MAKING MAZES

LOGS & ERRORS

Overview of Logs & Errors Information Logging Tables Information Logging Tables Key Recovering from Save Errors Challenge Maze Stuck On Top White Areas or White Screen (Not Responding)

Overview of Logs & Errors

Player Logs

Player logs have a record of regular player actions such as the starting of a game, the saving of a game, facing challenges in a game, etc...   The player log files record a player's activities in a maze so that the activities can be readily assessed.

When a Challenge Maze Software game is started the players are prompted to enter their names.   This begins the logging of their activities.   All activities logged by the Challenge Maze Software for each player will have the player's name included.   Each time a player attempts to solve a challenge, or actually solves a challenge, the information is logged.   Each log entry about challenges also includes the content of the challenge, the answer that was entered, and several other pieces of helpful information.

For regular player actions logged for one game in one maze there is the _Single Maze Player Log.txt File within the folders of the Saves Folder or the Game State Folder.

For regular player actions logged for all games in one maze there is the _Single Maze Player Log.txt File within the folders of the Mazes Folder.

For regular player actions logged for all games in all mazes there is the _General Player Log.txt File within the folders of the ,env Folder.

Error Logs

The errors described on this page are errors the errors that make a popup window (called the 'Error Window') appear over the Challenge Maze Software.   Error Logs have things that go wrong like missing files or other problems that make the games not work correctly.   Errors are only written to logs after clicking OK, closing, or escaping the 'Error Window' that pops up after each error occurs.

For errors logged for one game in one maze there is the _Single Maze Error Log.txt File within the folders of the Saves Folder or the Game State Folder.

For errors logged for all games in one maze there is the _Single Maze Error Log.txt File within the folders of the Mazes Folder.

For errors logged for all games in all mazes there is the _General Error Log.txt File within the folders of the ,env Folder.

Information Logging Tables

The tables below detail the how Challenge Maze Software was designed to perform the logging of regular player actions or errors and software errors.   The 'KEY' to the tables can be found after the last table.

REGULAR PLAYER ACTIONS
	General Logs			Maze Maker Logs
	Contact Info	Player Log	Error Log	Contact Info	Player Log	Error Log
Program Launch		A
Program Launch Completed		A
New Game		A			A
Load Game		A			A
Save Game Original		A			A
Save Game Recurrence		A			A
End Game		A			A
Challenge Presented		A			A
Challenge Solved		A			A
Challenge Attempted		A			A
Web Page Launch Attempted		A			A
Player Turn Change		A			A

PLAYER INPUT ERRORS
	General Logs			Maze Maker Logs
	Contact Info	Player Log	Error Log	Contact Info	Player Log	Error Log
Start Failed		A	A
Load Failed	A	A	A
Load Failed Short Password		A	A
Save Failed Short Password		A	A		A	A
Save Failed DifferentPass		A	A	A	A	A

MAZE CREATOR ERRORS
	General Logs			Maze Maker Logs
	Contact Info	Player Log	Error Log	Contact Info	Player Log	Error Log
Web Page URL	S		A	M		M
Text File Missing	S		A	M		M
Image Missing	S		A	M		M
Sound Missing	S		A	M		M
Folder Missing	S		A	M		M
Text Beyond the File	S		A	M		M
Entry Character	S		A	M		M
Entry Integer	S		A	M		M
Entry Decimal	S		A	M		M
CutScene Time	S		A	M		M
Font Size	S		A	M		M
Font Style	S		A	M		M
Font Color	S		A	M		M
Background Color	S		A	M		M

OTHER ERRORS
	General Logs			Maze Maker Logs
	Contact Info	Player Log	Error Log	Contact Info	Player Log	Error Log
Sound Read Attempted	S		A	M		M
Text Read Attempted	S		A	M		M
Text Write Attempted	S		A	M		M
Image Read Attempted	S		A	M		M
Invalid Maze	A		A
Save Copy Failed	A		A	M		M
Copy Failed	S		A	M		M
Delete Failed	S		A	M		M

Information Logging Tables Key

Columns

Contact Info
• Any markings (A, S, or M) in the 'Contact Info' column show that information about the errors listed on the left of that row are going to be provided to players along with contact information for the General Admin or Maze Maker.   Details of the contact information is something that can be entered in the General Error Message Contact Info Entry or Maze Maker Error Message Contact Info Entry.
Player Log
• Any markings (A, S, or M) in the 'Player Log' column show that the actions listed on the left of that row are going to be logged in at least one of the player logs.
Error Log
• Any markings (A, S, or M) in the 'Error Log' column show that the errors listed on the left of that row are going to be logged in at least one of the error logs.

