Dat files dont exist

[Dnixon]

I thought it was the hidden attributes that were giving me the extracting diff file error but now what I am noticing is that when I am using VP to patch and I bring in V1.0 and v1.1 they both have dat files that dont exist. I have all my folder settings to show hidden files and folders and everything but in my
v1.0 there is an ap33.dat showing in the VP but in the actual folder it doesnt not exist and the same with v1.1 ap37.dat.

So i tried deleting ap37.dat from v1.1 and it patches fine and fixes it. I checked all my other programs and all the VP have the same "non-existant" dat files except they are all patching fine. I have yet to figure out why they patch with the "non-existant" dat files and my other two programs say diff file cant extract.

[jassing]

Could it be that the "failure to patch" had the .dat files set as a key file?

[Dnixon]

No they werent set as key files. You have to manually select key files and the main point is that these files do not exist on my computer and I'm not sure where VP is getting them from.

[jassing]

Hmm. I've never seen it just "create" a file reference on it's own.....
I guess I'm out of ideas... Sorry.

[Lorne]

Are you using any folder references in Visual Patch?

[jassing]

Are you using any folder references in Visual Patch?

I thought that too - -however, the fact that the OP said that the .dat files was removed from the project; it says to me that the answer to that is "No"

My gut is that the .dat existed initially; but then was removed later.....

[Dnixon]

Are you using any folder references in Visual Patch?

I'm not sure what you mean by folder references and no the file did not exist originally. I went looking through all my projects and VP does this with all of them. One project that works when patched & has never had any issues has the same "non-existant" dat files. In VP I have v1.0 to v1.7 and in every version there is an ap26.dat but in my actual files folder there is no ap26.dat.

For some reason on two of my projects I had to remove this "non-existant" file to get them to patch and they work just fine, so far.

[Lorne]

Hmmm...the file wouldn't get added to Visual Patch if it wasn't present at the time. Could it be that the file is getting deleted from the folder some time after you add the files to your Visual Patch project?

[Dnixon]

No the files dont exist at all. I have checked all of my applications and all of them have this mysterious nonexistant file. It isnt in my physical folder but appears in VP.

[Lorne]

Go to that folder in Windows.
Choose Tools > Options from the menu.
Click the View tab.
Under Advanced settings, make sure you have "Hide protected operating system files" disabled and "Show hidden files and folders" enabled.

[Dnixon]

Ok so now those "nonexistant" files exist. So how come my diff files wont extract unless I delete this hidden file?

[Lorne]

I don't know. I haven't been able to reproduce this behaviour.

Would you be able to send us the problematic project file?

[Dnixon]

I found the files. I had to change my folder options view. I unchecked the Hide Protected operating system files and I can see the misterious files but I am still having the extracting diff issue even after clearing the cache and everything. I still have to delete that last hidden file to get my patch to work.

[Canter]

I've mentioned this same problem previously. What worked for me was changing the parameters of the dif files so that they are neither hidden nor system. You need to do that from the Windows command prompt - navigate to the folder with the dat files, and use attrib -h -s ap39.dat (or whatever the file name is). It seems that I always have one dat file generated by AMS with this problem. I suspect it's generated from a plugin, but which one or why, I dont know.

Larry

[Dnixon]

Havent tried this but I will. Im just curious why deleting it fixes the patching problem and doesnt cause any erros with the program. If i dont need that dat file why create it & hide it?

[Canter]

I don't know, but you can reset the attributes of that dat file in post patch if necessary.