CW1 - Gamedata.dat getting zeroed out

[Darklurker]

Hi All,

Does anyone know if the 64k limit on gamedata.dat has ever been fixed? (discussed here)

I'm running 0633, and mine keeps getting zapped down to zero bytes every day or two and I have to restore it from backup.  It's usually around 63.9k in the backup.

If it's not fixed, or not fixable, is there any way to clean out old games from it that doesn't involve restarting the whole thing?  I've only been doing Chronom games for the past few years, so yeah, it's probably full of stuff that can be gotten rid of.   I don't mind zapping it myself and running through story mode to unlock Chronom, if that's the only real option.

Thanks,
Dave

[Karsten75]

I recall this issue.  Pretty sure Virgil did fix it.

He's real busy, but I will bring this thread to his attention. In the meantime, uninstall the game (make sure you save your key!) and re-download the updated game, just to make sure you have the  whole thing right. From your referenced post, it was indeed fixed.

Re-download from here: http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/redownload.php

Edit: I checked, and unfortunately, I've not been playing that many CW1 games since 2013 when I upgraded to this machine, my own gamedata.dat is only 61K in size.

[knucracker]

Yeah, that should have been fixed.  Both 0632 and 0633 are available.
This will get you 0632:
http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/redownload.php

And the patch is for 0633:
http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/patches.php

I might try both to see if the behavior is the same.
I'll be looking at CW1 and CW2 again shortly after the release of Particle Fleet.  So each will get some attention at that point (new release with bundled AIR, steam support, some new graphics, sound, etc... nothing too major, but some attention nonetheless).

[Darklurker]

Thanks Virgil.  I'll try uninstalling, then installing 0632, upgrading to 0633, then restoring gamedata from backup.  I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

Thanks,
Dave

[Darklurker]

I uninstalled, ran the installer for 0632,  upgraded to 0633, then restored Gamedata (and the other files in that directory) from backup.  It ran fine for 2 days (about 7 or 8 games), but just now I started it it for the 2nd time this morning and Gamedata got zapped back to 0 bytes.  Buggers...

Virgil, I know you're busy so I'll try to get creative on my end with a hack-around for this.  Or maybe I'll just nuke it and run through story-mode far enough to get all the weapons.

Thanks,
Dave

[Karsten75]

We know the problem should be fixed for all "normal" configurations.

What are your machine and OS specifications?

[Darklurker]

I'm running Windows Server 2012 R2 on a HP xw8600 workstation (dual xeons, 16 Gigs RAM, spinning-disk drives).

AFAIK, I'm up to date on the AIR software - I don't get the nag screens about an update when I start CW.

For me, this is a non-issue now - I finished Story Mode far enough to get the Drones, so I'm back to Chronom with a 2 kB gamedata file.  I should be good for another 4-5 years... ;)

Thanks for the help.

[knucracker]

If you still have your old gamedata file that is just under 64k, send that to me at support@knucklecracker.com.  When I take a look at CW1, it won't hurt to have that to test with.

[Darklurker]

OK, I just sent it to you Virgil.

Thanks,
Dave

[Karsten75]

Darklurker, I hope you are still following this thread. During the rework of Creeper Word for the Anniversary release on Steam, Virgil found that the 64-KByte file issue that you reported was NOT fixed in Creeper World. Our assertions that it was indeed fixed referred to CW2, where it was.

A fix has now been applied to the Anniversary release and you should download this release to avoid the issue recurring.

https://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld/patches.php