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I have a 2D array of structures (called Element) as a gameboard that I initialize from a function. I have a seperate function that checks that the returned game board is solvable.

Element** gameBoard = createGameBoard(length, space);

    while(!checkIfSolvable(gameBoard, length)){
      free(gameBoard);
      gameBoard = createGameBoard(length, space);
    }

createGameBoard returns the 2D gameboard and fills it up, checkIfSolvable returns 1 if the game board is solvable, or 0 otherwise. I don't really know how to re initialize the game board if it isn't solvable, and this kind of logic seems to be exiting my program if it isn't. Both functions work correctly.

A user suggested I share the createGameBoard function:

Element** createGameBoard(int length, SpacePosition* space){

    /*
      Allocates memory for a square gameboard (length x length) , that holds
      Element structures indicating the value of the square, and whether or not
      that square is a space
    */
    Element** temp = malloc(sizeof(Element*) * length);
    for(int i = 0; i < length; i++){
        temp[i] = malloc(sizeof(Element) * length);
    }

    /*
      Array for the elements that will be fed into the 2-D array game board,
      setting the values 1 - (range - 1) , and the last element will be a space.
      Needs to be shuffled before it is inserted into the game board.
    */
    Element* arr = malloc(sizeof(Element) * length);

    int range = (length * length);
    for(int i = 0; i < range - 1; i++){

        arr[i].value = i + 1;
        arr[i].isSpace = 0;

    }

    arr[range-1].value = 999;
    arr[range-1].isSpace = 1;

    // Shuffle the array with the range values, to be able to insert into 2D array in a random order.
    shuffle(arr, range);

    // Read in the shuffled array into the game board
    int count = 0;
    for(int i = 0; i < length; i++){
        for(int j = 0; j < length; j++){
            Element tempNum = arr[count];
            temp[i][j] = tempNum;
            count++;

            if(tempNum.isSpace == 1){
                space->i = i;
                space->j = j;
            }

        }
    }

    return temp;
}
cantcode4mylife
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    Does this answer your question? [alloc and free of 2d array](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/40473506/alloc-and-free-of-2d-array) – Paxmees Nov 26 '20 at 04:51
  • What does `checkIfSolvable` do? –  Nov 26 '20 at 04:52
  • It just checks if the game board is able to be solved eventually, if it is it's going to return 1, if it can't it'll return 0. – cantcode4mylife Nov 26 '20 at 04:54
  • i really dont see what the while loop is doing, try getting rid of the while loop, or maybe replacing it with `if` theres no reason to overwrite the same variable a zillion times in a while loop oh then you might want to provide us with `creatGameBoard`, the problem is probaly there –  Nov 26 '20 at 04:51
  • It's supposed to loop until the game board is in a solvable state, it might be multiple tries for it to get there. – cantcode4mylife Nov 26 '20 at 04:52
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    You might find that a 1D array accessed using 2D emulation (`[x + y * w]`) is a lot easier to manage. Fewer allocations, easier release, and guaranteed to be a contiguous structure in memory. – tadman Nov 26 '20 at 05:07
  • See [Correctly allocating multi-dimensional arrays](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42094465/correctly-allocating-multi-dimensional-arrays) for advise how to do this proper. – Lundin Nov 26 '20 at 13:41

0 Answers0