Save PBEM games fails to load

[JKG]

On turn 5 of a PBEM game in v2.3, when I try to load my opponent's turn an error message appears "saved game fails to load" The only clue that I know of that might suggest what is wrong: When I saved the zipped file to my Desktop the whole file was only about 125KB, but when I examined the email.dat file it showed about 800KB compressed about 85%, which seemed odd because it hasn't done that before (usually the zipped files total 500KB+).

I then had my opponent send the files without zippin' them, but they would not load either.

Any thoughts on what might be happening?

[Paul Vebber]

THe common cause of this is "encryption failure" if youcan open the .dat file and read SPWaW and not gibberish in the first line that is the problem.

In general this is caused by being to quick to exit the game before windows writes the data. Wait 10 secs after ending the turn before you exit the gameor alt - tab out to check the file before you send it.

[Tomanbeg]

So That's what I did wrong! My potential opponent has been very patient with me. Right now I have good .dat & .aux, but the .cmt is the original file (dated from when I started this mess). Can I salvage this game by doing a wipe & reinstall, then unzipping his original file? The poor fellow has to ready to block my E-mail.

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

Do not reinstall the game after you have started a PBEM game. If you so do, you will receive a "corrupt installation" error. The program will think you are trying to cheat.

Originally posted by Tomanbeg:
So That's what I did wrong! My potential opponent has been very patient with me. Right now I have good .dat & .aux, but the .cmt is the original file (dated from when I started this mess). Can I salvage this game by doing a wipe & reinstall, then unzipping his original file? The poor fellow has to ready to block my E-mail.

Bye...

Michael Wood

[jackdaw]

This is really annoying. I moved the whole
spwaw directory to another place as I needed space and now I get error messages like player 1 or 2 installation corrupted.. blaah
I guess all my pbem-games are gone?

[Paul Vebber]

If you trust your opponent, don't use the secure email routine! Secure was intended for tournaments and the like where you want to be mostly sure (nothing is foolproof) that your opponant isn't cheating.

For "everyday" use, jus don't enter a password and it will save the game as a normal save file in the save folder and not care what you do to it.