joker5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 607
Registered: 11-25-2003
IP: Logged

Ack! I lost all my player data (and ability to play DROD) due to a bug!

When I started DROD, all was fine. Then, when I started playing The_Red_Hawk's Deep Hold I-XX w/warps, it crashed. When I started again most of the message boxes were blank or contained squares, when I pressed any button on the menu it crashed, and even uninstalling and reinstalling didn't work! I can't even get past the "please enter player name" screen! How do I fix this up? I'm DROD-dependant, and my DROD is confused about its own existance!

~joker5

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2936
Registered: 03-29-2003
IP: Logged

This sounds like the infamous "text loss" bug. It was fixed in one of the patches, which also included a recovery system. When you started up again, it should have reverted back to a previous state. However, you need to have applied the patch to do so. If you have applied the patch, then this is very bad. If you haven't applied the patch, then I am really sorry that it happened, but announcements were made.

To apply the patch if you haven't done so, find the thread in the News forum that announced it and download the new drod.exe file, which should replace the old one. I just always rename the old ones in case I need to revert for whatever reason. I don't think your data can be recovered though.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

joker5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 607
Registered: 11-25-2003
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Where is that post? This problem still happens with drod 1.6.5, if that's the patch you mean.

~joker5

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5381
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

You say you were playing Deep Hold when it crashed, but when *exactly* did it crash? Entering a room? Going down stairs? Sitting in the middle of a room not moving?

While we're at it - Red_Hawk, are you using 1.6.5? If not, which build are you using? I took a quick look and your hold still seems to have some invalid staircases, pointing to other holds. Presumably a copy-and-paste error, all of which I believe were fixed a while back. If you are up to date with versions, then perhaps we still have a staircase destination bug.

____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2936
Registered: 03-29-2003
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Which post? The one announcing the patch you don't need, since you have the latest one...and the previous ones on the text loss bug you can find as well as I can earlier in the Bugs forum.

If you have the newest patch then I would suggest you try to remember anything you could have done to make this bug happen. It doesn't help the programmers too much otherwise. Of course, you should post your .dat files on this board if they're small enough, or mail them to Mike (mrimer).

The only other thing I can say is to try to export your player file, and any holds that you are working on, at regular intervals in case things like this happen. In fact, as soon as I make this post, I'm going to go export my next hold (which won't be finished until afte 1.7) just to keep it safe.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

joker5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 607
Registered: 11-25-2003
IP: Logged

I just pressed "ok" after importing Deep Hold, and it crashed. But I've got it working again; I deleted everything but the holds and re-installed 1.6.5. I've lost all my data but I'll live; I've beaten Webfoot so it's no major loss for me.

Even so, if anyone happens to have some player data with a beat Dugan's, and they have some spare time to upload it, I'd use it gladly. (unless this is a major breach of some unwritten forum rule. If so, sorry. I haven't been around long enough to find that rule.)

~joker5

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

The reason that Deep Hold caused the other computers to crash is probably because it is so large. One time I tried to copy it, just for fun, and my computer crashed too.

And Schik, I'm using the original AE, because I don't like patches and find them very confusing. I've tried doing it with other programs, and it resulted in the loss of all my data.

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

agaricus5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1838
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

That's probably why your hold is causing problems. By not updating, you may still have some bugs contained in the hold that are causing problems to others that play the hold. I seriously doubt size is the problem and I doubt even more that upgrading the executable will cause any problems, especially after so many other people have done so and had no problems with it.

I think you should upgrade your DROD.

____________________________
Resident Medic/Mycologist

sims5000
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 117
Registered: 01-04-2004
IP: Logged

It happend to me as well, maybe you shold cheak yor computer for spyware I had it

[Edited by sims5000 on 01-17-2004 at 08:58 AM GMT]

Mattcrampy
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2388
Registered: 05-29-2003
IP: Logged

Be warned: Some spyware programs get false hits on DROD. DROD uses an open-source DLL to open and read various files, and there is a spyware program that also uses it for god knows what reason. If you delete this DLL, it will stop DROD working. (You know DROD isn't spyware because it only gets one hit. If it did include spyware, you'd get several, including a program of some sort or maybe some datafiles.)

We've gotten in contact with Ad-Aware and let them know what the DLL actually is, so they've removed it from their lists. But who updates spyware lists anyway?

Matt

____________________________
What do you call an elephant at the North Pole?

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

agaricus5 wrote:
I think you should upgrade your DROD.

All right, I have. Will it take effect immediately or do I have to go through Deep Hold all over?

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5381
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

You will have to manually fix any problems with your hold, however hopefully no new bugs will be introduced by further editing your hold.


____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi

DiMono
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1181
Registered: 09-13-2003
IP: Logged

Hawk, I'm willing to bet you have a wraithwing on some tar somewhere, which is causing a logic error and a crash.

____________________________
Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

Schik
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5381
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

DiMono wrote:
Hawk, I'm willing to bet you have a wraithwing on some tar somewhere, which is causing a logic error and a crash.

What he has is stairs pointing to different holds - an artifact of buggy level/room copying in old versions of DROD.

I haven't tried it, but I don't imagine WW on tar would cause any problems, despite the fact that we now disallow it.

____________________________
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
--Mahatma Gandhi