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Main => Help Me => Topic started by: Jolly Bodger on August 29, 2009, 05:51:08 PM

Title: SOLVED!!! - I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Jolly Bodger on August 29, 2009, 05:51:08 PM
Still messing about with this program deciding if it's for me.

Loaded it onto my desk top did a couple of fancy layouts based on the BPC_UltraDeluxe layout. After some help from here I got it working great.

Now the problem - I loaded TD2 onto my laptop and I can't persuade the BPC layout to work I just keep getting a white screen. I took great care to copy all the files over correctly.

Even reloading the layout into a saved tournament doesn't work.

JB

...

I’m one of those kinds of people that just can’t leave things alone. This problem has REALLY bugged me – because there seems no reason why the Laptop should work any differently to the Desktop. I am certainly no technical guru, I’m more like those ‘dangerous’ people with a little knowledge.

I have however found the solution, even though I still don’t know why this works!!!

When TD is installed it creates a ‘Data’ folder on the ‘C’ drive in ‘My Documents’  and I’m sure I read on this forum somewhere that all images should be placed in that folder. WRONG! The clue was that every time I checked the layout it said it could not find the images even though the path was correct and it displayed in the background dialog box. As soon as I moved the images onto the ‘D’ drive it displayed all the background images perfectly.

Perhaps some technical guru out there might be able to explain it?

If it helps my Laptop is an Acer running XP.

JB
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Jolly Bodger on August 29, 2009, 05:54:43 PM
I should also point out that the standard layouts do work.

And all the sound events I programmed in work.


JB
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Corey Cooper on August 31, 2009, 10:13:21 AM
Last time I checked, the BPC layout only has the background image set for the main screen.  You will need to set the background image for the other screens.
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Jolly Bodger on August 31, 2009, 04:21:24 PM
Yes I did that but still just get white screen with the chip images and the outline of the clock. That would mean that the layout is working ok but can't be seen because it's white text on a white background.

I just can't persuade the laptop to work the same as the desktop - really frustrating. I know it must be something really simple that I've missed but I can't spot it.

JB
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Corey Cooper on September 01, 2009, 01:14:59 PM
So, to be clear, it's just the background image that appears to be missing?

Do you see the background image for any of the screens in the BPC UltraDeluxe layout?  Press the number keys (1 through 9) from the Game window to switch screens. 
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Jolly Bodger on September 02, 2009, 05:11:13 PM
Hi Corey - This is driving me nuts!!

Today I uninstalled the program and reloaded it - no difference...

I have loaded the BPC layout and the background image that I want to use. Both the layout and background work perfectly on my desktop but the background will not show on the laptop.

I can however change the background colour using the 'background properties' the coloured background then shows that the layout  (Clock, Blinds etc) are all in the correct place on the screen - so the layout is working.

The coloured background will not become transparent when the 'override' box for either the 'background' or 'borders' or both are checked.

Just don't know what to try next.

JB
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Corey Cooper on September 04, 2009, 09:57:36 AM
The "Override all background colors" and "Override all borders" turn background colors/images and borders off in the cells (and columns and rows).  It won't override the background color/image of the screen itself.  That's the point - to show the background color/image of the screen without the individually set background colors/images of the cells getting in the way.

So, in the Screen Background dialog, if you check those override boxes, and set a background color, and then press OK, you see a background color for the screen (in the Game window), right?  OK, so now go back to the Screen Background image dialog, make sure the same screen is selected (the currently displayed screen on the Game window), and select a background image.  Does it show up in the little preview window (ie, it's a valid image file)?  When you press OK, the image does not show up as the background in the Game window?
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Jolly Bodger on September 04, 2009, 05:11:01 PM
Thanks for persevering with this Corey – but I’m just getting so frustrated that it works perfectly on one computer but not the one I will need it on.

In the ‘Screen Background Dialog’ I can see the picture I want to display as a background (this is shown on all 3 screens – Main, Pre tournament and Post tournament).

At the top in the ‘colour’ box it is blank. The filename ‘path’ is correct. Below that the ‘Don’t repeat’ box is checked. Below that the vertical and horizontal  alignment is Center. Below that both ‘override’ boxes are checked.

