Help with "Cannot find ContentTypeReader BB.HeightMapInfoReader, BB, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral." needed

Question

I have this irritating problem in XNA that I have spent my Saturday with:

Cannot find ContentTypeReader BB.HeightMapInfoReader, BB, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral.

It throws me that when I do (within the game assembly's Renderer.cs class):

this.terrain = this.game.Content.Load<Model>("heightmap");

There is a heightmap.bmp and I don't think there's anything wrong with it, because I used it in a previous version which I switched to this new better system.

So, I have a GeneratedGeometryPipeline assembly that has these classes: HeightMapInfoContent, HeightMapInfoWriter, TerrainProcessor. The GeneratedGeometryPipeline assembly does not reference any other assemblies under the solution.

Then I have the game assembly that neither references any other solution assemblies and has these classes: HeightMapInfo, HeightMapInfoReader.

All game assembly classes are under namespace BB and the GeneratedGeometryPipeline classes are under the namespace GeneratedGeometryPipeline.

I do not understand why it does not find it. Here's some code from the GeneratedGeometryPipeline.HeightMapInfoWriter:

 /// <summary>
    /// A TypeWriter for HeightMapInfo, which tells the content pipeline how to save the
    /// data in HeightMapInfo. This class should match HeightMapInfoReader: whatever the
    /// writer writes, the reader should read.
    /// </summary>
    [ContentTypeWriter]
    public class HeightMapInfoWriter : ContentTypeWriter<HeightMapInfoContent>
    {
        protected override void Write(ContentWriter output, HeightMapInfoContent value)
        {
            output.Write(value.TerrainScale);

            output.Write(value.Height.GetLength(0));
            output.Write(value.Height.GetLength(1));
            foreach (float height in value.Height)
            {
                output.Write(height);
            }
            foreach (Vector3 normal in value.Normals)
            {
                output.Write(normal);
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Tells the content pipeline what CLR type the
        /// data will be loaded into at runtime.
        /// </summary>
        public override string GetRuntimeType(TargetPlatform targetPlatform)
        {
            return "BB.HeightMapInfo, BB, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral";
        }


        /// <summary>
        /// Tells the content pipeline what worker type
        /// will be used to load the data.
        /// </summary>
        public override string GetRuntimeReader(TargetPlatform targetPlatform)
        {
            return "BB.HeightMapInfoReader, BB, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral";
        }
    }

Can someone help me out?

Answer 1

The problem was that the assembly name contained a space.

Answer 2

Another technique is to have a 'data' project which defines the reader and type which is returned by that reader, and a 'pipeline' project which defines the writer and the content version of that type.

Then you can do the following:

    public override string GetRuntimeType(TargetPlatform targetPlatform)
    {
        return typeof(HeightMapInfo).AssemblyQualifiedName;
    }

    public override string GetRuntimeReader(TargetPlatform targetPlatform)
    {
        return typeof(HeightMapInfoReader).AssemblyQualifiedName;
    }

... since the writer (defined in the pipeline assembly) can reference the data project which defines the runtime type and reader type.