7 replies to this topic

[Tallan]

I don't know how often this occurs for others, but I'll get corrupted .pak files a couple of times a week (normally after a crash). It's ordinarily coming from objects.pak, but recently a map file went corrupt as well.

I've learned a workaround by loading 7-ZIP and testing the individual files and then downloading a replacement for the specific file from http://patcher.mwomercs.com/patch/Production/live/Game/<brokenfile.pak> (thanks Urdson) so that the game will run again. However, as you can imagine, this is a tedious process, even if it is better than uninstalling and reinstalling the game.

Please work to implement a repair button on the patcher that can scan for corrupted files and download a new .pak to replace it. If I can do it manually than surely it can be done in an automated fashion, and it would make life much easier for anyone who is getting those FRead/CryEngine/X bytes of Y read errors.

[Agent CraZy DiP]

You mean... you don't like re-installing?

[Tallan]

Not really! Especially considering that I had to use the Microsoft Fix It utility to make sure it was completely uninstalled before I started installing it again - sometimes the re-install didn't even work (at least a couple versions ago).

With the volume of posts that go by I'm not sure how much this will get noticed, but who knows - maybe it will grab the attention of someone who can use it.

[Jackie Butters]

Bump for repair option...

[Deathlike]

No ETA. They are still working on it, but at some point, there shouldn't be any excuses for this not being done.

[Phaesphoros]

This reminds me of some old technique I'm using for back-up purposes:

Back in the Usenet age, there've been a lot more corrupted files and slow internet connections. People invented and used Parchives with parity files containing repair information.

Basic idea:
You end up with 3 kinds of files:

• The file(s) (e.g. A.pak) you want to have / download.
  
• Multiple parity volume files, which contain some repair information. Size of those can be adjusted, the larger the more repair information can be contained. It's common to create a lot of small parity files, each one "covering a section" of A.pak.
  
• An index file, which is very small (some KB) and can tell you if A.pak is corrupted - and which parity volume files you need to repair.

So when you want to have A.pak you download that file plus the index file. Index file tells you whether A.pak is corrupted or not. If it's corrupted, you'll know which parity volume files you have to download to fix it. (Of course, this can be automated as well.)
This is more sophisticated than ordinary checksums, as you don't have to download the whole A.pak again, just some small parity volume files to fix it.



To the OP:
You could just copy the files after every patch to another directory, and copy them back once you know the original ones have been corrupted.
Or you could use parchives locally (e.g. via MultiPar) -> after every patch, create repair information. If something doesn't work, check parity and repair.

To the developers:
I'm not sure if there are any files you need write access to but the user config / settings files (after the patcher has done its work). *.pak sounds to me like "contains static game data". These should not be opened with write access obviously (may be CryEngine's fault). Crashes that result in corrupted data files indicate IMHO there's some issue with access rights or synchronisation.

Edited by Phaesphoros, 13 March 2013 - 10:45 AM.

[Aurrous]

i have asked for this, and the Patcher fixer, to note the crached files so you can tell the Beta folks what happened.
Why am i at the desktop???? lets try it again.. Why am i at the desktop????? lets try it again.. Why isnt it working???? No warning, no nothing..

I think the Patcher should verify the integrity of the files every time you start the client.
if the files are damaged, patch those files..
if the client crashes, make a crash report, and notification of crash to the user..
MWO Crash ERROR Number 9893 corrupt file.. Ohh ok ill send that to the Beta team.
Beta team Ohh Error Number 9898 is a corrupt file XXXX.XXX DL it from here.. OK thanks.
Problem solved..

Not why am i at the desktop.. Click.. Why am i at the desktop.. click.. why am i at the desk top..
Dev team why am i at the desktop.. don't know send us some logs... which ones? go find them. ECT

Edited by Aurrous, 13 March 2013 - 10:42 AM.

[Bigboote]

Wa wa wa wait a min, I want more mechs and more things for in my mech not something useful like some thing-a-mu-bob that will let me play w/o reinstalling. When I finally am able to play w/o reinstalling I will play the game again and not have to play other games, till then I got $100 in STO that I will be sending on ships and things to go in my ships because when their patch went wrong I hit 1 button and waited for it to fix it. Love the game not the support, some people may jump thru their hoops to play it but I'm not, and if more people did the same STO would be happy and MWO would work on getting their **** together in their down time, feel free to join me.