Can't Find Null Pointer Exception

Question

Hey, guys! I've spent a couple of hours trying to figure this out, and I've been unable. When I run my program, I get a long list of errors that basically says I have a NullPointerException at Line 160 in LevelRenderer. I can't figure out what is null after tons of analyzing and experimenting, so I was wondering if one of you could assist me with this.
First, here is the runtime error code:
Game Update Error: java.lang.NullPointerException
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
        at LevelRenderer.paint(LevelRenderer.java:160)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:796)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:713)
        at javax.swing.RepaintManager.seqPaintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:6
93)
        at javax.swing.SystemEventQueueUtilities$ComponentWorkRequest.run(System
EventQueueUtilities.java:125)
        at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:209)
        at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:641)
        at java.awt.EventQueue.access$000(EventQueue.java:84)
        at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(EventQueue.java:602)
        at java.awt.EventQueue$1.run(EventQueue.java:600)
        at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
        at java.security.AccessControlContext$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(AccessCo
ntrolContext.java:87)
        at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:611)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThre
ad.java:269)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.
java:184)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThre
ad.java:174)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:169)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:161)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:122)Here's the code for the classes that are relevant to the issue. The runtime code is pointing me to the paint method's call of myLevel.drawLevel(gr, 0, 0):
Here's the class that is giving me the error:
/* This class's job is to render a level object.
* The class will keep track of the top left coordinate of the space in which the player is moving
* and how far the right side of the screen is. It will then draw the player always in the center
* of the screen and allow the player to move the character. The character will animate with calls
* to the Player class and also detect collision against the character. If there are collisions, then the
* player will either fall or be unable to move. It will keep the screen image a little bit rendered
* beyond the screen so that when the player moves, it will be able to still be visible until the next tile
* is reached. It will update the screen every time the player moves and reference the level's collision
* map for all of the collisions.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.Random;
import java.awt.Color;
public class LevelRenderer extends JFrame
    // CONSTANTS
    private final int TILE_SIZE = 14;
    private final int SCREEN_WIDTH = 1280;
    private final int SCREEN_HEIGHT = 768;
    // END OF CONSTANTS
    // will be used as a buffer before everything is drawn to the screen
    private BufferedImage buffer;
    // character object
    private Player myPlayer;
    // level object
    private Level myLevel;
    // screen object
    private Screen s;
    // graphics object of the buffer
    private Graphics gr;
    // boolean to determine when to end the game
    private boolean endGame;
    // CONSTRUCTOR
    public LevelRenderer()
        setPreferredSize(new Dimension(1280, 768));
        setFocusable(true);
        requestFocus();
        setResizable(false);
        addKeyListener( new KeyAdapter()
            public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e)
                processKey(e); 
            public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e)
                processRelease(e);
        buffer = new BufferedImage(1280, 768, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
        buffer.createGraphics();
        gr = buffer.getGraphics();
        myPlayer = new Player();
        Level myLevel = new Level("obstaclemap");
        endGame = false;
    // method to simply load an image from a path
    public static BufferedImage loadImage(String ref)
        BufferedImage bimg = null;
        try
           bimg = ImageIO.read(new File(ref));
        catch (Exception e)
            e.printStackTrace();
        return bimg;
    // Run method for class
    public void run(DisplayMode dm)
        setBackground(Color.WHITE);
          s = new Screen();
        try
            s.setFullScreen(dm, this);
        catch (Exception ex)
            System.out.println("Error creating rendered tiles!");
          while (!endGame)
            try
                Thread.sleep(2);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
            try
                myPlayer.animatePlayer();
                myLevel.renderLevel();
            catch (NullPointerException ex)
                System.err.println("Game Update Error: " + ex);
            try
                repaint();
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Repaint Error: " + ex);
