Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

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BlaZ
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Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

Post by BlaZ »

I have a recurring problem where random CNF or Menu Edits will cause the Farwest Trivia "BEST" Scores (the All-Time High Score List) to become corrupted. The top score on that list is normally like 3206. But after the corruption, all twenty of the scores on that list are over 1 billion points.

The only way I have found to fix this is to restore the entire WGSERV directory from a backup. Just replacing all the Farwest files does not work. The scores become corrupt as soon as you startup the WG server once the corruption has begun.

I have also tried the "Restore File Integrity If Questionable" option in Offline Utilities. That will sometimes change the corrupt scores to a different number but not the correct number. Or it will do nothing at all. But it has never fixed the issue.

My question is.... is there a way to fix this quickly without doing a whole restore and losing all changes made? Does anybody else even have this problem?

Thanks for any help anybody can provide.

Brian / BlaZ -- The Penalty Box

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BlaZ
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Re: Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

Post by BlaZ »

UPDATE!!!


Thanks to Frank Dux for his working ironing this one out for me. Seems that either the client app compressor or some other process that runs after CNF or Menu Tree changes was corrupting the trivia scores .DAT file.

Creating a backup copy of FW_FTUSR.DAT and replacing the corrupt file with it fixes this issue every time.

Thanks, Frank!!!

BlaZ

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Frank Dux
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Re: Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

Post by Frank Dux »

No problem Blaz,

Just came here to post the fix. Glad it helped you.

I only started having this problem yesterday. Unfortunately it was only after I had changed quite a few things at once:
- Added modules
- Changed Menus
- Posted in forum
- Adjusted a Poll
- Modified TXT files
- Modified ANS files

All normal things. Loaded board up - religiously check FW_Trivia score - and for the first time in 2 years there it was 6547373453(or there abouts).

*Restored from backup:*

Threw in the 3 menu files, 2 poll files, the TXTs, the ANSs, but no modules yet. Loaded all the CNF to tinker, loaded the Menu Editor - made a simple change to a page: enable GO, save/close, reopen, disable GO, save/close.

Loaded board - and everything was fine! Score was 10!

THEN because the missing modules came up when you loaded the menu editor (from the restore) - all I needed was to just put the files in. Dropped only 1 module in - loaded board and there was the corrupt score.

*Restored from 2 backups ago:*

Same steps, same results.

*The Fix*

What I noticed was that any time I added a module and started the board, I watched all the DAT files changing as the board went through it's startup process - the compression, the module checking and loading, all that other magic etc. And that automated process was/is doing something that modifies *_some thing else_* that affects the FW_Trivia Highest score. Dug deeper and the FW_FTHGH.TXT was correct, although the FW_FTHGH.DAT was modified - so turned to the FW_FTUSR.DAT file and noticed it too was being updated.

There was no way around it - when the board does it's startup cycle - it affects something. So I let the board do it's thing with all the changes and let the corrupt score occur, then took the board down and copied over the single FW_FTUSR.DAT file from last good backup - which does not initiate that pre-startup cycle and the board came up. Scores were back to normal! Tested everything - even took the score from 10 to 15. Counts were consistent.

I probably don't know enough of what's occurring under the hood during that startup process but it only seems to affect FW_Trivia All time highest scorer.

I can do a reset for a score of 10, but for board's like Blaz's - that's gotta sting. And then the issue might occur again?

Not sure what's going on but I've tried to document the steps I traced in a bid that other's might be able to retrace or discover something else to assist if they start having the issue themselves.

daniel_spain
Posts: 395
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:39 am

Re: Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

Post by daniel_spain »

BlaZ wrote:
> I have a recurring problem where random CNF or Menu Edits will cause the
> Farwest Trivia "BEST" Scores (the All-Time High Score List) to
> become corrupted. The top score on that list is normally like 3206. But
> after the corruption, all twenty of the scores on that list are over 1
> billion points.
>
> The only way I have found to fix this is to restore the entire WGSERV
> directory from a backup. Just replacing all the Farwest files does not
> work. The scores become corrupt as soon as you startup the WG server once
> the corruption has begun.
>
> I have also tried the "Restore File Integrity If Questionable"
> option in Offline Utilities. That will sometimes change the corrupt scores
> to a different number but not the correct number. Or it will do nothing at
> all. But it has never fixed the issue.
>
> My question is.... is there a way to fix this quickly without doing a whole
> restore and losing all changes made? Does anybody else even have this
> problem?
>
> Thanks for any help anybody can provide.
>
> Brian / BlaZ -- The Penalty Box

run WGSRIDX this will restore file integrity keep in mind when doing this large databases will take a few minutes.

