Please tell me I can salvage my game...

Smoltzie · 07-05-2008, 11:52 PM

Something happened to my career game which I have been putting a lot of work into...

As I was playing the game, just having won the world series, looking forward to the offseason - as the game was in the midst of processing there was a power outage.

As I restarted the computer and tried to load up the game, it failed to do so. Fine, I thought. I've been a good boy and I've backed up all the .dat files each time I save in a seperate folder (something I did after numerous errors have occured in them during the saving process... that's another issue).

So, I copy the .dat files and try to start the game... it crashes.

I tried something new... I used the .dat files that should not be corrupted and I removed all the folders. Ok - the game starts... I can browse around, and although news items are all gone (I could live with that), everything seems to be the way it was. Players pictures (when regenerated) look like the same players I know... so clearly the .dat files are all in working order.

But, here is where the game crashes on me. When I try to click the manager home, or manager news screens - an error message appears (generic Windows message). And the game crashes to the desktop.

So I guess, what I need to know is what files could I replace to prevent the game from crashing when clicking the manager news/home page?

It even works when progressing the game - so I can't figure out what is wrong...

I am running the latest version of OOTP 8.

Any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Smoltzie · 07-07-2008, 05:59 AM

No? No ideas?

I have tried everything... the game is totally functionable in every way apart from accessing the Manager Home/Manager News pages... that's where it crashes.

I even got all the news items back in working order... so I can browse around, check all the stats from the past. I can advance for a few days, but once I need to visit Manager Home or News that does it.

TribeFanInNC · 07-07-2008, 08:01 AM

Hmmm...I don't know specifically what's going on, but maybe I can help you brainstorm.

So, if it only happens from the manager screen, it must be trying to access something that is only available from the manager screen. Sounds like maybe the email messages might be screwed up? Do you have a messages.dat file? I think that is what controls the messages. Also, it could be that the messages got corrupted (i.e. it barfs when it finds a character it doesn't recognize) - maybe if you delete all the text files for the emails, it might work. Or maybe delete the messages.dat altogether; I think the game will create a new one. Sorry, I'm not at home right now with the game, so I can't be terribly specific.

Alternatively, I would also try completely uninstalling and reinstalling the game. Could be that the game file got corrupted. On second thought, this seems somewhat likely. I might try this first.

Good luck.

strictbusiness14 · 07-08-2008, 11:10 PM

I'm actually having an almost identical problem. Whenever I try to use the Manager Home/Manager News pages my game freezes up and/or crashes. It also does the same thing whenever I try to create a new game. Since those screens are the two screens I use the most in the game, I had to quit playing because dealing with it was too frustrating. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling three times and I tried getting rid of the messages.dat files and it's still exactly the same.

Smoltzie · 07-11-2008, 05:24 AM

No, I still got nothing - no ideas. Nothing works.

I've had to shelve this wonderful game for the time being. The number of bugs has simply rendered the game unplayable. Uninstall/Re-install does nothing, tried deleting the manager adding a new one, deleting the message.dat and messages folders, still not working.

That really is a shame, because I was tremendously enjoying the game I had running, and as I had played for quite some years, starting a new one does not interest me.

If anyone does have any ideas, let me know... I would still want to continue this game, but I will not start a new one.

Tycobbler · 07-11-2008, 11:22 PM

Well here's a shot in the dark as i seem to remember it working before. (With the game closed). Now this may be a long shot so tread lightly. Since you've been backing up your files you'll notice there is a message.dat file and a messages.bak file in your saved leagues folder. Take out the messages.dat and rename the message.bak file to message.dat

Now back out of that and open OOTP. Start your league. If i recall correctly this should fix your problem.

....fingers crossed.....

Tycobbler · 07-11-2008, 11:30 PM

Also, does this only happen on human controlled manager pages? Have you tried "acting as" another team and trying the same steps and still getting the crash?

strictbusiness14 · 07-13-2008, 04:41 PM

Like I had said before, I had almost the exact same problem. Today I decided to try reinstalling the game via the CD I bought with the game instead of the setup file I had on my desktop. I unlicensed, uninstalled, and reinstalled using the disc...and now everything's fine. Have you been using the online download or a CD to reinstall? Hopefully this could be of some help to you. Let me know what happens.

