Auto updates

[TopT]

I have a VASL save file and when I load it, it says that The game was saved with bd 39 6.1 and I am using bd 39 v6.0. "update failed" When I go to the VASL map site, the current bd 39 is 6.2.

What might be the problem with my auto update?

I am using 6.4.4 & 3.2.17

 

[jrv]

I have a VASL save file and when I load it, it says that The game was saved with bd 39 6.1 and I am using bd 39 v6.0. "update failed" When I go to the VASL map site, the current bd 39 is 6.2.

What might be the problem with my auto update?

I am using 6.4.4 & 3.2.17

If you are using windows and have your boards directory under c:\Program Files or c:\Program Files(x86), you have a permissions issue. See this for more information: http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/windows-and-vasl-6-4-3-automatic-map-download-and-update.149015/

JR

 

[A_T_Great]

I have a VASL save file and when I load it, it says that The game was saved with bd 39 6.1 and I am using bd 39 v6.0. "update failed" When I go to the VASL map site, the current bd 39 is 6.2.

What might be the problem with my auto update?

I am using 6.4.4 & 3.2.17

I am sure you do, but just to cover all bases, do you have an internet connection while it is trying to update?

 

[TopT]

If you are using windows and have your boards directory under c:\Program Files or c:\Program Files(x86), you have a permissions issue. See this for more information: http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/index.php?threads/windows-and-vasl-6-4-3-automatic-map-download-and-update.149015/

JR

This is my current path (to my maps), is this correct?

 

[TopT]

I am sure you do, but just to cover all bases, do you have an internet connection while it is trying to update?

I do

 

[jrv]

This is my current path (to my maps), is this correct?

View attachment 10232

That probably should work. It may still be a permissions issue but it is less likely. Have you double-checked that your vasl preferences are actually set there? If that is so, then you should check your vassal logs, on the vassal window (not the vasl window), help, show error log.

JR

 

[bprobst]

There certainly should be no permissions issues with putting VASL in your "Users" folder, but it's a horrible mistake regardless. MS, in it's infinite wisdom, makes the "users" folder (i.e., "your profile") the default location for just about everything (and many other software vendors follow suit). The result? Your "users" folder grows and grows and grows. The consequence of that is that your Windows slows and slows and slows. For extra bonus points, the larger your profile grows, the greater the likelihood that your profile will corrupt. And when that happens, say hello to "I get to rebuild all of my preferences from scratch" (unless you have backups etc.).

Any software package that asks for a Location to install data files: choose anywhere other than your profile (i.e., anywhere other than "C:\users"). Of course many packages will never ask, and many will store plenty of data in your profile no matter where you've chosen to put the "main" data files. (Note that I'm referring to data files and not program files. The latter will usually live in "C:\Program Files" or similar and that's perfectly fine. As JR points out, you absolutely don't want to put data files into the same folders as your program files for a whole host of reasons.)

Particularly common offenders: Outlook and iTunes, but there are no shortage of offenders out there. Fortunately, although VASSAL uses your profile location (I think that's enforced by Java), that's not a big deal; VASL will let you install your files anywhere at all. So do yourself a favour, create a "VASL" folder on your favourite hard disk and move everything there.

 

[TopT]

That probably should work. It may still be a permissions issue but it is less likely. Have you double-checked that your vasl preferences are actually set there? If that is so, then you should check your vassal logs, on the vassal window (not the vasl window), help, show error log.

JR

It was a permissions problem. I had to go the folder and change the permission and it auto updated. Thanks

 

[jrv]

It was a permissions problem. I had to go the folder and change the permission and it auto updated. Thanks

Unexpected by me because you moved the boards from c:\program files, but good you checked.

JR

 

[TopT]

Unexpected by me because you moved the boards from c:\program files, but good you checked.

JR

I had them in the users folder all the time. This is a new computer and Win10 sometimes does what it feels like. Thanks for the help though as it got me checking for a solution.

 

[jrv]

I had them in the users folder all the time. This is a new computer and Win10 sometimes does what it feels like. Thanks for the help though as it got me checking for a solution.