          s.restoreScreen();
    // method to draw the tiles on the screen
    public void paint(Graphics g)
        // draw the level and then the player
        myLevel.drawLevel(gr, 0, 0); 
        myPlayer.drawPlayer(gr, (SCREEN_WIDTH / 2) - TILE_SIZE / 2, (SCREEN_HEIGHT / 2) - TILE_SIZE);
        g.drawImage(buffer, 0, 0, null);
    // method to handle inputs and adjust the player accordingly
    public void processKey(KeyEvent e)
        int keyCode = e.getKeyCode();
        boolean moved = false;
        int xDisplace, yDisplace;
        // termination key
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_ESCAPE)
            endGame = true;
        // 1 - up
        // 2 - left
        // 3 - right
        // 4 - down
        // 5 - jump
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_UP)
            try
                myPlayer.updatePlayer(0);
                myLevel.updateLevel(0);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_LEFT)
            try
                myPlayer.updatePlayer(1);
                myLevel.updateLevel(1);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT)
            try
                myPlayer.updatePlayer(2);
                myLevel.updateLevel(2);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_DOWN)
            try
                myPlayer.updatePlayer(3);
                myLevel.updateLevel(3);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_SPACE)
            try
                myPlayer.updatePlayer(4);
                myLevel.updateLevel(4);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
    // method to handle inputs and adjust the player accordingly
    public void processRelease(KeyEvent e)
        int keyCode = e.getKeyCode();
        boolean moved = false;
        int xDisplace, yDisplace;
        // 1 - up
        // 2 - left
        // 3 - right
        // 4 - down
        // 5 - jump
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_UP)
            try
                myPlayer.updatePlayer(0);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_LEFT)
            try
                myPlayer.updatePlayer(5);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT)
            try
                myPlayer.updatePlayer(6);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_DOWN)
            try
                myPlayer.updatePlayer(3);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_SPACE)
            try
                myPlayer.updatePlayer(4);
            catch (Exception ex)
                System.err.println("Error: " + ex);
}And then here's the other class that is calling the drawLevel method that the compiler is pointing me in the direction of (where it's saying the NullPointerException is stemming from):
/* The purpose of this class will be to load and manage a level, including its camera. */
import java.awt.image.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.imageio.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class Level
    // CONSTANTS
    private final int TILE_SIZE = 14;
    private final int SCREEN_WIDTH = 1280;
    private final int SCREEN_HEIGHT = 768;
    // END OF CONSTANTS
    // stores the pixel image of the current level
    private BufferedImage levelImage;
    // stores the width and height of the level
    private int width, height;
    // stores the name of the level
    private String levelName;
    // stores collision map for level
    private LevelCollisions myCollisions;
    // stores the tile types in an array as assigned by colors
    private int levelTiles[][];
    // image used as the sheet for the level's tiles
    private BufferedImage tileSheet;
    // image array used to store the different tiles
    private BufferedImage[] tiles;
    // the image which represents the current view of the level
    private BufferedImage cameraImage;
    // Graphics context of the camera image
    private Graphics cameraG;
    // variables to represent the level's offset from the top left corner while moving
    private int offsetX, offsetY;
    // variables to represent the level's pixel map coordinate
    private int coordX, coordY;
    // STATIC COLOR VARIABLES
    private static final int SPACE_COLOR = 0xFF000000;
    private static final int WALL_COLOR = 0xFFFFFFFF;
    // END OF STATIC COLOR VARIABLES
    // CONSTRUCTOR
    public Level(String level)
        // load level image and collision map
        levelName = level;
        levelImage = loadImage(level + ".png");
        myCollisions = new LevelCollisions(level + "Collision");
        levelTiles = loadLevel();  
        // create blank camera canvas
        cameraImage = new BufferedImage(1280, 768, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
        cameraImage.createGraphics();
        cameraG = cameraImage.getGraphics();
        // offsets start at 0
        offsetX = offsetY = 0;
        // coordinate starts at bottom right
        coordX = 700;
        coordY = 400;
        // fill tile images
        tileSheet = loadImage("obstacletiles.png");
        tiles = splitImage(tileSheet, 1, 2);
        this.renderLevel();
    // method to load the color values into an array
    public int[][] loadLevel()
        height = levelImage.getHeight();
        width = levelImage.getWidth();
        int levelValues[][] = new int[width][height];
