What about this?
"awesome-fire-dragon-ablaze.jpg"
I havnt ever seen a def like this before, shouldnt it be;
'awesome_fire_dragon_ablaze.jpg' as I amnot sure if the syntax is readable or even permitted.

[edit] Wooopsies...and you dont actually have a level loading up do you ? In main;
level_load = " ???"'

awesome-fire-dragon-ablaze.jpg is the name of the image, and that image works fine. and im still new to all this so i dont actually have a level, its just a picture with a button to end the program. Similar to workshop 06.

Then just change main to be this...

And if it STILL doesnt go, whats the name of your file?
Make sure its saved as somthing.C and not wdl.
And what is the error message that it spits up when it fails?
If you dont get one, go into SED/Options/Preferences/ and delete
the -eq out of the command-line options and try again.

as i said you must remove:
while (key_any) {wait (1);}

ok, heres the new code, for some reason now it takes forever to load, and when it does the screen is just black, What am i missing? Im really sorry for bugging you all with this.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
#include <acknex.h>
#include <default.c>
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


BMAP* firebackground = "awesome-fire-dragon-ablaze.jpg"; // dragon fire background with button on it

PANEL* first_pan = // my first panel
{
pos_x = -40;
pos_y = 0;
layer = 1;
bmap = firebackground;
button(300, 0, "stopclicked.jpg", "stopnormal.jpg", "stopnormal.jpg", quit_program, NULL, NULL);
flags = OVERLAY | VISIBLE;
}
BMAP* pngRobot = "LDDScreenShot1.png"; // robot in foreground

PANEL* second_panel =
{
pos_x = -270;
pos_y = -100;
layer = 2;
bmap = pngRobot;
flags = OVERLAY | VISIBLE;
}

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

function main()
{
video_mode = 7;
level_load("");
screen_color.red = 100;
}


function mouse_startup()
{
mouse_mode = 1;
while (1);
{
vec_set(mouse_pos, mouse_cursor);
wait(1);
}
}

You still don't call the mouse function (with the previous code).

function main()
{
...
mouse();
}

he has _startup() at the name.that means it starts automatically
here i correct and tested it:
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
#include <acknex.h>
#include <default.c>
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
function quit_program()
{
sys_exit("");
}

BMAP* firebackground = "awesome-fire-dragon-ablaze.jpg"; // dragon fire background with button on it

PANEL* first_pan = // my first panel
{
pos_x = -40;
pos_y = 0;
layer = 1;
bmap = firebackground;
button(300, 0, "stopclicked.jpg", "stopnormal.jpg", "stopnormal.jpg", quit_program, NULL, NULL);
flags = OVERLAY | SHOW;
}
BMAP* pngRobot = "LDDScreenShot1.png"; // robot in foreground

PANEL* second_panel =
{
pos_x = -270;
pos_y = -100;
layer = 2;
bmap = pngRobot;
flags = OVERLAY | SHOW;
}

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
BMAP* arrow = "arrow.bmp";

function mouse_toggle() // switches the mouse on and off
{
mouse_map = arrow; // use arrow as mouse pointer
if (mouse_mode >= 2) { // was it already on?
mouse_mode = 0;
} else {
mouse_mode = 2;
}
while (mouse_mode > 0) // move it over the screen
{
vec_set(mouse_pos,mouse_cursor);
wait(1);
}
}
function main()
{
video_mode = 7;
screen_color.red = 100;
mouse_toggle();
}

Well, startup didn't work for me while adding into the main did. So aparantly it doesn't start in all cases .

ah ok sorry. but now the code should work and i didnt use _startup

oh ok, i got it working now, thanks! im sorry for bugging you all with these questions, but can you please help me with two more things. One, in my program ive got the button set to OVERLAY but the black outside still shows up, any ideas? And two, what does it mean when the engine says "invalid slider size"?