Still no background image showing!

JB
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: verbalvolley on September 05, 2009, 10:54:33 AM
just a guess, but could this be a screen resoloution problem? match your laptop to your desktop screen resoloution and try that? good luck anyhow
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: macacan on September 05, 2009, 03:19:10 PM
chick that the pic has not been moved from were it was.


 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Jolly Bodger on September 05, 2009, 06:40:09 PM
Screen resolution is the same and the path to the picture is correct.

Thanks for the thoughts tho.

JB
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Phaze on September 06, 2009, 10:05:15 PM
Hi, I've been playing around with the BPC layout myself and I get the same thing as you... all the layout works, but just a white screen, no background picture... The problem is the resolution... you have to make sure that the background picture is the same "size" as your screen size... I'm unsure of how adept you are at resizing pictures, but if you tell me your resolution size I can crop it up so it will work... this is how I got mine to work

To find resolution screen size, right click anywhere on your desktop and choose "Properties"... Click on the last tab labeled "Settings"... Midway through the window on the left side is your Screen resolution box with a sliding scale Less <---> More and below that it will say some number by another number pixels... those are the two numbers that you need... then you resize your layout background to that setting (or you can just slide your screen resolution to match the layout background, whatever it is)... Like I said, if you tell me your resolution, I'll crop the pic you are using and send it back to you, if you are unsure of how to crop pics... its possible to do it with MS Paint, but I found it a bit harder than running it through Paint Shop Pro...

And if you are like me and have two screens or monitors then its important to get the resolution of the monitor that you are displaying the TD game screen on... My computer monitor and the actual TV that I display TD on are two different resolution... I don't know if this applies to you Jolly, but thought I'd mention it
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Jolly Bodger on September 07, 2009, 11:06:56 AM
My screen resolution on my Laptop is exactly the same as my Desktop monitor at 1280x768 the background jpegs are 1280x768 (according to photoshop)

Still no background showing ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

JB
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Phaze on September 07, 2009, 12:47:21 PM
My windows settings only go 1280X960 or 1024X768.... I checked a laptop with vista and it wouldn't go exactly 1280X768 either... anyway, I would assume that if the graphic is too big it won't display it... so you could crop the picture a bit smaller and see if that works
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Jolly Bodger on September 08, 2009, 09:20:28 AM
I have XP running on both the Desktop and Laptop.

I have tried changing the background to a smaller image. I have also tried changing the screen resolution - tried several but left it on 1280x600 in the end.

STILL NO BACKGROUND :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

I am on the point of giving up!

JB

PS I have also tried changing from jpeg to gif.
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Corey Cooper on September 08, 2009, 09:38:38 AM
The screen resolution should not matter.  However, that doesn't mean it won't - it could easily be an Internet Explorer quirk.

Have you tried setting the background of one of the cells to that particular image?  Just to see if it will show up at all...
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Phaze on September 09, 2009, 06:45:39 AM
I get the white background when trying to display that background too... I have a 22" widescreen monitor and I'm hooked up to my TV... display resolutions are: Monitor 1680 by 1050 and tv 1024 by 768...

When the TD is set for my monitor, the picture is somewhat too small and I get a white background around it but I can still see the background... When I put it to my tv, all  I got was white background... I resized the pic to fit tv and everything worked
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Corey Cooper on September 09, 2009, 07:03:43 AM
I tried it on my Vista laptop, with a 1280x800 display.  Installed the BPC UltraDeluxe layout, loaded it into the TD, and the background image showed up right away.

I think this could be an IE quirk, and it's possible it behaves differently on different PCs.  I would go with Phaze's suggestion and resize the image to more fit your screen resolution.  It's worth a try.
Title: Re: I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Jolly Bodger on September 09, 2009, 09:35:58 AM
Well I think I've just about done with this >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

I tried reducing the background down in stages right down to 800x500. I tried setting every row, column and cell to the backgroumd jpeg. I wondered about an Internet Explorer issue so I downloaded the latest service pack 3 for XP and then tried all of the above again.

NOTHING HAS WORKED - I am now just getting angry and frustrated!

