Invalid Database error

[ajmh]

I am 3 seasons into a custom game in FM6.

My computer was shut down improperly in the middle of a game.

When I restarted and attempted to reload the saved game I got an "Invalid Database Error" and I am unable to reload the saved game.

Please help.

This is urgent as FM6 is the only thing keeping me sane during COVID-19.

AH

[ajmh]

I have attempted to paste over with the rolling saves and that was unsuccessful.

I have now zipped and posted the league file to the ftp site.

The file name is "fix2".

I have no doubt that the file is corrupted but I am hoping the data can be saved somehow.

AH

[JeffR]

Getting the error here, too, but I don't see any files that have been completely wiped out, so it doesn't look like the typical interrupted save that's corrupted beyond hope. I'll have Sebastian and Malte take a look and see if there's something simple that can be fixed to restore it.

[ajmh]

Thank you so much.

I was able to start a new custom game with a start year of 2022, and copy over all the player data from the fic2 database.

It seems to work so far.

Although I would appreciate it tremendously if you could come up with a more elegant solution.

Thanks again for any help you are able to provide.

[JeffR]

Looks like the only file that's broken is continents.dat, which isn't going to be any different from one save to another - just copy that one from your new save to the old one, and it should load properly. I just tried it, and it worked.

[ajmh]

Thanks.
However I have found there are a few problems with my approach, likely the result of when the in-game crash occurred, which was right around the NHL draft and the end of the 2021-2022 season.

The new save game starts July 1, 2022.

As a result:
1. No 2022 draft occurs
2. Players who were scheduled to be free agents in 2022-2023 have all had their contracts extended a year. (Possibly all contracts got extended a year.)

Both of these are correctable with the editor, but it takes time, and still appears to cause some issues with the 2023 draft and 2023-2024 free agency class. (I have done some tests where I have just simmed ahead to the 2023 draft to see what would happen.)

Are any other solutions possible that could restore the Fix2 game instead of having to create a new game?

Such as maybe deleting the continents.dat file from Fix2 completely (would it error or generate a new file?) or copying and pasting the continents.dat file from a working save over the Fix2 file?

Just curious if those options or something else would work to make Fix2 a valid database again.

If not I can live with having to edit a new game somewhat and suffering an odd year or two.

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks again for all your help.

AH

[ajmh]

LOL

Reading comprehension is fundamental.

My bad. I just re-read your post and understand that was exactly what you were proposing.

I will try tonight when I get home.

Thanks again.

AH

[ajmh]

So good news and bad news.

Good news:
Replacing continents.dat did make the database valid and accessible again.

Bad news:
It is now a single player game that is no longer an online league. Previously I had been playing it as an online league with 32 managers (including a commissioner) all controlled by me.

No idea how this would happen.

Is there any way to fix it?

Thanks again for all your help.

AH

[JeffR]

Sounds like the game settings file was damaged as well. Try this: start a new online game (format doesn't matter, it just needs to be online) and then copy the game_settings.dat file into your old save, replacing the one that's there, then restart the game and load it. It should give you access to the multiplayer functions again.

[ajmh]

It looks like that did it.

Awesome!

Thank you soooooo much!

AH