entmov.pac modding causes - "Please wait" when the entrance is to begin

[Impaler]

I rarely ever play with entrances on and today after a month of modding I decided to enjoy a full experience including the entrances for a match and to my surprise and disappointment after loading was done and entrance was about to begin I was presented this screen. Tried on default arenas with in-game characters and imported arenas with CAWs. Result is the same. This screen stays on forever if you let it. Reboot is the way out.

I kept on modding for so long that I have no idea what could have caused it.

If I do not turn on entrances game loads fine.

Then I tried going into CREATE AN ENTRANCE (basic mode) and after I select a CAW when his entrance is set to begin this screen also pops up and game is stuck (though music can be heard playing).

Have any of you any idea which file might be the culprit here? @Red Rooster, @N'Jadaka

Edited April 26, 2018 by Impaler

[Red Rooster]

That could be caused by lots of things and the fact that you dont know when it occurred is gonna make it almost impossible to troubleshoot unfortunately

[Impaler]

gonna be replacing original files one by one and re-launching the game checking if entrance starts to work and then re-add the mods I did in that file again. Hope to narrow it down soon. Many steps forward one big step back.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Impaler

[N'Jadaka]

1 hour ago, Impaler said:

gonna be replacing original files one by one and re-launching the game checking if entrance starts to work and then re-add the mods I did in that file again. Hope to narrow it down soon. Many steps forward one big step back.

That what i would have advised. I encountered that before but it was sooooo long ago I don't even remember the issue or the fix. But it was a simple noob mistake. Maybe the arc file.

[Impaler]

After 2-3 hours I identified the problem it was introduced while I was working on adding transition screens. Lost only 2-3 days' work. And will remake it even fast. Whew. Dodged a bullet and will do even more backups from now on. Having arc backups from each milestone saved my ass some precious time.

Always backup when you mod!

[XIII XHP]

Same thing happened to me back when there used to be Community Downloadable Content.  I kinda jumped into trying to mod things w/ a little bit of knowledge & like they say, a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.  Glad you got it all situated.

[Impaler]

Well I got this all narrowed down.. but not exactly sorted out...

I found out that this error happens immediately after you inject any bik video file to entmov.pac file.

Here is what I do:

• I open entmov.pac with X-Packer 10 via Open XBOX 360 / PS3 New pac format / Pac containing directories.
• I inject necessary bik files to replace old ones.
• update arc non wrestler for both arc files.
• I rename entmov.pac to en1mov.pac
• I update the file name entry in def files to be en1mov.pac instead of entmov.pac.
• I upload arc to both game and games forlders.
• I upload en1mov.pac to GAMES pac/ent folder.

When I hit X to start the game, the new bik video transitions shows up perfectly. But when time comes for the entrance to start - I get this "please wait" freeze.

I also tried updating arcs by using simple "update function". Then I didn't even get past the character selection screen.

What else might be wrong here?

@N'Jadaka, @Red Rooster, @XIII XHP, @El Guapo

[Red Rooster]

If I remember correctly Xpacker fucks up the arc when you try to update it for evtmov no matter which way you try to do it. It screws up the offsets for all the minitrons after a certain one (I can remember which one exactly) and then screws up the offset for all the files after that.

Only way I found to make it work is to either inject files exactly the same size as the original file or update the arc manually in hex. (Its a total pain in the ass)

[Impaler]

thanks for the info.

well since my bik video files are exactly the same size byte to byte. perhaps I can skip arc updating altogether. will try my luck when I get back home.

[Red Rooster]

Yeah if the size hasnt changed theres no reason to update the arc

[Impaler]

and it worked! I didn't touch the arcs and it worked! YAS!