I've got a new TWGS game that has only been running a few weeks, with only a few players. I only have the 1 game setup in TWGS. Recently, it has started to hang right after it prints the opening ANSI and says "Pause", but before it displays the main menu to Play, High Scores, etc. It just freezes and no key press will make it continue.

TWGS console doesn't report anything unusual besides the normal "processing game session". The only thing in the error logs are the usual "timed out due to inactivity" messages.

Any idea what could be causing this, or how to troubleshoot further? I'm kind of disappointed in my purchase of TWGS.

quote:Originally posted by jackdeth

I've got a new TWGS game that has only been running a few weeks, with only a few players. I only have the 1 game setup in TWGS. Recently, it has started to hang right after it prints the opening ANSI and says "Pause", but before it displays the main menu to Play, High Scores, etc. It just freezes and no key press will make it continue.

TWGS console doesn't report anything unusual besides the normal "processing game session". The only thing in the error logs are the usual "timed out due to inactivity" messages.

Any idea what could be causing this, or how to troubleshoot further? I'm kind of disappointed in my purchase of TWGS.



I'll try to help here .. but would be faster on icq.

First .. what are you using to enter game [?]
Telnet , Attac , Swath , Zoc , or Jtwat

If Jtwat .. thats your problem ..
If not .. well now for more questions.

Please contact me over icq .. or check back every few hours (atleast).

It doesn't seem to matter which client I use to connect. I'm just using linux telnet or SecureCRT on Windows, and it hangs with both. It used to work not long ago, so there seems to be some kind of corruption in the game. The odd thing is I'm not sure why it doesn't log any errors?

quote:Originally posted by jackdeth

It doesn't seem to matter which client I use to connect. I'm just using linux telnet or SecureCRT on Windows, and it hangs with both. It used to work not long ago, so there seems to be some kind of corruption in the game. The odd thing is I'm not sure why it doesn't log any errors?


Ok , lets go from first thoughts ...
Check game folder for a file named TWMAIL.DAT .. if over 1 meg
turn server offline and delete it .. this may help .. normally aliens can make this file pritty large sometimes.

I'll check back again in awhile , see what else we can learn (linux huh[?])

Looks like twmail.dat is only 11KB. This game just started a few weeks ago... very new. Looks like I will have to rebang it if I can't get it working again.

Vid is right more then likely it has to do with the DAT file, but I don't think size has anything to do with it. I think it is caused by a read/write access error that winds up corrupting the DAT file and causes that game to just freeze up during initiation. Close down TWGS and delete it anyways also do a warm-boot before bringing TWGS backup. You can check out a file called TWErr.LOG within that games directory this should list all the errors that have occured within the game along with the date and time, (this is in the same directory in-which you will find the TWMAIL.DAT file.) I was wondering if the daily logs could also cause this problem to occur, if so are the logs maintained within the DAT file? I looked for them real quick and could not locate them, maybe they are encrypted to? Maybe somebody knows the answer to this question?

Also try running the game directly from the Command Center. If this does not yield positive results, do you have a recent backup you can import? maybe one of the game setting or info files has become corrupted. Either way let this be a lesson learned as to why it is important to backup daily! [^]

Backup we don't need no stinking backup,[:D]J/K but listen to Vid and what Rexx is saying there very well may be a corrupted file or the twmail.dat file is corrupted, it can happen easily too, and if you have a corruption somewhere you will have to get rid of it, the suggestions here should work if not let us know.

Yep, that was the problem. I deleted twmail.dat and all is fine.

You bring up a good point I didn't think of; I need to backup the game daily in case it does go unfixably (is that a word? lol) corrupt. I think I'll set that up now...

thanks!

I'm having a very similar issue with my TWGS, but it's happened from the very start. I just got the codes and such to host a server for a friend, and when I installed the server everything works, until you actually try and play the game. Once you choose a game to go into, it will hang on that particular connection. The server shows no errors, nor does the game, but once i put in A for game A, it stops right there. Give it a try at tradewars.dyndns.org

I've done everything I can think of: using the install file to "repair" the install, using add/remove to delete it and then reinstall, deleting all the files and reinstalling, deleting all the files, deleting all the registry keys, all files, everything, and installing the previous version...none of it has helped, I always have the same problem.

I can play the game all I want via Command Center, they bigbang and can be edited (I lost all the edits I'd put into the first game since I've deleted everyhting so many times) and I don't see any reason why this isn't working...

Help!

Trios, I got in with no problems in game A too!











Initializing...

Hello Vulcan, welcome to:

Trade Wars 2002 ver 3.12

(C) Copyright 1986 John Pritchett. All rights reserved.
Brought to you by EIS
Written by Gary Martin, Mary Ann Martin and John Pritchett

For Trade Wars support, visit EIS on the Net!

Web: http://www.eisonline.com
Email: jpritch@eisonline.com



This copy of TW2002 is Registered to Entconn
and is being brought to you courtesy of
[Pause]

You were not found in the player database.
Would you like to start a new character in this game? (Type Y or N) Yes

Please enter a password for this game account.

Password? ******
Repeat password to verify.
Password? ******

Great! You're on your way to becoming a Galactic Power!

Notice: If you don't play for 30 days, your ship
and your assets will be removed to make room for someone else.

Do you wish to make up a new Alias for your Trader Name,
or would you rather use your BBS name of Vulcan?
Use (N)ew Name or (B)BS Name [B] ? B


Your ship is being initialized.

You must now christen your new Martin Ind Merchant Cruiser
Choose a name carefully as you will have it for a while!

What do you want to name your ship? (30 letters)
Vulcan's Hammer

Vulcan's Hammer is what you want? Yes
One moment please
You will be started with your very own home planet. Its your option
to abandon it or to keep it and try to build it into a powerful base
of your own.

What do you want to name your home planet? (Class M, Earth Type)
[---------------------------------------]
Home

Planet #4 in sector 694: Home
Class M, Earth Type
Created by: <UNKNOWN>
Claimed by: Vulcan

Item Colonists Colonists Daily Planet Ship Planet
(1000s) 2 Build 1 Product Amount Amount Maximum
------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Fuel Ore 21 3 7 0 0 100,000
Organics 83 7 11 0 0 100,000
Equipment 64 13 4 0 0 100,000
Fighters N/A 84 2 0 30 1,000,000

You have 20 free cargo holds.

Planet command (?=help) [D]

okay if you are using local edit on the computer, then look here and see what it is set at:open editor hit H, check to see what the sysop seclevel (K) is set at foe editing it should be set at 1. Try that and see if it helps.

Amazingly, it works for me now too, without changing anything like that. I don't understand what went went wrong but I'm happy it's working...

Thanks a metric ton Vulcan.

No problem, anytime just ask,
I hope the server goes great.