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Windows Write operations 100% failure for just one person

S

squarebit

Guest
Hey guys, I've come across a pretty serious problem recently.

I was contacted by a customer yesterday who says his game doesn't save. I am using file_text_open_write() to save progress inside appdata (the sandbox).

I asked him to investigate and try several things, this is what we have tried so far:
  • Taking a screenshot (also failed, thus meaning screen_save() also fails).
  • Try running both game and Steam as administrator.
  • Making sure his anti-virus wasn't blocking the game.
  • I even went as far as to make sure there were no non-standard characters in his Windows login as that breaks several other file functions. (such as rename, delete, and copy)

Nothing worked, the game still doesn't save progress or screenshots, however directories were created as needed (save folder, screenshots folder) so I'm wondering if anyone know any reason why all file write operations might fail?

It appears that ini file writing does work, however, as an options file was found in the appdata (created on startup).

It's also worth noting that this is the first instance of this ever happening to me, and the first report of it on my game which has been available for a year.. I'm clueless, pretty much.

I am using GM:S version 1.4.1657.
The guy with the problem is running Windows 7, same as me.

To reiterate / TL;DR:
file_text_open_write() and screen_save() fails but only for one person, and we don't know why.

Any and all ideas welcome and appreciated.
Thanks!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

jo-thijs

Member
Hm, I'm probably not be the best person to help you with this issue.
It might also be better to either make a thread for this/ move this thread over here:
https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?forums/community-tech-support.12/
or use the helpdesk: http://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

Anyway, my first thoughts when I read through this were that it might be a sandboxing issue, but then it should occur for more people.
Could you rovide us with some relevant code (e.g. where you open the file)?
Could you also provide us with all the system information of the user you've got?
How did he install the game?
Where does he want to save his game?
What happens when he puts some savefile in the directories manually,
do things properly load then?
What are the access permissions of the directories?
What OS is he using?
...
 
S

squarebit

Guest
Yeah I wasn't sure where to put it tbh. I did post it on the official tech support forums as well, though.

I haven't been able to get a hold of the guy since yesterday, so he hasn't yet provided any system information. EDIT: The guy with the problem is running Windows 7, same as me.

I'm basically just writing to the sandboxed area, ie appdata, plus a subdirectory, eg var f=file_text_open_write(savedir+charactername);, so he can't pick anywhere to save.
It's all automatic.

He just installed it through Steam as normal.
Presumably things would load if he had a save to put in the directory... but loading isn't the issue, as the entire save folder is completely empty and the game auto-saves rather frequently.

Though I'm 99% sure this is because of some third party software since I have over 8000 players and only 1 report of this... for a year long period. :/

I'll update my post with system information once he replies!

Thanks!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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