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Frank Dux
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Re: Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

Post by Frank Dux »

This actually didn't work for me - after I got the board to the way it should be - with menus and content (but without the module files themselves) - I went and did this - restored file integrity which hits the DATs as well as the other files.

Ran fine - no issues.

Then copy and pasted a single module across (Cross Country Camel was my example for most cases, ThinkDice for 2-3 attempts).

Then when you bring the board up it processes the new .MCVs, .MSGs, .VIR to .DAT I'm guessing being first time, and MDFs. Something is happening at this point, causing the FW score to jump up.

When you dont change anything, nothing additional gets processed during startup which is why I got the idea of replacing a working file with one that got messed up during the last startup. And after that the board functions normal after any additional shutdown/startup/cleanup. Been fine for 3 days.

I've been adding modules and making system changes in bulk for the last 2 years I've been running but this is the first time I've come across this.

Need to add some more today so I will keep an eye on what happens with them too.

daniel_spain
Posts: 395
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:39 am

Re: Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

Post by daniel_spain »

Frank Dux wrote:
> This actually didn't work for me - after I got the board to the way it
> should be - with menus and content (but without the module files
> themselves) - I went and did this - restored file integrity which hits the
> DATs as well as the other files.
>
> Ran fine - no issues.
>
> Then copy and pasted a single module across (Cross Country Camel was my
> example for most cases, ThinkDice for 2-3 attempts).
>
> Then when you bring the board up it processes the new .MCVs, .MSGs, .VIR to
> .DAT I'm guessing being first time, and MDFs. Something is happening at
> this point, causing the FW score to jump up.
>
> When you dont change anything, nothing additional gets processed during
> startup which is why I got the idea of replacing a working file with one
> that got messed up during the last startup. And after that the board
> functions normal after any additional shutdown/startup/cleanup. Been fine
> for 3 days.
>
> I've been adding modules and making system changes in bulk for the last 2
> years I've been running but this is the first time I've come across this.
>
> Need to add some more today so I will keep an eye on what happens with them
> too.

I actually have a trivia module I been working on. I’ll locate it sometime next week and you can check it out.

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Frank Dux
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Re: Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

Post by Frank Dux »

That sounds great! Thank you.

daniel_spain
Posts: 395
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:39 am

Re: Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

Post by daniel_spain »

Frank Dux wrote:
> That sounds great! Thank you.

do you have active players? if so get some input on features. i created 3...

Arctic Trivia - was like farwest trivia, a teleconference-like addon with actions, telecon commands, teleop commands all while displaying questions which you got points for answering.

Tournament Trivia - an addon i built for a bar years ago to display on small terminals that just displayed questions and you answered and it stored your points.

Global Trivia - an addon that displayed questions to all online and they could answer from anywhere on the system.

Questman
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Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2020 2:12 pm
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Re: Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

Post by Questman »

There are so many trivia modules out there. The biggest issue is getting better trivia data. I have triviadb.com but have yet to do anything with it :)
Founder, The Major BBS Restoration Project
Owner, Elwynor Technologies ISV
Former Owner, Galacticomm IP (2005-2020)
Contributor, Galacticomm IP baseline

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Frank Dux
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Re: Farwest Trivia Scores File Corrupted!

Post by Frank Dux »

I am quite attached to my Trivia at the moment; I have updated Categories such as The Office, Seinfeld, Marvel and many more bringing the questions more in line with at least the noughties.

My Trivia score no longer breaks after moving to PSQL.

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