Need ZHAO II help....

I'm trying to set up my copy of the new ZHAO II overrider, and I keep getting an error message. I really hope somebody can tell me how to correct it, because I'm about to go nuts.

I've read the instruction notecard several times, and entered the names of the animations exactly in the new AO set notecard that I'm creating. I'm trying to write the AO set note from scratch, using the default template provided. I've checked to make sure the anim names are correct, and that the ZHAO object isn't out of memory; it's showing 10% available.

When I attach the loaded ZHAO II and click the menu button to load the new AO set, I keep getting an error message that says 'Invalid data in notecard on line 26: [Standing]*Luth* Confident Stand 4|LB Stand 18|Reverie-Female Stand 8. Please correct the notecard and try again.'

Those are the exact names of the poses, so I can't figure out what it thinks is wrong. I have a bunch of stands, but I have them entered on several lines, in the way the instructions specified. Can anyone advise? Thanks a bunch!!

It's case sensitive. A single j instead of a J, and it won't work. Also, I'd make sure that the filenames don't contain commas or other characters that could be used as a separator by the script (like *).

Hmm, I wondered if maybe the * was a problem... but that character actually does appear in the names of two of the stand poses. Could that be doing it? I could try renaming them and removing the * characters, if they're re-nameable.

(I really hope that's what the problem is, I'm about to start throwing things!)

You might try the animation forum. There are a couple of threads there, one about a guide for the old ZHAO, and another about beta testing for the ZHAO II. The creator has been active on both, and seems interested in feedback about the ZHAO II. He might have some idea where you've gone wrong.

Thanks, I'll try that... I thought this forum might have better visibility, but I suppose it isn't exactly the right place.

Not a problem, just wanted to make sure you knew about the other threads. I'm not sure how much help they'll be.

I just went inworld and picked up a ZHAO II, and am in the process of reading the documentation. One thing stands out, but it doesn't look like this is your problem -- it mentions something about not putting spaces in before or after an animation name.

If that's not it, I would start testing via elimination and re-inserting. Start by leaving that line empty and then adding back each animation individually (put in one, take it out, put in the next). If they work fine individually, then try in pairs, then all together again. Hopefully somewhere in there, one won't work and you'll figure out where the problem is (or they'll all work and problem solved!).

BTW, apparently the ZHAO II is officially released and no longer in beta. I'm not sure what degree of support ziggy offers now.

Have to rename the animation... the * cant be used, and I'm not sure but the | character might be throwing it off.

The pipe character -- | -- is used in the ZHAO II to enter multiple animations on a single line, so that is definitely not the problem. (Apparently it could also be used in the original ZHAO... that is mentioned in the animation threads I mentioned above.)

Don't know about the asterisk, though. I didn't see anything about that in the documentation. If it does turn out to be the problem, Ziggy should definitely be told. I really hope that isn't the problem, as a LOT of animations have asterisks in the name.

Posted a response in the other thread, since I saw that first. I'll be running searches for "zhao" over the next few days, so hopefully I'll find any thread that deals with problems

None. It's a free product. What do you mean, support???



Feel free to post any questions here, or IM me. I get about an IM a day from people saying "I don't like my animations and I want my money back", so it'll be a refreshing change to get some questions about stuff that I am actually responsible for

And yes, the "|" character is the separator in the ZHAO-II notecard. So if the animation name has "|" in it, things won't work. "*" should be OK. I'm hoping there aren't too many animations with "|" in the name. And yes, that was a separator in the original Franimation script as well (though used for a different function), so an animation with "|" in its name wouldn't work with the old ZHAO, or WetIkon. So I'm assuming there aren't too many of those out there.

I've got a question about the ZHAO-II...

The Franimation script allowed the '|' separator that allowed random selection on MOST of the other overrides like... Jump, Landing, and such. The Z-2 now only seems to allow the multiple poses on stands. Will this ever change back to allowing multiples for most of the other poses?

[Edit: I just read the ZHAO-II thread over in the animation tips forums and read your answer: "No one asked to have this and the script is running low on memory." ]

ZHAO-II allows multiple options on stands, walks, sits, and ground-sits. Stands are cycled, the others are explicitly chosen by the user. There is no random selection from a set of choices any more, like Franimation has with the "|" separator. I realized that I took away that functionality when I switched to this notecard format.

I can add it back if there is a demand for it. I'll need to find a 3rd separator character (| and , are currently in use) that doesn't show up in animation names. I presumed (perhaps incorrectly) that most ZHAO users weren't using that feature. And yes, memory is always a concern; it's a balancing act to try and provide what people want most.

It might be an extra empty line, or the opposite, no blank line where there should be one.

ZHAO-II has a new notecard format, and neither of those are issues any more.

Yay! Adding the extra space inside the brackets worked, and the system *finally* stabilized enough to let my new ZHAO II actually load the anim set. I love the new option for randomly cycling stand poses... you're awesome, Ziggy!

Glad you got it working. I changed the error message to say something like "Unrecognized token on line...", hopefully that will make it clear that it's not an issue with the animation names.