a) Actor falls through the mesh
b) The game folder structure
c) Texture reinitialization
d) 'autoexec.XML' and 'clientautoexec.XML' not found
e) Importing/Updating zone objects
g) Spawn point configurations
h) NPC Configuration crash
These are some issues that you may know about, and some may have even been fixed already, i don't know. Bottom line, I have written tutorials only for the aspects of the game that I have proven effective and error free. Also, the tutorials that both exist and are yet to exist (contingent on the bug fixes) can and will be modified for new editor releases and of the like. I thank you for your time and hope that these issues get resolved without much hair-pulling. Tim
Things I have done with the editor ^^ here
This seems to be an issue that has no resolution, however, some insight on the matter may lead to a fix. The figure below helps this description.
I believe there is an odd runtime error that exists in the collision calculations when placing an actor onto a land mesh. Although these meshes are many different sizes and heights, the fact still remains that when the center of the mesh is at (0,0,z) (for Max), and adversely (0,y,0) (for the KGP), when placing the actor at (0,y + height,0) it will not collide with that point on the mesh. I have tested this several times and proven it to occur.
A few fixes to this (which I discuss in my tutorial series) is to a) offset the 'x' and 'z' values of the entire mesh slightly, b) offset the 'x' and 'z' values of the vertex at the origin, c) place the actor at a location offset to the origin, d) move the actor while falling by setting a high 'y' value for actor placement.
Unless mathematically this can be resolved, these fixes i propose have all proven effective in the engine.
Upon creating a new game, the editor creates a folder structure to aid in the development process by organizing files into subfolders for the editor as well as the client and server to interpret. While working on a project I have noticed that my root game folder gets larger than normal in file size. I believe an example will better explain this. E.g. when working with actors, equippable items are called from the MapsModels folder, while .EDB files are called from the Game Files folder. Because of this, if you save your zone after loading the .EDB file (same goes for any subfolder(s) one may create) the game saves a copy of both the .EXG file and the .TRG file in those folders. I created subfolders for multiple actors as they were of different race types and 'animation.txt' files, and all those folders had acquired a copy of the .EXG and .TRG file. While this can simply be fixed by deleting those files from the folders other than the Game Files folder, it would seem that would be an error that may confuse users new to the engine.
When creating textures for the game, you can load them manually into the editor and save a .TXB file for later use. A problem that exists is when you reinitialize the texture database. It makes copies of the 8 default texture files that come with the editor. They are: '256commcntrls.dds', '256commcontrols2.dds', '256Font.dds', '256CommCntrls.tga', 'cursor.dds', 'cursor2.dds', '128CircleShadow.dds', and 'grass.dds'. While these files can be changed or removed, if too many copies are made the editor crashes upon trying to even add/remove/reinitialize the texture database. A fix is to delete these copies, but it would seem that the texture database creating these copies is not necessary and does cause errors, classifying it as a bug.
During the design process, one may want to add files to the startup script(s). However, an error exists occasionally where the editor will 'say' that both the 'autoexec.xml' and the 'clientautoexec.xml' files cannot be found when selecting them from the Game section of the Project Tree. I believe the error comes from which folder was last accessed. If it is not the Game Files folder, the error seems to occur. A fix for this is to reload the zone one is working on, yet for the files to not be found for any reason when looking at the files and seeing that clearly they are there, it would seem that an error has indeed occurred.
Although it is currently recommended to export all meshes to a directory for manually importing intermediate files, when modifying meshes and updating them, occasionally the editor will 'say' that the object cannot import 'mesh type'. A fix for this is restarting the editor. However, even though the mesh has not been updated, a rebuild of the collision map must be done. If a rebuild is not done, when restarting the editor (which will allow the mesh to import properly) it will prompt the user 'saying' that a collision map must be built to add objects, then yields a crash. I would classify that as a bug that may be on the docket, but a bug nonetheless.
f) AI does not spawn
This may be a known issue regarding KPG version 128.0.0.1, however it seems impossible to get any hostile AI to spawn regardless of what configurations are given to the search tree, the bots, or the scripts. Also when building a search tree, you add a node on the tree and move to another spot on the map to place another. It is not possible to move with the Search Tree window open, clicking OK prompts the user to finalize the tree, and closing the box resets the search tree, making it very difficult to successfully create a search tree at all. This may also be related to the AI not spawning regardless of location (safe zone or not) or if the defaultserver.xml and condat.ver files are configured properly.
When setting up a spawn point configuration, a player will begin or continue at that location. When testing the game locally, that is, when restarting the server and running the KGPClient.exe file, even if you set a new spawn point, the actor begins at the first spawn point that was specified, not the updated one. This proves to make difficulties for testing areas across large worlds, or even other zones.
I have saved the best for last ^^. This bug is a mean one and has been proven to occur. When working with NPC Configurations a user can set up NPCs such as banks, stores, chest/containers, and more. However, if you set up any NPCs during the design process, then revert to another section of the Project tree and do any modifications to the zone, actors, or game objects, then return to the NPC Configuration settings, the editor freezes without fail. I would classify this as a serious bug, because it does not make any sense at all.