HTH3 (English) Problem - Help Please
HTH3 (English) Problem - Help Please
by Mark1
Fri Aug 05, 2011 11:11 am
I'm experiencing problems with the English version of HeartToHeart 3.
Since HTH3 is used for other KONDO robots as well, I'm hoping I can get an answer in this part of the forum...
I would like to ask the HTH3 users here, if you are able to use the English version to program your robots, or if you are experiencing any problems as well (and possibly if anyone knows how to fix them).
Also, does everyone get an illegible error message, when starting it?
If your Eng. HTH3 works, where did you get it?
The problem I am having seems to be due to an error in writing the motions to RCB-3, as they can not be executed. They appear in the correct RCB-3 memory location, but running them is impossible.
But if I use the Japanese HTH3 from the CD, I can write and execute motions. Unless they were written to RCB-3 in the English version, in which case they can not be executed. That's why the problem must be in something that is (or isn't) written to RCB-3.
I did some more testing, and I managed to find the source of the problem, but sadly not a way to fix it in the English HTH3.
I went back and forth between the Eng. and Jap. version, writing motions to RCB-3 in one and then reading them back out in the other, to see if I could spot any difference between the working and non working motion sequences, and I found a very important one.
In the Jap. HTH3, when I double click the empty white area around the instruction clouds, a window opens where you can change the name of the motion, the remote control code, and also select which channels will be used in the motion sequence.
When I write motions from the Jap. HTH3, all the channels were always already selected in that window.
If I read a non working motion (written to RCB-3 with the Eng. HTH3) into the Jap. HTH3 and double click the white area around the instruction clouds, I can see that none of the channels are selected! So obviously the reason the instructions won't execute is, that the robot is told, not to use the very servos it's supposed to! If I then put check marks next to all the channels and write the motion back to RCB-3 it suddenly works again.
But I can't do this in the English version. The problem there is, that if I double click the white area of the Eng. HTH3, all I get is a smaller window, where I can only edit the name of the motion sequence, and the remote control code. But there are no channels to the right, so I can't put check marks on them to turn them ON! This would not be a problem, if they were always selected by default, but clearly they are not.
Apparently, the English HTH3 has all the channels unselected by default, and offers no way to change this, that I am aware of. I went through both the configuration files (HTH3.ini & PATTERN.ini), to see if the channels could be pre-selected there, but found no indication of how.
I don't understand why the Eng, software doesn't have the bigger window where you could select the channels, while having them all OFF at the same time. There might be a missing config file the Jap. version doesn't need, or maybe it's just a stupid bug? Same thing happens on a different computer as well.
One thing that may be of importance to this is, that every time I start the English HTH3, an error message seems to pop up, just before the main window opens. But it seems the error message is in Japanese, as all I see are some defective fonts and an error number (even tho i have the Japanese language pack installed in Win):
????? 'HTH3.exe' ????? 004BCF81 ????? 00000000 ??????????????.
Does everyone get this error message when starting the English HtH3, or could it be due to an actual problem? It could be referring to a missing config file, or something like that.
I tried running it on another computer, and I get the same exact error message, and I also can't get to the channel selection there, so I'm running out of ideas...
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
P.S. There are many other issues with both the Eng. and Jap. versions of the software. Both of them seem incapable of correctly using all of the configuration data stored in HTH3.ini, but each of them in their own silly way. For example, the Japanese one correctly stores the COM port number, and then uses it the next time it runs, the English doesn't write it, and if i write it into the .ini file for it, it doesn't use it when i run it. Both of them are incapable of using the grid and resolution settings written into the .ini file, and perhaps most importantly, the Japanese one seems incapable of remembering the positions of the servo channel sliders for the POS windows, unless i modify the .ini file for it.
But these annoyances i can live with. As long as the Eng. version would work in the end.
However, this does make me think, that the problem could be in the lack of a config file, or perhaps in the fact that the software is incapable of reading the config file correctly.
Since HTH3 is used for other KONDO robots as well, I'm hoping I can get an answer in this part of the forum...
I would like to ask the HTH3 users here, if you are able to use the English version to program your robots, or if you are experiencing any problems as well (and possibly if anyone knows how to fix them).
Also, does everyone get an illegible error message, when starting it?
If your Eng. HTH3 works, where did you get it?
The problem I am having seems to be due to an error in writing the motions to RCB-3, as they can not be executed. They appear in the correct RCB-3 memory location, but running them is impossible.
But if I use the Japanese HTH3 from the CD, I can write and execute motions. Unless they were written to RCB-3 in the English version, in which case they can not be executed. That's why the problem must be in something that is (or isn't) written to RCB-3.
I did some more testing, and I managed to find the source of the problem, but sadly not a way to fix it in the English HTH3.
I went back and forth between the Eng. and Jap. version, writing motions to RCB-3 in one and then reading them back out in the other, to see if I could spot any difference between the working and non working motion sequences, and I found a very important one.
In the Jap. HTH3, when I double click the empty white area around the instruction clouds, a window opens where you can change the name of the motion, the remote control code, and also select which channels will be used in the motion sequence.
When I write motions from the Jap. HTH3, all the channels were always already selected in that window.
If I read a non working motion (written to RCB-3 with the Eng. HTH3) into the Jap. HTH3 and double click the white area around the instruction clouds, I can see that none of the channels are selected! So obviously the reason the instructions won't execute is, that the robot is told, not to use the very servos it's supposed to! If I then put check marks next to all the channels and write the motion back to RCB-3 it suddenly works again.
But I can't do this in the English version. The problem there is, that if I double click the white area of the Eng. HTH3, all I get is a smaller window, where I can only edit the name of the motion sequence, and the remote control code. But there are no channels to the right, so I can't put check marks on them to turn them ON! This would not be a problem, if they were always selected by default, but clearly they are not.
Apparently, the English HTH3 has all the channels unselected by default, and offers no way to change this, that I am aware of. I went through both the configuration files (HTH3.ini & PATTERN.ini), to see if the channels could be pre-selected there, but found no indication of how.
I don't understand why the Eng, software doesn't have the bigger window where you could select the channels, while having them all OFF at the same time. There might be a missing config file the Jap. version doesn't need, or maybe it's just a stupid bug? Same thing happens on a different computer as well.
One thing that may be of importance to this is, that every time I start the English HTH3, an error message seems to pop up, just before the main window opens. But it seems the error message is in Japanese, as all I see are some defective fonts and an error number (even tho i have the Japanese language pack installed in Win):
????? 'HTH3.exe' ????? 004BCF81 ????? 00000000 ??????????????.
Does everyone get this error message when starting the English HtH3, or could it be due to an actual problem? It could be referring to a missing config file, or something like that.
I tried running it on another computer, and I get the same exact error message, and I also can't get to the channel selection there, so I'm running out of ideas...
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
P.S. There are many other issues with both the Eng. and Jap. versions of the software. Both of them seem incapable of correctly using all of the configuration data stored in HTH3.ini, but each of them in their own silly way. For example, the Japanese one correctly stores the COM port number, and then uses it the next time it runs, the English doesn't write it, and if i write it into the .ini file for it, it doesn't use it when i run it. Both of them are incapable of using the grid and resolution settings written into the .ini file, and perhaps most importantly, the Japanese one seems incapable of remembering the positions of the servo channel sliders for the POS windows, unless i modify the .ini file for it.
But these annoyances i can live with. As long as the Eng. version would work in the end.
However, this does make me think, that the problem could be in the lack of a config file, or perhaps in the fact that the software is incapable of reading the config file correctly.
