Unable to restore netplay saved games

[abulbulian]

I've recently started play WiF again with version 2.0.2.3. Bill and I got to the first combat resolution in which Japan took a hex. After I advanced a arty unit in the hex and ended the phase it seemed to hang as Bill couldn't do anything. It was still showing advance after combat in the info screen, but I couldn't do anything as well (end phase button grayed out). So we decided to try and start from a saved game. We tried many times with the below paths and could only get to the step where the player would accept joining the game. Showing game number and entry number, then nothing and player would still be waiting for a response.

- used an axis auto save .. five different ones
- used a manual save that the axis player made
- used a save the allied player made
- tried sending files to other (sync files?) for a restore saved game

All with no luck. When restarting a saved game do both players have to have that save or have made a save at that point in the game (phase)? The save files are plain-text, but I don't know what to look for in debugging the issue.

Let me know if you need some example saves to help solve this issue. Without being able to restore saved games, it's real 'game ender' for trying to continue to play (test).

thanks

[paulderynck]

What you describe sounds like the sequence numbers in the game save files are not the same. Two of us beta testers recently had the same problem. We were used to checking "About the game" under the Help menu before saving in the first place, but missed the fact our sequence numbers were out by 1. If your saves are fairly old, they may very well be out of sequence because that problem used to be more prevalent.

[abulbulian]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

What you describe sounds like the sequence numbers in the game save files are not the same. Two of us beta testers recently had the same problem. We were used to checking "About the game" under the Help menu before saving in the first place, but missed the fact our sequence numbers were out by 1. If your saves are fairly old, they may very well be out of sequence because that problem used to be more prevalent.

I don't think they could qualify as 'old' since they we just today and still in the first turn of the global game. How can I tell if this is a sequence issue? How can this be fixed? How can the save game sequences be sync'd again? Is it (should it) be possible to start a saved game that is only saved by one person? Or do both have to have the saved game on the machine?

thanks

[paulderynck]

The sequence number I refer to is the "Next Entry" number shown by the green arrow below. When you and your opponent want to save a game you must ensure that number is the same on both computers by looking under the Help menu and selecting "About the Current Game".

Both players must have their own save of a game in progress in order to restore a saved game. If you want to restore from an auto save you still want to double check the Next Entry numbers to ensure they are the same on both PCs. The save file is not identical it is particular to the side played by the player, but the next entry numbers must match.

[abulbulian]

Thanks,

I'll do some more investigation. Can an admin move this into the Net Play section? Noticed late I should have posted there.

[abulbulian]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

The sequence number I refer to is the "Next Entry" number shown by the green arrow below. When you and your opponent want to save a game you must ensure that number is the same on both computers by looking under the Help menu and selecting "About the Current Game".

Both players must have their own save of a game in progress in order to restore a saved game. If you want to restore from an auto save you still want to double check the Next Entry numbers to ensure they are the same on both PCs. The save file is not identical it is particular to the side played by the player, but the next entry numbers must match.

So how would the Next Entry #'s get out of sync for auto saves? I will try and verify this with Bill tonight. Can that be edited in the file to fix the issue? Guessing not as simple as that. How can we make sure they will be in sync for the next game? If not, that kind of ruins any chance to play NetPlay. Will never be able to finish a game (even short scen) in one sitting. [:(]

[paulderynck]

deleted - duplicate

[paulderynck]

They should not get out of sync, if they do it's due to a bug. They should be the same no matter when the game auto-saves, or allows you to save. As stated, it's much better than it used to be. Don't forget the auto-saves occur on both computers so if sometime prior to the auto-save the two got out of sync... then Voila!

The "next game" will have it's own set of Next Entry #s, they are assigned by the program and independent of past games. Once you start a new game, it's from that point on that they need to be in sync.

Yes you can edit the game file, the entry number is very close to the top of the save file if you open it in Notepad. However, the farther they are from one another, the more likely the game will get corrupted.

[abulbulian]

It doesn't appear an issue with the Next Entry # as they are the same for both saved files. I will include an example for both sides. This is really frustrating, because we are dead in the water for any testing as we don't have time to restart a new game each time. I hope a root cause can be determined with the files provided. Let me know how else I can assist here.

thanks

Attaching the Axis file here

[abulbulian]

Attached here is the same autosave file from the allies (Bill).

[paulderynck]

So both of you are doing restore game at about the same time, each with one of these two files selected and are not able to connect with each other on the NetPlay forum?

[abulbulian]

Ahhh, ok. [:'(] Lol, Bill and I have had already forgot both have to restore at the save time and meet in the online forum. We'll try this today and I'm betting it will load just fine. We'll try and see if I can reproduce the game freeze after a Japanese advance after combat phase. If so, we'll get this documented in another post.

thanks for your help.

[Titan]

How on earth do you even get that far....A friend of mine and I cannot even complete the setup of Barbarossa...Gets to call out the reserves and then im still left waiting as Axis for my turn. We have public beta patch . Ive tried so may times to play it on Multi player that im getting to the point of uninstalling and forgetting about it. More fruastrating than fun this game

[gw15]

Paul - let's you and I test this the next time we get together for netplay testing. Specifically Barb and calling out reserves. It worked for us before but maybe something digressed???