I saw you had them in a user's folder. It would be very unusual to have a user named "VASSAL Modules" however. I saw "users" but I didn't look at the user name.

JR

 

[zgrose]

BTW, if you include the Error Log from the VASSAL window, there are often tidbits to be found in there for the techies to look at.

 

[TopT]

BTW, if you include the Error Log from the VASSAL window, there are often tidbits to be found in there for the techies to look at.

My problem was with my permissions. I needed to go to my VASSAL folder and even though I was the administrator, I needed to grant permissions for apps and such to auto change things. That was what was stopping the map auto update.

A few years ago Uckelman told me where to install my VASSAL, under the users folder, in order to avoid problems (I have not had any prior to this) and that was before auto updates were available.

 

[jrv]

A few years ago Uckelman told me where to install my VASSAL, under the users folder, in order to avoid problems (I have not had any prior to this) and that was before auto updates were available.

Although under the users folder is the right general direction, I think what he had in mind is under your username. For instance if you are using a windows logon named TopT, a good place to put the maps would be c:\users\TopT\VASSAL Modules\... When you put the directory directly under c:\users, windows thinks that there is a user called "VASSAL Modules". Windows uses a combination of inheritance and applied permissions, so if you didn't apply any new permissions, this c:\users\VASSAL Modules directory would inherit all its permissions from c:\users. It would be unusual if c:\users granted many permissions to all users. If you created a directory under a specific user, TopT in my example, then you would probably have the right access rights.

JR

 

[zgrose]

My problem was with my permissions. I needed to go to my VASSAL folder and even though I was the administrator, I needed to grant permissions for apps and such to auto change things. That was what was stopping the map auto update.

A few years ago Uckelman told me where to install my VASSAL, under the users folder, in order to avoid problems (I have not had any prior to this) and that was before auto updates were available.

I know you found your solution. I'm trying to help you and others help us find the next solution for them.

Pictures with routing questions. The error log with VASSAL questions.

 

[TopT]

Although under the users folder is the right general direction, I think what he had in mind is under your username. For instance if you are using a windows logon named TopT, a good place to put the maps would be c:\users\TopT\VASSAL Modules\... When you put the directory directly under c:\users, windows thinks that there is a user called "VASSAL Modules". Windows uses a combination of inheritance and applied permissions, so if you didn't apply any new permissions, this c:\users\VASSAL Modules directory would inherit all its permissions from c:\users. It would be unusual if c:\users granted many permissions to all users. If you created a directory under a specific user, TopT in my example, then you would probably have the right access rights.

JR

"Ah, I see" said the blind man with the hammer and nails

 

[bprobst]

For instance if you are using a windows logon named TopT, a good place to put the maps would be c:\users\TopT\VASSAL Modules\...

No, it isn't, per my post above. Windows puts an unbelievable amount of crap into your c:\users folder without you asking it to; don't compound the problem by voluntarily putting stuff there as well.

 

[jrv]

No, it isn't, per my post above. Windows puts an unbelievable amount of crap into your c:\users folder without you asking it to; don't compound the problem by voluntarily putting stuff there as well.

Unless you are installing multiple physical hard drives, all of your files go somewhere on the same hard drive. Windows folders organize files into groups called folders for you. The OS itself can't care less if the files are each in an individual folder, or if they are grouped ten in each folder, or they are all in a single folder. There are space implications for having a lot of folders because each folder takes up a certain amount of disk space, but not performance issues.

One thing that might cause performance issues is the "roaming" profile. If you have your computers in an active directory or kerberos domain and log in as a active directory or kerberos domain user (and not a local user on the local machine), the OS synchronizes the data in the roaming profile onto the network. If you have a large amount of files and/or data in the roaming profile and/or a slow or congested network, this might cause problems (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaming_user_profile#Limitations). If you have not set up an active directory or kerberos domain or are not logging in as a roaming user, you should see no performance difference. I think that most home users do not set up interdomain-roaming, and this should not be an issue. If you have set up roaming profiles then you should be careful where you put the vasl files so that they are not in the roaming profile. As I understand it, by default the roaming profile does not include the entire user profile (under c:\users\<name>), and something like c:\users\<name>\VASSAL Modules should not be part of the roaming profile. You would have to use a tool like group policy editor to verify this for your particular network, of course.

