BentoIce

oh. heh, ok!

Thanks for responding! It's about to get even more perplexing: I did as you suggested. I verified that the Error channel was selected in chat. I unloaded and reloaded moormap. No error message.

I checked the map and .. and .. everything is back, on every map I checked, including my user POIs and marked chests. Doesn't "unloading" a plugin do exactly what quitting out of the game does?

Could lotro lag cause things in moormap to not display or display partially? For example, sometimes I load into a premium housing zone and my house deco doesn't load but the house next door does. Even quitting the game and restarting, or loading a different character doesn't change the status, the deco just refuses to load. If I wait and try again later everything loads properly. This seems very similar, and it's happened to me numerous times. Even had my door not load, preventing me from getting into my house. I've bugged this with SSG, but they don't seem to be able to resolve it.

Anyway, sorry to bug you. Next time I experience an issue with any of your plugins (love 'em all!) I'll wait a day or two to see if it magically clears itself up before reporting.

Garan

Unloading the plugin and reloading it will clear the environment, free up any memory in use in that plugin environment and then create a brand new, clean environment. Theoretically, exiting the client and restarting does the same thing, but in your case, there definately sounds like you are having issues accessing your storage. Having difficulty rendering decorations and such is often a result of failure to load texture files in a timely fashion. Similarly, failure to completely load a plugin that has a significant amount of data could also indicate issues accessing your drive. There are a few things that can cause this, the most obvious is a failing drive. That can be checked on Windows by running the chkdsk command or similar disk checking software. Other things that can cause this would include device drivers that may be in need of updates or malware or a virus hogging resources behind the scenes. Realtime virus scanners can also be an issue and some like Macafee do not allow whitelisting entire folders so if that's the issue you may be stuck with it. Sometimes you can spot issues by checking Task Manager to see if a process is using an excessive amount of drive access for a prolonged period. Low storage space can also cause issues. Unfortunately, there are many things that cause slow access to files but that's a few things you can check. If you have a mechanical hard drive it may be in need of defragmenting - DON'T ever defragment an SSD as it not only doesn't help, it can actually hurt. If you are still using a mechanical hard drive, especially a 5400 RPM drive, it might be time to consider upgrading to an SSD - they are pretty affordable these days. Good luck with it.

BentoIce

hmm .. I didn't realize. I have an SSD, and I'm using a laptop. It is kinda full. I'll look into ways to clear up disk access. Thanks for the info and pointing me in a helpful direction!

Garan

Another thing to watch out for is internet backup software like Windows OneDrive - it can do odd things if it thinks that the version of files on your system conflicts with what it has backed up. If you are using OneDrive (or another similar service) for your Documents folder you should make sure that the Lord of the Rings folder under the Documents folder is not included.

Also, symbolic links can create issues if not set up properly (I doubt you are using symbolic links, just putting it out there in case you are - if you don't know what they are then you aren't using them)

tadpole1969uk

Hi

This may be a stupid question but how do I find Umbar? I have access to Kings Gondor, but when I click on Outer Gondor, it takes me to the Ettenmoors map. I am unable to find it on the dropdown either. I am updated to 1.55.

I hope you can help.

Thanks for producing such an invaluable resource. It is my goto addon.

Paul

Garan

The fact that the Outer Gondor link on the Kings Gondor map brings you to the Ettenmoors map (the default map from days long, long ago) tells me that something went wrong when you updated to 1.55. I double checked and the link to Outer Gondor works correctly, so I would recommend that you locate the "Plugins/GaranStuff/MoorMap" folder, typically under the "Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online", and delete all of the contents of that folder and then reinstall, preferably using Plugin Compendium. As long as you only delete the contents of that folder, your saved data and other plugins will not be affected. Let me know if you continue having issues.

Once your installation is working correctly, you will have a new region, Haradwaith, which contains the Shield Isles and Umbar maps. FWIW, you can simply type a word, like "Umbar", into the map selection box and the list will jump to the map name matching that word. The name is case and accent insensitive so "umBàr" will also match. This can make finding maps a lot easier.

tadpole1969uk

Hi again. I tried it but still cannot find it. When I click the 'To Umbar and Shield Islands' in the bottom left corner of the King's Gondor' map, it send me to the Ettenmoors map. I cannot remember if that link was there before. The Outer Gondor link still send me to the Ettenmoors also. I also tried removing with Plugin Compendium as well but to similar effect.


The fact that the Outer Gondor link on the Kings Gondor map brings you to the Ettenmoors map (the default map from days long, long ago) tells me that something went wrong when you updated to 1.55. I double checked and the link to Outer Gondor works correctly, so I would recommend that you locate the "Plugins/GaranStuff/MoorMap" folder, typically under the "Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online", and delete all of the contents of that folder and then reinstall, preferably using Plugin Compendium. As long as you only delete the contents of that folder, your saved data and other plugins will not be affected. Let me know if you continue having issues.

Once your installation is working correctly, you will have a new region, Haradwaith, which contains the Shield Isles and Umbar maps. FWIW, you can simply type a word, like "Umbar", into the map selection box and the list will jump to the map name matching that word. The name is case and accent insensitive so "umBàr" will also match. This can make finding maps a lot easier.

