Unable to select character file in MP
| Submitted by WyrdForge on Fri, 2022-04-22 10:59 | ||
Would someone be able to venture a guess as to why a character file (i.e., [character name].dsparty) is not visible when selecting a character to play in multiplayer mode? I experienced a black screen when playing solo in Utraean Peninsula (Volcanic Caverns). I (stupidly) Alt-TABbed to see something in another app and that's when it went black. After I rebooted, I was no longer able to select my level 55 character. Put an other way: other than the aforementioned file, what else needs to be in place (*.gas file? config?) in order to have a valid character? Perhaps the crash changed something important. The MP character file is only 11KB, whereas a SP save file is around 275KB (at very beginning of LoA). Significant? No doubt the SP file has more context to save, more than just the character itself. I should mention: stock OEM discs DS LoA with latest patch, no mods. Thanks muchly |
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Sounds to me like DS crashed while it was writing the dsparty file and now the file is corrupt?
For a better size comparison maybe you could make a new MP character and fill its inventory with a similar amount of items...
Yes, that's what it looks like to me too. I just didn't want to cry wolf too early.
I started a new character. I'm almost at Fallraen, with a full inventory. The file is 10K, so that seems normal. But still, the other one could have been corrupted when the system had a fit.
I'll look around for a character editor and see what I can figure out to fix it. Hate losing a 55+ level character.
I tried to open the dsparty file with TankViewer. Won't open ("Invalid header" or some such). I created another character and my system again crapped itself and corrupted it at level 15. I can open, untank, and edit a brand new character that my system hasn't damaged yet.
Is there any way to fix or somehow open a corrupted dsparty file? I suppose with a low-level byte editor that doesn't care about format, but I haven't a clue as to how to interpret a tanked file; untanked yes, I can probably pick out what's corrupted, but I can't get there from here.
I *really* ought to replace that very old machine... but I didn't have such problems before Windows 10.
Well and truly hosed. I looked at the corrupted files with a byte-level editor (HxD), and they're all filled with zeroes. So, absolutely unrecoverable. That's grand!
As an aside, would anyone know if there's some translation done when tanking the two files (party.gas and info.gas) into the dsparty file? HxD shows "decoded text" but I expected to see the text of those two files, in plain English; instead, it's a jumble of other characters. Granted, there's also the *.bmp file in there, so that would account for some smorgasborg of characters, but I don't know where one file begins and another ends. Anyone know the structure of a dsparty file?
errr dont u see the back up dsparty file? ds should create at least one backup file with the dsparty.bak extension. ds2 even has a max_save_backups option u can set in the .ini file to customise how many backups the game should maintain.
i have personally never experienced this type of save file corruption before but thats why there is a dsparty.bak file which the devs put there! dont recreate the char with the same name or the dsparty.bak file will get overwritten.
well... if u dont, well i guess this is a lesson to create backup copies for your data on a thumbdrive, cd-rw or some other place!! i still have all my ds1 & 2 chars and mods all backed up. how much time will it take for u to copy those files to another device? certainly wont take u as long as trying to salvage the file. penny wise but pound foolish decision.
EDIT: your old computer may have a dying hard drive if this starts happening more frequently. better backup all data and replace the disk. u have been warned on using dying hardware!
The *.bak file was also buggered. All zeroes. I'm guessing when that old computer had a fit it corrupted both files.
Anyway, I've replaced the computer with one from this decade, and it's all copacetic. No more hangs, no more terrain disappearing. Bliss.
Noted and agreed on the backups. Can these be done retroactively (after the crash/corruption)? Wait... WHAT!?
yea looks like that old computer was on its last legs. hanging onto dear life like a thread. time to put it out of its misery. RIP!
wait long long! for someone to invent a time machine and u can do that. in the meantime, u could have played up till lvl 150 on several chars in the time it takes for someone to invent a time machine... hehehe!