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Creativity => Game Design & Demos => Topic started by: Corfaisus on July 21, 2009, 05:46:02 am

Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: Corfaisus on July 21, 2009, 05:46:02 am
After reading about this happening to someone else while playing an rm2k/3 game, it got me wondering (and a little worried). What could cause something like this? Is it the program or the individual's computer? Has anyone else come across this error before? Just to make it clear, this error supposedly crashes your game and then clears the data in your Save## file on the computer to the point that it doesn't show up when you open the game. Usually an error such as this wouldn't be a problem for shorter games, but for those games that clock 20-50+ hours it may discourage others from attempting to play the game again.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: Vanit on July 21, 2009, 08:18:44 am
I can't find any mention of this bug at all. I think its a safe assumption that the file was corrupted from an outside source and you shouldn't worry about it.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: kentona on July 21, 2009, 01:20:07 pm
...read any old Hero's Realm topic and you might hear about it.  A lot.

Anywho - just to make you even more worried - I never did find the source of the bug.  I do believe it is tied to a memory leak associated with the playing of MIDIs.

Basically, what happens is after a long playing time (of the game, not any particular midi) the music cuts out.  If you wait to save your game, the game will crash AND destroy the savegame in the slot you selected.  It sucks.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: SegNin on July 22, 2009, 05:30:41 pm
Quote from: kentona on July 21, 2009, 01:20:07 pm
Basically, what happens is after a long playing time (of the game, not any particular midi) the music cuts out.  If you wait to save your game, the game will crash AND destroy the savegame in the slot you selected.  It sucks.
This has happened to me too.
And exactly the way kentona described it.

But, that bug won't erase all your other saves, so as long as you keep multiple saves as backups, it isn't that big of a deal.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: Dart00 on July 23, 2009, 04:16:04 pm
Just include a small batch file with your game that says "Backup Save Utility" with a menu and have it copy all your *.sav files to C:\RM2k3_Backup_Saves and have it have another option that restores them. And just put into your game stuff like..."Youv been a long way so why dont you save and close and run the batch file to backup your game" hehe.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: Immakinganaccountk on August 09, 2009, 11:53:12 pm
That'd be pretty annoying. Interrupting someone every 10 minutes with HEY YOU SHOULD SAVE OK? would probably put quite a few people off playing the game.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: SegNin on August 10, 2009, 01:47:58 am
This bug really isn't that big of a deal.

As long as you pay attention to the music while you're playing, you should notice if the music stops.

So, if it stops, then DON'T SAVE YOUR GAME UNTIL YOU'VE MADE AN EXTRA COPY OF THE SAVE FILE FIRST.

Just search the game's folder for the save file (SaveXX.lsd) and copy it to your desktop, before you save your game again.

That way, if your save file gets corrupt or deleted, you can just move the backup save file you copied to your desktop back into the game folder and continue your game from there.

Remember, this bug won't erase your save file WHEN the music stops, but ONLY if you make a new save AFTER the music stops.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: Aten on August 10, 2009, 07:48:13 am
Never had this problem in all 9 years of rm-ing. Must be your corrupt OS/MBR or even hard drive fragmenting that causes file errors.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: kentona on August 10, 2009, 03:11:26 pm
Maybe.  I never did find the cause, but it happened to a lot of people.  I could never recreate the error consistently.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: Neophyte on August 10, 2009, 11:04:16 pm
Actually, I think this bug is from an older version of 2k3. This and the DBS bug where your character can get stuck while walking up to attack an enemy seem to be in some older version of the exe. I've only noticed it with REALLY old games that were first started in 2003-2004.

I'm not completely sure, but updating or replacing the RPG_RT and all of its other files may fix it.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: Aten on August 10, 2009, 11:12:16 pm
There are 2 things you should check for your RPG_RT.exe if you're using Advocates rm2k3 ver 1.08


If yours doesn't say that, then you're probably using a fake rpg_rt, or it's been modified or hacked in some way and will most likely cause errors/glitches.
Title: Rm2k/3 "Save File Killing" Error
Post by: kentona on August 11, 2009, 03:03:18 am
Yeah, mine has 955,568 bytes.  Not sure why as I don't have power mode or any such stuff.  I'll download other projects looking for that size.