Markings

A (Always)
• The game was designed to attempt to show the info and/or log the error and/or game action from the associated row for the log type in the marked column of the table.
S (Start Screen)
• The game was designed to attempt to show the info and/or log the error from the associated row for the log type in the marked column of the table.   However, it was only designed to show the info or log the error if a maze has not yet been selected by the player when the error occurs.   This happens at the Start Screen, Title Screen, Start Menu, or Load Menu.
M (Maze)
• The game was designed to attempt to show the info and/or log the error from the associated row for the log type in the marked column of the table.   However, it was only designed to show the info or log the error if a maze has already been loaded.   This happens after a player clicks the button to start a new game and after a password is successfully entered to load a saved game.
(empty)
• The game was not designed to attempt to show the info and/or log the error and/or game action from the associated row for the log type in the marked column of the table.

Exceptions

• Some errors can occur where logging is supposed to happen but fails because the error occurs so early in the software startup process that the necessary info needed to find the log files or the contact info is not yet loaded up by the software.
• Some errors that involve paths to folders and files can prevent information from being shown or logged because the game cannot find the files from which to show info or toward which to write info.
• 'Bugs' - Anything else I am unaware of or did not find when creating this table and the Challenge Maze Software.  

Oddities

• Logs are not always consistent down to the exact second on the different log files because there are sometimes multiple files to write to and it can take a a few seconds to log the info on each one.   As a result of this, by the time the game gets to the next file it will write the current time of when it gets to that file.

Recovering from Save Errors

If an attempt to save a game has failed, it is possible to manually save the game as long as another game has not been started.

1. Open the Game State Folder.
2. Find the _Game ID.txt File.
3. Make a folder in the Saves Folder and give it the name of the full _Game ID.
4. Copy all the files in the Game State Folder into the folder with the name of the _Game ID.
5. Make a new textfile (TXT) and give it the name of the _Game ID.   Place the file in the Saves Folder.
6. Type the password for the game on the first line of the textfile.
7. Test the game by starting the Challenge Maze Software and loading a game with the password.

Challenge Maze Stuck On Top

If the Challenge Maze Software window seems to be stuck appearing on top of all other windows, saving the game and restarting the Challenge Maze Software will usually fix this problem.

White Areas or White Screen (Not Responding)

To avoid these problems, please read this entire section carefully.

The behaviors currently listed in this section are all related to the Challenge Maze Software pushing the limits of how quickly the host computer can perform or how the Challenge Maze Software itself draws images to the screen.   Although sometimes the problems may be because the Challenge Maze Software is pushing the limits of how fast the computer can run, often it is just part of the way the Challenge Maze Software is currently designed so that making mazes is as easy as possible.   There are very effective ways to use the Challenge Maze Software that can avoid these problems.   These behaviors were discovered during testing.   Solutions that did not greatly restrict the design and release of the Challenge Maze Software have not yet been implemented.   If the software turns out to be popular enough, this problem will addressed in future versions.   To find out the recommended specifications for how fast a computer should be to run the Challenge Maze Software, please visit the Specification Requirements Section.

Waiting for the Challenge Maze Software to finish whatever it is doing (showing a new room, showing a 'Challenger' animation, changing text on the 'ChalkBoard', showing a 'CutScene', etc...) before clicking on the Challenge Maze Software or switching back and forth from other software windows is the primary way to avoid these types of problems.   Also, raising and lowering volume or screen brightness may cause the same problems as switching between windows if icons or (volume/brightness) meters show up on the computer screen when the volume or brightness are raised and lowered.

It may also help to run the software in a maximized window (press F11) and to close all other unnecessary programs running on the host computer.   Also, When the Challenge Maze Software is running, there is a something 'called' a process running on the Windows computer so that more of the computer's resources will be available to the Challenge Maze Software.   If the computer is near or below the Specification Requirements, it may help to change the priority of the process so that the Challenge Maze Software performs better.   An internet search for 'setting process high priority windows 7' or 'setting process high priority windows 8' may help set the priority.   The process name will be 'Challenge Maze.exe'.

If at all possible, when building a maze, it is helpful to keep 'CutScenes' to just a few seconds long.   However, even 'CutScenes' will play without a problem if the computer is fast enough and the player does not try to switch windows or interact with the screen by clicking on it while a 'CutScene' is playing.

Blank White Game Screen

Sometimes the Challenge Maze Software will appear to have a completely blank white screen.   This generally happens when switching between different software windows running on the computer.   When switching back to the Challenge Maze Software, the 'Game Screen' may appear white.   This has to do with the way the Challenge Maze Software draws images to the computer screen and usually happens when the Challenge Maze Software is in the middle of showing a Challenge or CutScene.   Waiting just a few moments until the Challenge or the CutScene finishes will normally allow the Challenge Maze Software enough time to draw all images on the screen again.

Blank White Areas on the Game Screen

This strange behavior is much like the 'Blank White Game Screen'.   This behavior also happens when switching between software, but has been known to happen without switching between software.   Waiting a few moments for the Challenge Maze Software to finish doing whatever action it is doing, will usually solve the problem.

Not Responding

Sometimes there may be a window that pops up saying that the Challenge Maze Software is 'Not Responding'.   This is usually accompanied by a 'Blank White Game Screen'.   Choosing to allow the Challenge Maze Software to keep running and waiting a few moments will usually solve this problem.