CC3 map shows big red "X", Can't fnd the path

[Cosmos Master]

Every time I make CC3 maps it eventually shows big red "X" when I try to open a map. I'm told the program cannot find the file and that is why the red "X" appears. Can someone tell me what I need to do to correct this? I have had the program for several years and gotten zero use out of it because of this problem. I have gone to the CC3 forum site and they talk so far over my head that I cannot understand a word they are telling me. Needless to say the problem is never fixed.

[waldronate]

Are you using CC3 or CC3+?

[Mark Oliva]

I've been following your thread on the CC3+/CC3 forum. I'm not the one who said things that went over your head ... just the one who said earlier that we didn't have enough detail from you to pinpoint what your problem is. But that was earlier.

The red X usually means that you placed an object on your map - that object being a symbol or a fill style - and that afterwards you changed the location on your hard drive where the symbol was located. As a result CC3+ or CC3 no longer can find that symbol and/or fill style.

However, from the descriptions that you've given us so far (in the forums and your brief posting above), I think that you're telling us that:

1) You've installed CC3 (probably not CC3+), and you haven't done anything to the files that were installed.

2) You open CC3.

3) You make a map.

4) You save and close the map.

5) You open the map again and the red Xs appear.

Because we still have somewhat thin information from you, I have to ask you to consider all of these points carefully and ask if all of them are 100% correct. If they aren't, tell us what step or steps I've described wrong. That will help us find the point where something is going wrong. On the other hand if all of the points I listed above are 100% correct, there's a problem with your CC3 installation. In that case, there are two things that you can do:

1) Start a reinstallation of CC3 without uninstalling.

2) When the installation menu gives you the option, pick Repair.

Try making a simple map again and see if the problem has been resolved. If it hasn't, then

1) Go to:

http://www.profantasy.com

2) Log in.

3) Click the tab "Support."

4) Scroll down until you get to the section "Ask for help."

5) Fill out the trouble report information.

6) Click the button "Send."

ProFantasy is very, very good at working with customers on such problems and getting them resolved.

Last suggestion: Instead of shotgunning this issue over various forums, take it back to the CC3 forum where you were started. You were on a good path there, at least until Dkarr's "solution" yesterday, which doubtless blew your mind a bit. His/her advice not only was too complex for someone who is not a CC3 expert but it also misstated things a few times. If, not knowing exactly what you were doing to begin with, you tried to follow those instructions, chances are very good you would have landed in Neverneverland. However, there are many other helpful people on the CC3 forum who haven't had a chance to chime in yet. Remember that it was a weekend, and a lot of people don't spend the weekend on Internet forums.

[Cosmos Master]

Thank you Mark. I'm the one who made the claim that everyone was talking over my head, that comment wasn't directed at another person. You understand my situation correctly. Here is a detailed procedure of what I have been doing with CC3 (not CC3+). First off, let me say I have had this problem for several years, before and after adding add ons from Profantasy, so I don't feel I have any add on's that are incompatible with CC3.

I am creating maps for the World of Greyhawk and go to the following website and download these maps....http://ghmaps.net/greyhawk-maps/. I then change the file from JPEG to bit in order to make it compatible with CC3 and save it on my computer either on C drive or a flash drive (NOTE AT THIS POINT I HAVE NOT EVEN OPENED UP CC3 PROGRAM, I HAVE ONLY DOWNLOADED A MAP FROM ANOTHER WEBSITE AND SAVED IT ON MY COMPUTER). I have I download many maps, one after the other and save them as bit files. For some reason, CC3 doesn't seem to support JPEG files.

The next thing I do is select a map to work with. I open up CC3 and start a new map. I then go to Draw and click on Insert File and find one of the Greyhawk maps and begin making my own alterations, such as adding towns, roads, etc. The program does not allow me to change anything that Anna's maps already have on them except for things I have added using CC3 such as towns, roads etc. . Once I am done with my work I click Save. I do not attempt to save it anywhere else on the computer. I use the route provided by CC3.

Later I return to do more work on the map, it opens just fine, allows me to make more changes (again adding features such as towns, roads, etc.) I save it, return a few days later and this continues for several days, perhaps even a few weeks without any issues.

Then one day I come back to it only to find that a red X appears on nearly all of the files I started using. This has happened with both Anna's Greyhawk maps and when I make my own CC3 map starting from scratch which does not include inserting anyone's file.

This is all I have ever done, I don't save it anywhere else on the computer other than the original destination that CC3 gives me when I installed it. I have tried using the Repair several times, I have tried uninstalling it then reinstalling it, I have had this problem with different computers over the years that I have owned. None of these seem to affect the situation.

[Mark Oliva]

I'm moving my reply to this to the CC3 forum, where some of the CC3 experts now also are trying to deal with it. Cosmos Master is over there now too.