07-05-2008, 11:52 PM	#1 (permalink)
Smoltzie Bat Boy Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 posts	Please tell me I can salvage my game... Something happened to my career game which I have been putting a lot of work into... As I was playing the game, just having won the world series, looking forward to the offseason - as the game was in the midst of processing there was a power outage. As I restarted the computer and tried to load up the game, it failed to do so. Fine, I thought. I've been a good boy and I've backed up all the .dat files each time I save in a seperate folder (something I did after numerous errors have occured in them during the saving process... that's another issue). So, I copy the .dat files and try to start the game... it crashes. I tried something new... I used the .dat files that should not be corrupted and I removed all the folders. Ok - the game starts... I can browse around, and although news items are all gone (I could live with that), everything seems to be the way it was. Players pictures (when regenerated) look like the same players I know... so clearly the .dat files are all in working order. But, here is where the game crashes on me. When I try to click the manager home, or manager news screens - an error message appears (generic Windows message). And the game crashes to the desktop. So I guess, what I need to know is what files could I replace to prevent the game from crashing when clicking the manager news/home page? It even works when progressing the game - so I can't figure out what is wrong... I am running the latest version of OOTP 8. Any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

07-07-2008, 08:01 AM	#3 (permalink)
TribeFanInNC Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,532 Thanks: 94 Thanked 268x in 209 posts	Hmmm...I don't know specifically what's going on, but maybe I can help you brainstorm. So, if it only happens from the manager screen, it must be trying to access something that is only available from the manager screen. Sounds like maybe the email messages might be screwed up? Do you have a messages.dat file? I think that is what controls the messages. Also, it could be that the messages got corrupted (i.e. it barfs when it finds a character it doesn't recognize) - maybe if you delete all the text files for the emails, it might work. Or maybe delete the messages.dat altogether; I think the game will create a new one. Sorry, I'm not at home right now with the game, so I can't be terribly specific. Alternatively, I would also try completely uninstalling and reinstalling the game. Could be that the game file got corrupted. On second thought, this seems somewhat likely. I might try this first. Good luck. __________________ PEBA - Duluth Warriors

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

07-07-2008, 05:59 AM	#2 (permalink)
Smoltzie Bat Boy Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 posts	No? No ideas? I have tried everything... the game is totally functionable in every way apart from accessing the Manager Home/Manager News pages... that's where it crashes. I even got all the news items back in working order... so I can browse around, check all the stats from the past. I can advance for a few days, but once I need to visit Manager Home or News that does it.

07-08-2008, 11:10 PM	#4 (permalink)
strictbusiness14 Bat Boy Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 posts	I'm actually having an almost identical problem. Whenever I try to use the Manager Home/Manager News pages my game freezes up and/or crashes. It also does the same thing whenever I try to create a new game. Since those screens are the two screens I use the most in the game, I had to quit playing because dealing with it was too frustrating. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling three times and I tried getting rid of the messages.dat files and it's still exactly the same.

07-11-2008, 05:24 AM	#5 (permalink)
Smoltzie Bat Boy Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 posts	No, I still got nothing - no ideas. Nothing works. I've had to shelve this wonderful game for the time being. The number of bugs has simply rendered the game unplayable. Uninstall/Re-install does nothing, tried deleting the manager adding a new one, deleting the message.dat and messages folders, still not working. That really is a shame, because I was tremendously enjoying the game I had running, and as I had played for quite some years, starting a new one does not interest me. If anyone does have any ideas, let me know... I would still want to continue this game, but I will not start a new one.

07-11-2008, 11:22 PM	#6 (permalink)
Tycobbler All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: 20 minutes from Comerica Park Posts: 1,723 Thanks: 105 Thanked 39x in 27 posts	Well here's a shot in the dark as i seem to remember it working before. (With the game closed). Now this may be a long shot so tread lightly. Since you've been backing up your files you'll notice there is a message.dat file and a messages.bak file in your saved leagues folder. Take out the messages.dat and rename the message.bak file to message.dat Now back out of that and open OOTP. Start your league. If i recall correctly this should fix your problem. ....fingers crossed.....

07-11-2008, 11:30 PM	#7 (permalink)
Tycobbler All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: 20 minutes from Comerica Park Posts: 1,723 Thanks: 105 Thanked 39x in 27 posts	Also, does this only happen on human controlled manager pages? Have you tried "acting as" another team and trying the same steps and still getting the crash?

07-13-2008, 04:41 PM	#8 (permalink)
strictbusiness14 Bat Boy Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0x in 0 posts	Like I had said before, I had almost the exact same problem. Today I decided to try reinstalling the game via the CD I bought with the game instead of the setup file I had on my desktop. I unlicensed, uninstalled, and reinstalled using the disc...and now everything's fine. Have you been using the online download or a CD to reinstall? Hopefully this could be of some help to you. Let me know what happens.