Save file hangs on loading card decks

[I'm Not Sue]

8gb memory, 1600*900 windowed, running on High graphics.

I am working on a mod (Anachronism, a tabletop CCG / arena game) which isn't quite complete yet, which combines all of the cards from the released sets into one mod. However, since TTS is a bit of a memory hog I closed it down to work on some making some decks in photoshop. Upon reloading TTS my save file will just hang on loading the mod, at 48/162. I have some default dice, go piece bowls, and pokerchips on the board which all load, the custom table image loads, but none of the many custom card decks will load at all. The game is not frozen, all objects can be manipulated (even if unloaded), and no error messages are thrown in the chat window. The decks just simply wont load, and I have no way of figuring out what #48 is or why the game hangs on loading it.

I have tried launching the game on very low and ultra graphics. I have backed up and erased the jpg files from the mods folder referenced in the save file and turned off mod caching. I have loaded three mods I made with subsets of the cards used in the the save file and they all load fine. I have passed the save file on to a friend, it wont load past #48 on his computer either.

Any solutions, or do I just have to completely remake the mod and hope it doesn't happen again?

[em]

My experience is that decks load last, and until the last one of them is loaded, they won't show the images on any of them. If it can't complete loading because of a www error, or something, then flipping each of the decks a few times will sometimes trigger the ones that finished loading, leaving you just the ones that weren't loaded as plain white decks.

If you have a lot of decks, it can take a while to load. It can even stop responding for a while. It's possible that the 48 things that loaded were your dice, go piece bowls, and poker chips, and it's starting to hang when bringing in custom images. My suggestion there is to let it be (and don't do anything else that uses the internet) for 5 or so minutes, and then go back to it and see if it loaded. If it no longer says it's loading at the top, but it's still not showing your images, hit enter to pull up the chat window, and see if there's an error there, or if just stopped trying. The fact that it's staying at trying load 48/162 suggests to me that you're not giving it a chance to finish trying to load thing.

[I'm Not Sue]

Originally posted by em:

If it can't complete loading because of a www error, or something, then flipping each of the decks a few times will sometimes trigger the ones that finished loading, leaving you just the ones that weren't loaded as plain white decks.

As I said, no error messages display in the chat. Flipping decks does nothing, it still hangs at 48.

If you have a lot of decks, it can take a while to load. It can even stop responding for a while.

As I said, the game is fully functional and responsive while this happens. I can load other games, manipulate objects, etc.

It's possible that the 48 things that loaded were your dice, go piece bowls, and poker chips, and it's starting to hang when bringing in custom images.

Agreed, this was my assumption as well.

My suggestion there is to let it be (and don't do anything else that uses the internet) for 5 or so minutes, and then go back to it and see if it loaded. If it no longer says it's loading at the top, but it's still not showing your images, hit enter to pull up the chat window, and see if there's an error there, or if just stopped trying. The fact that it's staying at trying load 48/162 suggests to me that you're not giving it a chance to finish trying to load thing.

I did in my previous tests, but just to be sure I left it for over an hour just now while I showered and ate. It is still sitting at 48/162, and the game is still responsive as in all my previous attempts.

[em]

Well, that does suck. Sorry I wasn't more helpful.

[I'm Not Sue]

Originally posted by em:

Well, that does suck. Sorry I wasn't more helpful.

Its okay, thank you very much for your suggestions. I really do appreciate it.

[tomwsmf]

Some things I have done when this happens, and yes it happens...to make it stop happening.

1) Clean out my cache. This is the directory where TTS keeps the images and such. I can usually find the offending items as the URL is baked into the file name. I delete them, delete them dead and gone and no sir do not come back...and then I go into TTS and reload the mod.

Why does this work? If the download got fraked up somewhere or a bit was bumped out of place by some loud mouth Manchester United fan bit or if it stopped on the way from the server to your hard drive for a quick latte...then the file could get mucked up and every time you load it it will act as such. Cleaning out the cache gives that file another chance to come in whole and clean and ever so cool.

2) Rehost the file. Why? maybe my uploading of the file got mucked up, maybe I messed up where I put it or how I named it.

2a) Before rehosting maybe open up the files in a viewer and see if the file is ok or mucked up. Bad things happen to good files. Keep backups.

3) See if anyone else is having issues with it. Go find an open game on the server list. Cards Against Humanity is a great choice since it is the #1 subscribed to mod. If I am having issues running it yet everyone else is not then the fault dear Brutus is in our rig and not in the stars.

[I'm Not Sue]

Originally posted by tomwsmf:

Some things I have done when this happens, and yes it happens...to make it stop happening.

1) Clean out my cache. This is the directory where TTS keeps the images and such. I can usually find the offending items as the URL is baked into the file name. I delete them, delete them dead and gone and no sir do not come back...and then I go into TTS and reload the mod.

Why does this work? If the download got fraked up somewhere or a bit was bumped out of place by some loud mouth Manchester United fan bit or if it stopped on the way from the server to your hard drive for a quick latte...then the file could get mucked up and every time you load it it will act as such. Cleaning out the cache gives that file another chance to come in whole and clean and ever so cool.

As I said, I am not playing off a mod but a save file that I am working into making as a completed mod. I also said that I had backed up and then deleted the files referenced in the mods folder, and that it did not solve the issue.

2) Rehost the file. Why? maybe my uploading of the file got mucked up, maybe I messed up where I put it or how I named it.

This is tantamount to remaking the entire mod, as there is no way to know which file is causing the problem aside from remaking the entire mod, and there are around 45 custom deck files in the mod. Entirely remaking the mod is what I am trying to avoid doing.

3) See if anyone else is having issues with it. Go find an open game on the server list. Cards Against Humanity is a great choice since it is the #1 subscribed to mod. If I am having issues running it yet everyone else is not then the fault dear Brutus is in our rig and not in the stars.

And, as I said this is a save file of mine which is a work in progress for a mod I am making. I sent it to a friend who had the same issue, and randomly trawling the active lobbies to beg people to troubleshoot my WIP mod seems rather rude.