How to Fix DSMapStudio Crash When Duplicating Enemies

Select an enemy in the Map Editor, press Ctrl+D, and DSMapStudio drops to desktop. This is a known issue on the project's GitHub, not a corrupt map or a broken install. It's data-specific: the crash is tied to particular enemy entries on particular maps, so the same Ctrl+D that kills the tool on one enemy works perfectly on the one standing next to it. There's no setting that fixes it — the move is to get your copy without duplicating the entry that triggers it, and to save first so a crash costs nothing.

The one thing that does not work: reopening and hitting Ctrl+D on the same enemy again. That entry is the trigger; retrying just crashes again.

Why it happens

Something about specific enemy entries makes duplication fail, rather than duplication being broken in general — which is exactly why it's inconsistent, with most enemies copying fine and only certain ones reliably crashing. It's a recognized bug on the issue tracker, not misconfiguration on your end, so the practical answer is to route around the crashing entry.

Workarounds that avoid the crash

Try in order:

• Duplicate a different nearby enemy of the same type. Since the crash is per-entry, another enemy of the same kind in the same area usually copies fine — and it already carries the correct draw groups and collision for that spot, which is what you want anyway. Most reliable option.
• Copy/paste instead of Ctrl+D. The copy path can behave differently from the duplicate shortcut on a problematic entry.
• Duplicate a clean enemy, then re-point it. Copy a non-crashing enemy and change its model and NpcParam to match the one you actually wanted — same result, without ever duplicating the bad entry.

After you get the copy, do the normal cleanup: move it, give it a unique entity ID, and check its groups — see placing enemies.

Protect your work (so a crash is free)

A crash mid-edit only hurts if it takes unsaved work. Make these automatic during map work:

• Ctrl+S before every Ctrl+D. A save before any risky duplicate means a crash costs nothing.
• Back up the map's MSB before a big session, so you can always return to a known-good state.
• Save often. Turns a crash from a disaster into a five-second annoyance.

Be on the current build first

Confirm you're on v1.11.1 before assuming you're stuck — Map Editor stability fixes have landed across releases and an older build may crash where the current one doesn't. Updating is just extracting the new zip (download); cheapest thing to try.

After a crash

Reopen DSMapStudio and your project — anything saved before the crash is intact (which is the whole point of saving first). If the crash left the map in a bad state, restore the MSB backup and reload. Then switch to a workaround above instead of re-attacking the same entry.

Report it

A good report gets it fixed faster, because the bug is data-specific: note the exact game and map, the specific enemy that crashes on duplicate, and your version, then check the GitHub issue tracker for an existing report of that enemy or add your details.

You can still place the enemy you need — duplicate a different one of the same type, save before every Ctrl+D, stay current. Continue with placing enemies and duplicating objects; for other stability problems, the troubleshooting hub.