How do I debug missing tiles/sprites?

[Mechanos]

I find myself missing occasional surface tiles, where I assume grass of some sort should be. Only sporadically in certain areas of grass, and most areas won't have any missing tiles. Sometimes plants or trees will be on top of the missing tile, sometimes the tile will be empty, but mousing over the tile doesn't indicate that something invisible is there. I haven't been able to discern a pattern, other than the missing tiles being surrounded by grass.

Pretty certain this is caused by a mod or load order issue. I'm using the Detailed Landscapes mod, and I assume it's likely related. But I haven't had this problem with Detailed Landscapes in the past, so I don't want to rule out the possibility of one of my other mods causing an issue/conflict, or just my load order.

Has anyone else had this problem with Detailed Landscapes? If not, how should I go about figuring out what is causing the missing tile(s)? Thank you for any advice you can give me.

[Mechanos]

Hmm, no takers?

[Nakaris]

with missing tiles you mean black spots ??? can you provide a screen?

[Skizmo]

I'm guessing you are right and it's a mod problem, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is just a vanilla game gfx glitch. Maybe you can try the lightly detailed terrain mod? https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2921238107

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Mechanos:

.. If not, how should I go about figuring out what is causing the missing tile(s)? Thank you for any advice you can give me.

Go through you mods, one by one, and toggle the off/whatever individually and test for each configuration.

Also - check suspect mods for reports and/or advice about load-order.

I don't mod DF. But, if mods work like I assume, you should be able to make a quick short-list of potential culprits.

Posting a list of the mods you're running may get feedback from others that run them without issue.

PS: You should also let Steam verify your local files on the offchance that there's a corruption that occurred during a download/patch.

[Mechanos]

Originally posted by Nakaris:

with missing tiles you mean black spots ??? can you provide a screen?

Yes. Spots that should be grass or something, but are just missing a sprite so appear blackish and empty. Only happens in certain grassy biomes. I'll see about getting a screenshot later today.

Originally posted by ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED:

I'm guessing you are right and it's a mod problem, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is just a vanilla game gfx glitch. Maybe you can try the lightly detailed terrain mod? https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2921238107

I don't think I've seen it happen when not using mods. I mostly just don't know if the problem is caused by a specific mod, or a mod conflict, or mod load order issue. But I'll keep that mod in mind, thanks.

Originally posted by Morkonan:

Go through you mods, one by one, and toggle the off/whatever individually and test for each configuration.

Also - check suspect mods for reports and/or advice about load-order.

I don't mod DF. But, if mods work like I assume, you should be able to make a quick short-list of potential culprits.

Posting a list of the mods you're running may get feedback from others that run them without issue.

PS: You should also let Steam verify your local files on the offchance that there's a corruption that occurred during a download/patch.

Doesn't happen with vanilla, and I've verified several times while testing the linux version (mod incompatible with linux made me think the game wasn't working). However, testing mods one at a time is not a realistic option. You have to re-generate a world every test due to the way this game compiles worlds, and that doesn't rule out mod conflicts and load order issues either, so you'd have to also test combinations. This is fine if you only have 2 or 3 mods, but I have like.. 40 lol. Hence asking how to more directly figure out the issue.

I've already read every comment on the Detailed Landscapes mod (and don't want to accuse them of a missing texture without evidence), and load order advice is fairly rare on steam, as it seems DF's load order is very mod specific. By that I mean.. If a mod directly overwrites an asset, the mod loaded first takes priority for some reason (in other games, the 2nd loaded mod usually overwrites the 1st). But if a mod overwrites an asset using other means, then it's safe/recommended to load it after, but the only way to know which, is if the devs themselves post info about it. I probably should ask the Detailed Landscapes dev directly about load order, and if there's a chance of a missing texture, and hope for a response.

Now that I think about it, you give me an idea.. I wonder if this could be a linux incompatibility, where a capitalization error in the mod loads the sprite properly in windows, but can't find it in linux, due to the way EXT4 file system treats capitalization as different files. I didn't see a specific error in the logs.. but idk if missing sprites are logged. *thinks* Edit: Yeah, at the least I should test Detailed Landscapes by itself and rule it out.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Mechanos:

...This is fine if you only have 2 or 3 mods, but I have like.. 40 lol. Hence asking how to more directly figure out the issue.

Well, I didn't say it would be easy. :) There's no "Magic Bullet" to kill that mod-check beast. Maybe DFHack has something?

..I probably should ask the Detailed Landscapes dev directly about load order, and if there's a chance of a missing texture, and hope for a response.

Yup. And, if others are using that mod and experience this issue, the modder may have some tips even if it isn't their mod causing it.

Now that I think about it, you give me an idea..

GIVE IT BACK! YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW RARE THOSE ARE FOR ME! :)

I wonder if this could be a linux incompatibility, where a capitalization error in the mod loads the sprite properly in windows, but can't find it in linux, due to the way EXT4 file system treats capitalization as different files. I didn't see a specific error in the logs.. but idk if missing sprites are logged. *thinks*

When you wrote "Linux" that's the first thing I though of as a potential source. (Though, I was thinking GPU driver and some weird tile feature) Is EXT4 the old Unix hierarchy? I don't Linux, so... /shrug If so, yeah... I hate that.

Here's fun - Work with a program that has its own runtime indexer that uses a Unix-style hierarchy nomenclature for file names AND can also write files using that convention in a WINDOWS environment and then screw up and use a capital letter, duping a file entry in the apps indexer, but overwriting the base file... 'cause %$#^@% IT IT HATES ME... AND WHO USES "!" IN A %%@@%^ FILENAME ANYMORE? :)

I think you're on the right track. I bet there's a capital letter in a file reference and something choked on it! Good job! Now, you just need to check the file manifest and refs.