        // fill array with color values layer by layer
        for (int y = 0; y < height; y++)
            for (int x = 0; x < width; x++)
                levelValues[x][y] = levelImage.getRGB(x, y);
        return levelValues;
    // method to get the tile color from a given tile
    public int getTile(int x, int y)
        return levelTiles[x][y];
    // method to draw the current camera view of the level on the screen
    public void drawLevel(Graphics gr, int x, int y)
        gr.drawImage(cameraImage, x, y, null);
    // method to render the actual image before drawing it
    public void renderLevel()
        // keeps track of graphics coordinate
        int x, y;
        // keeps track of tile to draw
        int tileX, tileY;
        tileY = coordY;
        // draw all the tiles based on offsets, layer by layer
        for (y = offsetY; y < SCREEN_HEIGHT + offsetY; y += TILE_SIZE)
            tileX = coordX;
            for (x = offsetX; x < SCREEN_WIDTH + offsetX; x += TILE_SIZE)
                // determine which tile to draw based on tile color in array
                switch (this.getTile(tileX, tileY))
                    case SPACE_COLOR:
                        cameraG.drawImage(tiles[0], x, y, null);
                        break;
                    case WALL_COLOR:
                        cameraG.drawImage(tiles[1], x, y, null);
                        break;
                tileX++;
        // steps to take in case of an offset
        if (offsetX > 0)
        if (offsetX < 0)
        if (offsetY < 0)
        if (offsetY > 0)
    // method to update the level's current position for the camera
    public void updateLevel(int input)
        switch (input)
            // up
            case 0:
                break;
            // left
            case 1:
                // update offset to the left if not too far left
                if (coordX > 30)
                    offsetX--;
                // if a tile has been moved, then offset becomes 0 and coordX is decreased
                if (offsetX <= -TILE_SIZE)
                    offsetX = 0;
                    coordX--;
                break;
            // right
            case 2:
                // update offset to the right if not too far right
                if (coordX < width - 30)
                    offsetX++;
                // if a tile has been moved, then offset becomes 0 and coordX is increased
                if (offsetX >= TILE_SIZE)
                    offsetX = 0;
                    coordX++;
                break;
            // down
            case 3:
                break;
            // jump
            case 4:
                break;
    // method to simply load an image from a path
    public static BufferedImage loadImage(String ref)
        BufferedImage bimg = null;
        try
           bimg = ImageIO.read(new File(ref));
        catch (Exception e)
            e.printStackTrace();
        return bimg;
    // method to create a tile array for tile sets
    public static BufferedImage[] splitImage(BufferedImage img, int cols, int rows)
        int w = img.getWidth() / cols;
        int h = img.getHeight() / rows;
        int num = 0;
        BufferedImage imgs[] = new BufferedImage[w * h];
        for (int y = 0; y < rows; y++)
            for (int x = 0; x < cols; x++)
                imgs[num] = new BufferedImage(w, h, img.getType());
                Graphics2D g = imgs[num].createGraphics();
                g.drawImage(img, 0, 0, w, h, w * x, h * y, w * x + w, h * y + h, null);
                g.dispose();
                num++;
        return imgs;
    // image-loading method that will also alpha the color key for each tile
    public static BufferedImage makeColorTransparent(String ref, int color)
        BufferedImage image = loadImage(ref);
        BufferedImage dimg = new BufferedImage(image.getWidth(), image.getHeight(), BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
        Graphics2D g = dimg.createGraphics();
        g.setComposite(AlphaComposite.Src);
        g.drawImage(image, null, 0, 0);
        g.dispose();
        for (int i = 0; i < dimg.getHeight(); i++)
            for (int j = 0; j < dimg.getWidth(); j++)
                if (dimg.getRGB(j, i) == color)
                    dimg.setRGB(j, i, 0x8F1C1C);
        return dimg;
}Sorry for the long post, but since there are several objects involved in what could be the error, I didn't want to leave anything out of this one. Help is greatly appreciated! Thank you guys very much.
Colton
Edited by: coltonoscopy on Oct 2, 2011 11:57 PM

Answer 1

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
at LevelRenderer.paint(LevelRenderer.java:160)
// method to draw the tiles on the screen
public void paint(Graphics g)
// draw the level and then the player
myLevel.drawLevel(gr, 0, 0); 
myPlayer.drawPlayer(gr, (SCREEN_WIDTH / 2) - TILE_SIZE / 2, (SCREEN_HEIGHT / 2) - TILE_SIZE);
g.drawImage(buffer, 0, 0, null);
}So one of those three lines is line 160, and whichever line it is, is dereferencing a null pointer. So one of 'myLevel', 'myPlayer', or 'g' is null. Probably not 'g' as you received it as a parameter from Swing. Pretty much cuts it down.
There's nothing here you couldn't have worked out for yourself. The line number was all you needed.