Troubleshoot CavePainting startup crashes

If CavePainting crashes for you when starting up, there may be a number of different causes. Here are some that have been identified. Make sure that every time you try a suggested fix, you completely quit CavePainting (no grey window or error messages on the Windows machine; hit the little skull-and-crossbones button on the kiosk) and then start the program again by pressing your button on the kiosk.

Missing Requisite Software

Certain programs must already be running when you start CavePainting from the kiosk. The Run CavePainting from the kiosk HOWTO explains the exact procedure for making sure everything's running correctly.

Custom Images

CavePainting loads all custom slides, stroke textures and masks, and color palettes on startup. New custom images might be to blame for your startup crash. If you're loading some custom images the first time, do the following:

1. Figure out if the new images are the problem by moving them out of your CavePainting directory and trying to start up. If it starts up normally now, then the images were the problem.
2. Check that the images are correctly formatted (name, size, content) by following the guidelines on the Import images into CavePainting HOWTO. If not, fix the formatting.
3. If CP is still crashing, your JPEG files may contain weird data that's confusing the program; this is common in JPEGs created by certain versions of Photoshop. You can fix your files in the following way:
   1. Open up your CavePainting directory and right-click on one of the problem files. Select "Open With... The GIMP".
      • If you don't see that option, you can open The GIMP (an image editing program like Photoshop that runs on Linux) directly. Go to the application menu in the bar at the bottom or top of your screen, select "Graphics" or whatever category you would expect an image editor to live in, and then select The GIMP from in there. If you still don't see it, try running the command gimp from a terminal. Once you've got The GIMP open, use the "File -> Open" menu item to open up one of your images.
   2. With your problem image open, select "File -> Save As".
   3. Don't change the filename; just click the "Save" button.
   4. A warning will come up saying that the file already exists; click "Replace".
   5. Another window will open with various settings you can choose. Modify them if you'd like, but the defaults are fine. Click "Ok".
   6. Close your file.
   7. Repeat the previous five steps with any other files you need to repair, and then quit out of The GIMP.