Troubleshooting

Short answers to the problems mappers meet most often. Each one links to the page with the details.

Starting RED+

Windows says "Windows protected your PC"

That is Windows SmartScreen, because RedPlus.exe is not code-signed. Click More info, then Run anyway. See Antivirus and SmartScreen warnings.

Nothing happens when I start RedPlus.exe

Your antivirus may have quarantined it. See Antivirus and SmartScreen warnings. If RedPlus.exe is still there, logs\RedPlus.log in the RED+ folder shows how far the start got.

RED+ says it cannot write to its own folder

The RED+ folder is somewhere Windows does not let you write, such as under Program Files. The editor still starts, but its logs and the settings you change are not kept. Move the RED+ folder somewhere you can write to, or give that folder write permission. See Install and start RED+.

RED+ says it could not find RED.exe

RED+ did not find your Red Faction folder. Put the RED+ folder inside your Red Faction folder, the one with RED.exe, or set RF_DIR in redplus.ini to that folder. See Install and start RED+.

RED+ says RF_DIR points at a folder that does not exist, or one with no RED.exe

The path after RF_DIR is not your Red Faction folder. Set it to the folder that contains RED.exe, without quotes, or delete the line so RED+ finds the game itself.

RED+ says RED_4gb.exe was not made by RED+

Delete RED_4gb.exe from your Red Faction folder and start RED+ again. RED+ makes a new one.

RED+ says RED.exe is not the version it needs

RED+ runs only with RED.exe from Red Faction 1.20 (North America). Installing Alpine Faction or Dash Faction does not replace RED.exe. logs\RedPlus.log names the version it found.

RED+ says game directory validation has failed

The folder RED+ uses as the game has no tables.vpp. The message names that folder. Set RF_DIR to a complete Red Faction install.

Does the editor have 4 GB of memory?

Look in logs\RedPlus.log. If the line containing Starting the process: names RED_4gb.exe, it does. If the log has a line containing running the editor in 2GB, RED+ could not write RED_4gb.exe into your Red Faction folder.

Help > Check for RED+ Updates says the package does not check for updates

That is expected. New builds come as a new package. See Files RED+ keeps and writes.

Settings

I changed redplus.ini and nothing happened

• RED+ reads most settings when it starts. Close the editor, edit the file, then start the editor again.
• Edit the redplus.ini in the RED+ folder, next to RedPlusEditor.dll. Near the start of logs\RedPlusEditor.log, a line containing [RF+] settings file: names the file RED+ reads.
• Do not put quotes around paths.

See redplus.ini.

My settings are gone after I installed a new package

The new package came with its own redplus.ini. Copy your old one over it. See Files RED+ keeps and writes.

Play

Play says it needs a game launcher

RED+ did not find Alpine Faction, and the question that asks where AlpineFactionLauncher.exe is was cancelled. Install Alpine Faction, or press Play again and pick the file. You can also set PLAY_LAUNCHER in redplus.ini yourself. See Testing levels with Play.

Mods

A mod is greyed out in File > Mod (RF+)

Its folder name has a space. RED cannot load such a mod. See Mods.

RED warns that the level was made with another mod

The level was saved with a different mod, or with none. Click OK to open it. To work on it with its own mod, choose that mod in File›, Mod (RF+). See Mods.

Logs and crashes

Where are the logs?

In the logs folder inside the RED+ folder. See Reporting a problem.

RED+ crashed

RED+ saved a report as logs\RedPlusEditor-crash.zip in the RED+ folder. It does not upload it. Send it with your logs, as Reporting a problem describes.

Lighting

Baked lighting looks different from stock RED

That is expected in places. Report it when it looks wrong, not just different. See How RED+ bakes lighting.

I calculated lighting and nothing changed

RED skips surfaces it considers already lit. When a bake recomputes nothing, the log has a line containing this render was a NO-OP. Move a light slightly or rebuild the geometry (Space), then calculate the lighting again.

The editor stops responding while lighting is calculated

The bake is running, and the editor window does not redraw until it ends. RED+ shows a Computing Lighting window with the stages of the bake, a progress bar and a Cancel (Esc) button. Esc cancels only while RED+ is the active program.

Is my level broken if I cancel a bake?

No. Surfaces lit before you cancelled keep their new lightmaps, and the rest keep their previous ones. The log has a line containing bake CANCELLED. Calculate the lighting again for a complete bake.

My level file is very large

Lightmap detail decides how large the lightmaps are. See Lightmap detail and file size. A lower detail makes a level smaller only after Level›, Calculate Maps and Light.

Whenever you save, RED+ also drops lightmap pages that no surface uses any more, so opening and saving an older level can make it smaller.

The 3D view

The 3D view shows almost nothing

Check the View menu. On a level with few portals, Render Using Portals (Like in-game) and Render Current Room Only draw almost nothing, so choose Render Everything. RED+ switches to it for you when you open a level that has geometry but fewer than four portal faces. See Viewports and rendering.

Is the Direct3D 11 renderer running?

Look in logs\RedPlusEditor.log. A line containing Loading d3d8to11.dll: means the editor loaded the Direct3D 11 renderer. If the log has a line containing d3d8to11.dll failed to load, the editor is on its fallback renderer. Check that the RED+ folder is complete and that your antivirus has not quarantined the file.