The Validator - Find errors quickly and with minimal pain!

[Dewguru]

Oh ok sorry I see now, this error is not affected by Events.NoCheckEventBorderPrefix.

What the error is saying is that eg GFX_event_normal_frame_religion cannot be found by looking at all the interface\*.gfx files and finding entries of spriteTypes\spriteType\name\* (i.e. it's just trying to see that GFX_event_normal_frame_religion is registered in the game somewhere).

So is GFX_event_normal_frame_religion (and others) actually defined somewhere? If so the Validator needs to be fixed to handle that.

I can see in the core game files where they're identified.

Crusader Kings II\interface\eventwindow.gfx is the file that defines them I believe.

 

[Jamie550]

Ah got it, the root cause was that Validator was not happy with that and other gfx files since they used things like "foo\bar" (rather than "foo\\bar"). Since I presume it works this version should relax the requirement: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7leo...37.6.zip?rlkey=ymcmecbxdl0696mmu8594rc3f&dl=0

 

[tsf4]

Jamie, a new error is popping up when using the validator's new version.

portrait = [Root.GetID]

causes a parse error in files, saying its an illegal closing bracket. But the brackets match up. Its part of the chronicle feature:

chronicle = {
entry = CHRONICLE_HERESY_TAKEOVER_PLAYER_IS_OLD
portrait = [Root.GetID]
}

 

[Jamie550]

Hmm try this: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rmtt...37.7.zip?rlkey=4dke5gfibljx3qg7g0yokrewo&dl=0

 

[tsf4]

That fixed it. Thanks!

 

[jonjowett]

Minor false positive: When I set border = GFX_event_narrative_frame_war inside a narrative_event, the Validator produces an error message, even though this is valid and is reflected properly in-game.

Spoiler: Details

Example mod code that triggers this false positive:

narrative_event = {
    id = EXPDTargetedVanillaMerc.211
    title = EXPDTVM_MainMenu_EvtTitle
    desc = EXPDTVM_MainMenu_EvtDesc
    picture = GFX_evt_battle
    border = GFX_event_narrative_frame_war
    is_triggered_only = yes
...
# The rest of the event doesn't really matter...

Example error message:

--- Error 1 of 1 ---
At <mod>\events\expd_tv_events_merc.txt [narrative_event\border] (Line 381, column 2):
"GFX_event_narrative_frame_war" is not a valid GfxElement.

Location of the relevant gfx element: ...\interface\eventwindow.gfx, line 268:

    spriteType = {
        name = "GFX_event_narrative_frame_war"
        texturefile = "gfx\\interface\\event_narrative_frame_war.tga"
        allwaystransparent = yes
    }

I don't know why the Validator isn't picking up this particular gfx element when it seems to find everything else just fine... so, to me, it seems like an unusual false positive.

 

[Jamie550]

Minor false positive: When I set border = GFX_event_narrative_frame_war inside a narrative_event, the Validator produces an error message, even though this is valid and is reflected properly in-game.

Spoiler: Details

Example mod code that triggers this false positive:

narrative_event = {
    id = EXPDTargetedVanillaMerc.211
    title = EXPDTVM_MainMenu_EvtTitle
    desc = EXPDTVM_MainMenu_EvtDesc
    picture = GFX_evt_battle
    border = GFX_event_narrative_frame_war
    is_triggered_only = yes
...
# The rest of the event doesn't really matter...

Example error message:


Location of the relevant gfx element: ...\interface\eventwindow.gfx, line 268:

    spriteType = {
        name = "GFX_event_narrative_frame_war"
        texturefile = "gfx\\interface\\event_narrative_frame_war.tga"
        allwaystransparent = yes
    }

I don't know why the Validator isn't picking up this particular gfx element when it seems to find everything else just fine... so, to me, it seems like an unusual false positive.

For this case it would be useful to see the exact example of failure since something is probably funny; i.e. do you have a mod link that repros this? (so we can see if there's anything going on in the mod which causes Validator to be confused) (or do you mean this is in vanilla?)

 

[jonjowett]

For this case it would be useful to see the exact example of failure since something is probably funny; i.e. do you have a mod link that repros this? (so we can see if there's anything going on in the mod which causes Validator to be confused) (or do you mean this is in vanilla?)

It's very much in progress atm, so it's not up on the workshop or anything as yet.

However, here's the current dev version in zip format (which is automatically produced as part of my workflow). Simply unzip in your mod folder and point the Validator at "expanded_decisions_targeted_vanilla". You should get something like this:

The top two errors are the usual "scripted_effect exists in vanilla but not in the mod, so it isn't detected by the Validator". (Possibly another thing you might want to fix?) The bottom 4 are the gfx errors I'm talking about.

 

[Jamie550]

It's very much in progress atm, so it's not up on the workshop or anything as yet.

However, here's the current dev version in zip format (which is automatically produced as part of my workflow). Simply unzip in your mod folder and point the Validator at "expanded_decisions_targeted_vanilla". You should get something like this:
View attachment 1117669
The top two errors are the usual "scripted_effect exists in vanilla but not in the mod, so it isn't detected by the Validator". (Possibly another thing you might want to fix?) The bottom 4 are the gfx errors I'm talking about.

Ok this is strange, I actually using that, can't repro any of the errors, or any non-vanilla errors at all (however, when I purposely add in a typo to the mod files, then I can repro). You can repro errors with the zip that you uploaded? I guess you are using 1.37.7? And even if you check all the validation options, then the errors are still reproed?

 

[jonjowett]

Ok this is strange, I actually using that, can't repro any of the errors, or any non-vanilla errors at all (however, when I purposely add in a typo to the mod files, then I can repro). You can repro errors with the zip that you uploaded? I guess you are using 1.37.7? And even if you check all the validation options, then the errors are still reproed?

Unfortunately, I cropped out the title bar in my screenshot. I was using 1.37.3, and upgrading to 1.37.7 fixed both issues (ie. the mod now has a clean validation). Mea culpa - I'm really sorry for wasting your time.

(Suggestion: Next time, your first question should be: "Are you using the latest version, vX.X.X?". I thought I was up to date - I had upgraded and migrated all my settings pretty recently - but it turns out I actually wasn't using the latest version, and that was important... I have to ask the same question all the time when I'm doing ad-hoc support in my day job, so I should really know better...)