Garan

OK. Here's another approach. Let's try to force a manual update of the default data:
1) Start game and load MoorMap.
2) Left click on MoorMap
3) From the pop-up menu, select "Add Anotation". This will open the Custom Annotations Maintenance dialog.
4) At the bottom center of the Custom Annotations Maintenance dialog, click the button labelled "Reload Defaults". This will only take a second or two and does not provide any feedback but the dialog should go away if successful.
5) In the game chat window, enter the command "/plugins unload MoorMap"
6) In the game chat window, enter the command "/plugins load MoorMap"
7) Watch the chat window for any error messages. If MoorMap loads without any error messages, check if the map links now work.

Let me know whether this helped.

tadpole1969uk

Hi

No joy I'm afraid. All went well with no error messages but it still takes me too Ettenmoors.


OK. Here's another approach. Let's try to force a manual update of the default data:
1) Start game and load MoorMap.
2) Left click on MoorMap
3) From the pop-up menu, select "Add Anotation". This will open the Custom Annotations Maintenance dialog.
4) At the bottom center of the Custom Annotations Maintenance dialog, click the button labelled "Reload Defaults". This will only take a second or two and does not provide any feedback but the dialog should go away if successful.
5) In the game chat window, enter the command "/plugins unload MoorMap"
6) In the game chat window, enter the command "/plugins load MoorMap"
7) Watch the chat window for any error messages. If MoorMap loads without any error messages, check if the map links now work.

Let me know whether this helped.

Garan

Ok, time to delve a little deeper.
With the game running and MoorMap loaded but minimized, enter the following chat command (without quotes): "/moormap debug on"
That should open the Debug Console window. In the textbox at the top, enter the command:"return #mapInfo"
click the Execute button. Your game chat window should display a line with the number "405". Let me know what number it actually shows.
Finally, in the game chat window, enter the chat command: "/moormap debug off"

If no number is displayed, right click on the chat tab and select Change Filters and make sure the "Error" and "Standard" channels are both checked then repeat the above.

tadpole1969uk

Hi, it says 391

Ok, time to delve a little deeper.
With the game running and MoorMap loaded but minimized, enter the following chat command (without quotes): "/moormap debug on"
That should open the Debug Console window. In the textbox at the top, enter the command:"return #mapInfo"
click the Execute button. Your game chat window should display a line with the number "405". Let me know what number it actually shows.
Finally, in the game chat window, enter the chat command: "/moormap debug off"

If no number is displayed, right click on the chat tab and select Change Filters and make sure the "Error" and "Standard" channels are both checked then repeat the above.

Garan

OK. That tells me that the MM_MapInfo.plugindata file is not getting written when the plugin unloads. For some reason, the account running the game client can not write to that file. The most common cause for this is a permissions change on your drive or account causing a conflict. One of the simplest ways to try resolving this is to manually delete that file and let the client recreate it. To do this, make sure the game is not running, then go to the folder:
"Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online/PluginData/youraccountname/AllServers/"
(where youraccountname is your game account name - do not EVER give that out in a public forum) and rename the file "MM_MapInfo.plugindata" to "MM_MapInfo.backup".
I always recommend renaming a file rather than outright deleting it so that we have something to look back at if needed.

Now, restart the client, load MoorMap and manually change the map to another map (any other map). It is necessary to change the map to force a reload of the plugin (it normally reloads to get access to map specific data due to a Turbine restriction in the API) to make sure the data file actually got saved. Now, check to see if the map connectors work. You can also run the debug commands from the prior instructions to verify that you now have 405 maps, not the 391 you previously had (just remember to run that last command to turn off the debugging). Let me know how it turns out.

Note, if it is a permissions issue, you may find yourself eventually having similar issues with other plugins (or this one again). I would recommend thinking about what may have changed on your system lately that might be preventing writing to a file. One possible culprit is saving your documents to OneDrive or other backup software that tries to keep versions of files synchronized. Another possibility is virus scanning software that may not like executables that have changed (like the Lotro client changes weekly) writing to files, it may be seen as suspicious activity and you may have to tell your virus software to whitelist (allow) LotRO.

tadpole1969uk

That did the trick! Thank you so much.


OK. That tells me that the MM_MapInfo.plugindata file is not getting written when the plugin unloads. For some reason, the account running the game client can not write to that file. The most common cause for this is a permissions change on your drive or account causing a conflict. One of the simplest ways to try resolving this is to manually delete that file and let the client recreate it. To do this, make sure the game is not running, then go to the folder:
"Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online/PluginData/youraccountname/AllServers/"
(where youraccountname is your game account name - do not EVER give that out in a public forum) and rename the file "MM_MapInfo.plugindata" to "MM_MapInfo.backup".
I always recommend renaming a file rather than outright deleting it so that we have something to look back at if needed.

Now, restart the client, load MoorMap and manually change the map to another map (any other map). It is necessary to change the map to force a reload of the plugin (it normally reloads to get access to map specific data due to a Turbine restriction in the API) to make sure the data file actually got saved. Now, check to see if the map connectors work. You can also run the debug commands from the prior instructions to verify that you now have 405 maps, not the 391 you previously had (just remember to run that last command to turn off the debugging). Let me know how it turns out.

Note, if it is a permissions issue, you may find yourself eventually having similar issues with other plugins (or this one again). I would recommend thinking about what may have changed on your system lately that might be preventing writing to a file. One possible culprit is saving your documents to OneDrive or other backup software that tries to keep versions of files synchronized. Another possibility is virus scanning software that may not like executables that have changed (like the Lotro client changes weekly) writing to files, it may be seen as suspicious activity and you may have to tell your virus software to whitelist (allow) LotRO.