Oolite on Windows 8

[Bryanpoprobson]

Well I'll be a thargoids Uncle, doing the un-install and reload worked.. Now that I can see the save screen again, the whole folder had disappeared not just the files, that has to be an issue with windows 8...

[Cody]

<grins widely> Welcome aboard, sir!

[Thargoid]

Yay, good news Uncle Bryan!

[Gimi]

It it happens again, please report. I have been thinking about this, and I have a shot in the dark.
Could you check if you can register the extension "oolite-save" as a known or associated file type somewhere. Associate it with Oolite.exe maybe. I have a feeling you might have encountered a new "security" feature in win 8. I don't have my virtual machine up and going, so I can't check.

[Bryanpoprobson]

Happened again, I already changed the file association as I had the same thought.

[Diziet Sma]

I'm wondering if maybe Micro$oft have perhaps extended the VirtualStore in Win8, such that it's messing even with games installed directly to C:\

Bryan, have you looked in [username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\ProgramFiles and [username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\ProgramData to see if there are any Oolite related files there? (you may have to set "Show Hidden Files and Folders" in "Folder Options" to be able to see the AppData folder)

The VirtualStore causes no end of problems under Vista/Win7/Win8 for games and game settings. It is often recommended for Win8 users to run a problematic game in Windows7 Compatibility mode, and as an Administrator. Any game files in the VirtualStore should be deleted or moved to another (preferred) folder, and the game restarted. It may also help to disable the User Account Control as well.

If you need more help with any of the above, don't hesitate to ask..

[Gimi]

I'm wondering if maybe Micro$oft have perhaps extended the VirtualStore in Win8, such that it's messing even with games installed directly to C:\

Bryan, have you looked in [username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\ProgramFiles and [username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\ProgramData to see if there are any Oolite related files there? (you may have to set "Show Hidden Files and Folders" in "Folder Options" to be able to see the AppData folder)

The VirtualStore causes no end of problems under Vista/Win7/Win8 for games and game settings. It is often recommended for Win8 users to run a problematic game in Windows7 Compatibility mode, and as an Administrator. Any game files in the VirtualStore should be deleted or moved to another (preferred) folder, and the game restarted. It may also help to disable the User Account Control as well.

If you need more help with any of the above, don't hesitate to ask..

A way to further test this could be to copy the whole installation to a different drive or a memory stick and run it from there.
I hate Virtual Store with a vengeance, and you should hear what the security people at work have to say about it.......

[Bryanpoprobson]

This is more and more confusing; A clean installation works 100% ok including saves and loads. However I have made a copy of my (Competent) save file, when I add this file to the directory C:\oolite\oolite.app\oolite-saves\ the whole directory disappears from the load save files directory, I am unable to use the CTRL RTN function to scroll to any other directory.

I then clean installed again and put my file in a folder c:\tempsave directory. Oolite works 100% but the CTRL RTN option in Load files will not open the tempsave directory even though I can see it. I can't see how a file can directly affect the folder it's in

I'm not phased by starting the game again but this may occur with a future save.

[Diziet Sma]

This is sounding more and more like a VirtualStore problem. Bryan, see my post above, and try what it says.. let us know what you find.

[Bryanpoprobson]

The virtualstore is empty..

[Bryanpoprobson]

But there is a file relating to the save file in appdata\roaming

[Diziet Sma]

Ok.. well done for spotting that one.. that does seem to indicate it's security-related, if not exactly a VS thing.

From what I've read, while it's possible to mess with UAC settings etc, the most direct way around this may be to "Take Ownership" of the folder. What this does is directly bypass all the access controls that Windows uses and allows you to specify who may do what with a particular folder (or file).

Go to this site http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/28 ... s-8-a.html
and follow the directions to add the context-menu item 'Take Ownership' to your PC.

If you wish, to be absolutely sure, you can reinstall Oolite first, but either way, what you then do is right-click on the Oolite folder and select 'Take Ownership'. After you give permission for it to continue, a terminal window will open and lots of messages will scroll by as Windows modifies the permissions of every file and folder inside the Oolite folder. It may take a minute or so, but once the terminal window disappears, your username is now the designated owner of the Oolite folder and everything inside.

If your problems are permission related, this should solve things. Best of luck!

[JazHaz]

Have you tried searching the computer for files ending in ".oolite-save"?

[Bryanpoprobson]

Ok.. well done for spotting that one.. that does seem to indicate it's security-related, if not exactly a VS thing.

From what I've read, while it's possible to mess with UAC settings etc, the most direct way around this may be to "Take Ownership" of the folder. What this does is directly bypass all the access controls that Windows uses and allows you to specify who may do what with a particular folder (or file).

Go to this site http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/28 ... s-8-a.html
and follow the directions to add the context-menu item 'Take Ownership' to your PC.

If you wish, to be absolutely sure, you can reinstall Oolite first, but either way, what you then do is right-click on the Oolite folder and select 'Take Ownership'. After you give permission for it to continue, a terminal window will open and lots of messages will scroll by as Windows modifies the permissions of every file and folder inside the Oolite folder. It may take a minute or so, but once the terminal window disappears, your username is now the designated owner of the Oolite folder and everything inside.

If your problems are permission related, this should solve things. Best of luck!

In doing this, it makes no difference, the save and load work. But as soon as I put my old file in the oolite-saves dir, the load and save files and the folder disappear. If I make say a save folder and access it, it works. Again however when I move my file that whole folder becomes inaccessible.

[Diziet Sma]

Hmm.. I wonder if that specific old save-file is the culprit... Have you tried taking ownership of that single file as well?