Broken savefile error

[Oraticus]

Just wondering if anyone has seen this issue before, and if there's a fix for it.

[Pete Mack]

It likely means the randart file is missing. There was a recent Dev build where it was never saved properly.

[Oraticus]

Thanks for the quick reply. Where is this file, and is there any way to restore it? I'm guessing the run (a very lucky one) is probably toast... but was hopeful I might still be able to do something.

[Nick]

Your randart files are all in the lib\user\archive folder. The one you want will probably be the most recent one; certainly it will be the one that contains an artifact called Elberaman.

The problem, though, is that if that file is there, the game should be loading it correctly. You should also look in the lib\user folder and see if there is a file called "randart.txt".- - although, again, the game should be able to deal with that.

As Pete indicated, the behaviour will depend on which version of the game you're using - whether it is actually the official 4.1.3, or a build from the nightlies page.

If you cannot get the game going, zip up your savefile and any randart file you feel might be related and attach the zipfile to this thread, and I'll try and track down the problem.

[Sky]

i have run into - and fixed - this problem. there is a broken pointer somewhere, all you need to do is make a new different character, close, re-load the old character - voila'.

doesnt ALWAYS work, but keep doing this and it eventually will.

[Oraticus]

Thanks, Sky... I'll give it shot to see if it fixes my character too, and I'll reply.

Sorry for the delayed response... this file is on my work computer, so once the work day was over, I wasn't checking it anymore. :P

I checked, and I have the base randart.txt in lib\user. I also found "elberaman" in the most recent randart file in \lib\user\archive, so both files exist. I assume it's what Sky suggested. I was gonna attach those files as an example case for the bug, but when trying to attach the randart.txt file it said it exceeded the forum's upload limit for a .txt file (40.5Kb, limit 19.5Kb).

[Nick]

I checked, and I have the base randart.txt in lib\user. I also found "elberaman" in the most recent randart file in \lib\user\archive, so both files exist. I assume it's what Sky suggested. I was gonna attach those files as an example case for the bug, but when trying to attach the randart.txt file it said it exceeded the forum's upload limit for a .txt file (40.5Kb, limit 19.5Kb).

Yes, Shy's fix will probably work; the way you've described it, deleting (or just moving aside) the randart.txt in \lib\user should also work. Let me know if not.

As for attaching to the forum, zipping all the relevant files should work if yo need to again.

[Oraticus]

Thanks, Nick! Just moving the randart.txt up one level did the trick! This luckly lil' gnome has been given a new lease on life!

[schatz]

I just ran into similar issue. My paladin was just trying out the Single Combat spell for the first time and after casting it at the monster and taking two steps towards the monster, the game crashed. I tried restarting the game, took the same two steps and it crashed again. Thereafter the game did not even start at all, giving me the following error message:

Broken savefile - probably from a development version

I should have made a backup copy of the directory before I tried starting the game again.

Not sure if this is relevant, but I had compiled my own version from sources on my macbook with the following change to get a wider terminal for the main window plus a second window to the side for monster list (with "-mgcu -- -n2" option):

diff --git a/src/main-gcu.c b/src/main-gcu.c
index a6fe3545..d3b59ac2 100644
--- a/src/main-gcu.c
+++ b/src/main-gcu.c
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ typedef struct term_data {

 /* Minimum main term size */
 #define MIN_TERM0_LINES 24
-#define MIN_TERM0_COLS 80
+#define MIN_TERM0_COLS 100

 /* Comfortable subterm size */
 #define COMFY_SUBTERM_LINES 5

I get a similar error message using the latest nightlies for osx.

2019-07-23 22:16:23.312 angband[12357:14913391] Broken savefile - probably from a development version

Is there anything I can do to recover the character from this save file?

[Pete Mack]

That difference has nothing to do with save file format--it is UI only. No idea what though, from such a mysterious error message.

[Nick]

Is there anything I can do to recover the character from this save file?

If you zip the savefile and post it here, together with your randart file if using randarts, I can have a go at recovering it. Do you know which build it was started in?

[schatz]

Not sure if this helps, when I run the binary I compiled, I get this version in the banner screen: 4.1.3-508-g45f1c8d9-dirty

Thanks for looking into this!

Edit: I probably built at this commit

commit 45f1c8d9bcf2b412c127f8400409853466120977
Author: Nick McConnell <nckmccnnll@gmail.com>
Date:   Mon Jul 8 22:19:03 2019 +1000

    Change stealing command to 's'

[Nick]

Just noticed I had forgotten this. Fixed savefile is attached - I had to finish the single combat before saving.