JB
Title: Re: SOLVED!!! - I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Corey Cooper on September 14, 2009, 04:56:16 PM
Still messing about with this program deciding if it's for me.

Loaded it onto my desk top did a couple of fancy layouts based on the BPC_UltraDeluxe layout. After some help from here I got it working great.

Now the problem - I loaded TD2 onto my laptop and I can't persuade the BPC layout to work I just keep getting a white screen. I took great care to copy all the files over correctly.

Even reloading the layout into a saved tournament doesn't work.

JB

...

I’m one of those kinds of people that just can’t leave things alone. This problem has REALLY bugged me – because there seems no reason why the Laptop should work any differently to the Desktop. I am certainly no technical guru, I’m more like those ‘dangerous’ people with a little knowledge.

I have however found the solution, even though I still don’t know why this works!!!

When TD is installed it creates a ‘Data’ folder on the ‘C’ drive in ‘My Documents’  and I’m sure I read on this forum somewhere that all images should be placed in that folder. WRONG! The clue was that every time I checked the layout it said it could not find the images even though the path was correct and it displayed in the background dialog box. As soon as I moved the images onto the ‘D’ drive it displayed all the background images perfectly.

Perhaps some technical guru out there might be able to explain it?

If it helps my Laptop is an Acer running XP.

JB


I'm glad you solved this issue.  I know how frustrating it can be.

I still have no idea why your background image didn't display.  But it should not matter where on your hard drive the image is located.  It is definitely a good idea to place your images in the "%MY DOCUMENTS%\The Tournament Director 2\Data" folder, but only because (a) this puts everything in one central location, and (b) this makes the layout portable (you can export it from the Layout tab and put everything in one single ZIP file).  As far as the TD is concerned, your images could be all over your hard drive, and as long as they are referenced properly they should display.

Were they located in "%MY DOCUMENTS%\The Tournament Director 2\Data" on your desktop PC?
Title: Re: SOLVED!!! - I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: VooDoo on March 16, 2010, 08:30:29 AM
Just wanted to let you know that I'm encountering the same issue with backgrounds on my Vista laptop but no problems on my XP desktop.

I copied the backgrounds that come with TD2 to my D: drive as indicated by the original poster and it works now on Vista.

On my laptop, the images were originally saved at C:\Users\R&D\Documents\The Tournament Director 2\Data\images...this does not work.
When I copied them to the D: drive, the location was D:\images...and this works.

On my desktop, the images were originally saved at C:\documents and Settings\owner\My Documents\The Tournament Director 2\Data\images....this works.


Title: Re: SOLVED!!! - I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Corey Cooper on March 16, 2010, 10:51:32 AM
This might have something to do with the ampersand (&) in your user name.  Just a guess, IE might not like that in the path.
Title: Re: SOLVED!!! - I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Magic_fubu on March 17, 2010, 10:29:40 AM
Corey, ampersands, from what I can know, should not affect anything. I've been to a few sites where the main site doesn't have one, but through clicking links and whatnot, one becomes apart of the web address, and IE has treated it normally. I don't know if anyone else has had issues, but I can attest to myself NOT having issues with websites with ampersands.

This might have something to do with the ampersand (&) in your user name.  Just a guess, IE might not like that in the path.
Title: Re: SOLVED!!! - I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Corey Cooper on March 17, 2010, 11:07:12 AM
Key words here: "should not affect anything".  You are correct, ampersands are a valid separator for query variables in URLs, as are semicolons.  I'm simply stating that the way the TD tells IE which background image to use, the ampersand in that path could be an issue.

In fact, I guess I should have just done this before, but I just decided to test this and bingo it does appear to be the problem.  I'll see if I can fix it for 2.6.
Title: Re: SOLVED!!! - I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: VooDoo on March 18, 2010, 08:42:07 PM
Yes, the & was the culprit.  I changed users without an & and and everything is fine now.

Thanks!

BTW - I will be purchasing a license as this is a great product Corey.
Title: Re: SOLVED!!! - I'm obviously missing something!!!
Post by: Corey Cooper on March 19, 2010, 10:12:33 AM
This is fixed for 2.6.