Or do you have some other known issue in mind?

JR

 

[Paul M. Weir]

To expand on what jrv posted:

All files on a single disk have an entry in a single master index file, no matter what directory they are in. The directories themselves are (special) files and are also entered in that master file. It is possible to have a file in the master index but not in a directory, though that is an error that chkdsk will fix by putting any un-directoried file in a (newly created) "found" folder. Assuming no errors, a file will be listed twice, master and directory.

The user has no control over the size of the master file list (every file will be there), but can decide to limit the number of files in his/her created directory (Windows and SW packages make their own choices, usually with little user input). Breaking up user files into multiple directories can have advantages, but the main one is ease for the user to find the approximate location when sorting in own his/her head. The complexity and thus overhead for the PC to find a file goes up roughly with the logarithm of the number of files in the master index and containing directory, IE not too fast. Some earlier versions of operating systems on older, slower machines were helped by keeping the number of user files in a directory down, but these days it's much less of a problem. The main advantage is you are not faced by an endless wall of files when looking in a directory, IE easier on your eyes and your head.

There is another aspect - the brand new PC/laptop. My current laptop had a SSD drive as "C:" (118 Gb) and a traditional hard drive (919 Gb). When setting up my user account, it put the base user directories on the C drive. As the C drive had all the Windows stuff, there was limited available space. Windows does have the functionality to redirect the user file directories like "Music", "Documents", etc to another drive and I moved most to the D drive. I left a few including the AppData (used mainly for application working disk space) on the C drive for speed as those didn't use much disk space.

Having most of your user files on another disk than the system (C drive not only means that you are less likely to fill up your system drive, but the system drive will always be the busiest and by splitting operating system/SW packages on one and user files on another means that the two disks can work in parallel. Your PC can be reading, say, a video file (on the D drive) at the same time it is paging (on the C drive) rather than waiting for one to finish before doing the other. In slack times there will be little difference but at busy times it can make a great difference.

While I haven't done it much, it is possible to have a file referenced in 2 or more directories. Put the file in the first then create a short cut to that file in the other directory/directories. Ditto for directories. I have a contacts directory on my C: drive (C:\users\paul\contacts) in my user base directory (C:\users\paul) and also a shortcut in my D: drive documents directory (D:\users\paul\documents) to that directory. That's purely to make it easier for me to find.

In summary, having multiple user directories will likely give you a small performance boost but what does give you a real boost is to spread your user files over multiple drives.

 

[bprobst]

Unless you are installing multiple physical hard drives, all of your files go somewhere on the same hard drive.

Yes. What has that got to do with anything I posted?

Or do you have some other known issue in mind?

Perhaps you might care to do some research on "user profiles" in Windows.

Unrestricted bloating of an individual user's profile in Windows (any version since Windows NT) leads to a general slowdown of Windows, in particular a slow down in loading time. It significantly increases the probability of the profile becoming corrupted, which can really ruin your day.

Don't voluntarily save files in your c:\users\<username> folder. That includes: don't save files on your desktop. For the love of God don't create folders on your desktop. (Shortcuts are fine on the desktop; just put the actual files somewhere else.) Don't save files in your "Documents", "Pictures", "Videos" or "Music" folders (many programs will dump files there regardless; move them; many programs, although they will default to these folders, allow you to alter the preferences to select alternate locations). And don't install VASL files there.

The only reason not to follow the above advice is if you share the PC with other users (who don't have local administrator privileges), and you don't want them to be able to access your files (and you don't have an alternate location, e.g., a private folder on a network share).

Now, even if you follow the above advice to the absolute limit, your user profile will bloat, because Windows. That's not a reason to voluntarily contribute to the issue.