to do with the amount of RAM a single file uses.
its like allowing only two Digits for house-numbers in a street, not using 00 you could only have 99 adresses.


And yes i was referring to a page file.

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typos and spelling-mistakes are property of the finder. english is not my mother-tongue.

What resolution are you running HMMap at? I've tested it, and programming using it, at standard 1080p (1920x1080). I just got new computer and 2560x1440 monitor, installed HMMap (still getting everything on to the new computer), and while HMMap seems to run fine, it crashes when I go to create multi-map images. Haven't had time to do any troubleshooting, but I did check it with 1920x1200, and it still crashes. I was thinking the higher resolution might be the problem, but doesn't seem so (on mine).

Yes, a lot of memory is used when making full-res multi-map images, but I would still think 4 GB is enough. I'd try running it immediately after restarting your computer (to have the most memory available), and also make sure you're running as an Administrator (although that didn't help me either).

Did you try both low- and high-resolution maps?

_________________
Rick
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[email]rick@heavymetalpro.com[/email] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/flag-us.gif[/img] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/ ... rolina.gif[/img]

* There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who don't. *

Lowest is 800x600 and the highest is 1680x1050.
Probably not so in my case. Resolution doesn't seem to affect my lack of memory issue when it actually builds the hi-res multi-map image.
I actually have 3GB. However, I just ordered 8GB in the mail. Based on my motherboard manual, only 7GB will show up. Still, 4GB more than currently. So I'll be able to test this lack of sufficient RAM theory.
Check and check. I have the exe set to launch the program as an Administrator every time. I even tried using MSConfig to disable all non-Windows services and programs at boot, but still it didn't fix the problem.
Yes I did. The low-res maps print out perfect, each and every time. Only the hi-res maps produce the issues shown in the images I posted above.

Bummer. Every new version of Windows creates more problems (for me, at least). And new programs installed seem to want to tromp all over runtime files. After installing Plus, for example, on my new computer, everything ran fine. Then the next day, after installing some other programs, it hung on the loading screen. Then the next day (and since then) it runs okay again. Yuck!

_________________
Rick
~~~~~
[email]rick@heavymetalpro.com[/email] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/flag-us.gif[/img] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/ ... rolina.gif[/img]

* There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who don't. *

Any chance you think installing plus could affect this problem? On my system, every time I install something that requires runtime files, I reinstall them. Without that, the program often reports that they aren't available. But my version of windows is nearly 9 years old

Not a bad idea. Seems many programs tromp all over HM runtime files.
You say that like it's a bad thing. Seriously, there are less problems with older Windows versions. Although they seem to work well on Win10, now that I'm using it.

_________________
Rick
~~~~~
[email]rick@heavymetalpro.com[/email] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/flag-us.gif[/img] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/ ... rolina.gif[/img]

* There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who don't. *