Having an issue with the Dinant board

[John Fedoriw]

Hi gents,

I recently upgraded to VASSAL 3.6.5 and VASL 6.6.3.1 and find that since then VASL only intermittently recognizes the Dinant board. It seems to try and update the board and then hangs up there. I then opened another saved game file and it loaded up OK.

I had Dinant loaded up on VASL 6.6.3.1 last week. Does anyone have any ideas of what may the problem here?

Here is the VASSAL error log from the last time I tried to load it. I attached it down below:

Thanks,
John

 

[ColinJ]

It could be that VASL 6.6.3.1 has only been tested with VASSAL 3.6.0. A change in later versions of VASSAL up to 3.6.5 may be the issue.

 

[zgrose]

Not sure why you're getting this particular error:
2022-03-22 18:30:33,231 [11692-Thread-0] WARN VASSAL.tools.ErrorDialog - Source: bdDinant Error: Unable to open board file
2022-03-22 18:40:57,726 [11692-Thread-0] ERROR VASSAL.tools.ProblemDialog -
java.util.zip.ZipException: zip END header not found


But, I can see from your log that you have a bunch of 'garbage' in your extensions folder and I wonder if the same holds true for your boards folder.

Specifically:
2022-03-22 18:29:41,926 [11692-AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO VASSAL.build.module.ExtensionsLoader - Loading extension C:\Program Files\VASSAL-3.6.5\VASL\Extensions\BFP.mdx
2022-03-22 18:29:42,254 [11692-AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO VASSAL.build.module.ExtensionsLoader - Extension BFP v2.0 loaded
2022-03-22 18:29:42,254 [11692-AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO VASSAL.build.module.ExtensionsLoader - Loading extension C:\Program Files\VASSAL-3.6.5\VASL\Extensions\BFP_v403.vmdx
2022-03-22 18:29:42,895 [11692-AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO VASSAL.build.module.ExtensionsLoader - Extension BFP_v403 v4.03 loaded
2022-03-22 18:29:42,895 [11692-AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO VASSAL.build.module.ExtensionsLoader - Loading extension C:\Program Files\VASSAL-3.6.5\VASL\Extensions\BFP_v403.zip
2022-03-22 18:29:43,614 [11692-AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO VASSAL.build.module.ExtensionsLoader - Extension BFP_v403 v4.03 loaded
2022-03-22 18:29:43,614 [11692-AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO VASSAL.build.module.ExtensionsLoader - Extension Id for BFP_v403.zip (adf) conflicts with previously loaded extension C:\Program Files\VASSAL-3.6.5\VASL\Extensions\BFP_v403.vmdx
2022-03-22 18:29:43,629 [11692-AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO VASSAL.build.module.ExtensionsLoader - Loading extension C:\Program Files\VASSAL-3.6.5\VASL\Extensions\BFPv5.01.vmdx
2022-03-22 18:29:45,295 [11692-AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO VASSAL.build.module.ExtensionsLoader - Extension BFPv5.01 v5.01 loaded


The BFP extensions are meant to replace previous versions.

Also, you have the zip file and the (v)mdx files in the folder too:
Loading extension C:\Program Files\VASSAL-3.6.5\VASL\Extensions\Kreta.mdx
Extension Kreta v5.8.1 loaded
Loading extension C:\Program Files\VASSAL-3.6.5\VASL\Extensions\Kreta.zip
Extension Kreta v5.8.1 loaded

You should remove the *.zip files from the extensions folder (and maybe the boards folder?).

I also looks like you're installing all your VASL stuff into C:\Program Files\VASSAL-3.6.5\VASL\... which can sometimes trigger folder permissions issues.


Perhaps Doug will chime in with some more specifics to try. My suggestion would be to reset your boards to be something like
C:\Users\JohnF\VASL\boards
and see if a fresh start under your user folder sorts things out.

 

[John Fedoriw]

But, I can see from your log that you have a bunch of 'garbage' in your extensions folder and I wonder if the same holds true for your boards folder.

Thanks for the help Zoltan. My boards folder is actually pretty clean. No .zip files in there, just bdxx files, a pdf and 2 txt files. I will try resetting the boards to C:\Users\JohnF\VASL\boards

 

[John Fedoriw]

I tried resetting the boards to C:\Users\JohnF\VASL\boards & it didn't work.

 

[DougRim]

I have looked at the log file and can't add anything beyond what Zoltan said.

I have tried loading bdDinant with VASL6.63.3.1 and VASSAL3.6.5. Worked just fine. In my case, I was starting a new game. I see from your logfile that you were trying to open existing games that use Dinant. Did you try open it by starting a new game?

My only suggestion would be to revert to the previous version of VASSAL that you were using. Remember that you can have more than one VASSAL version installed.

VASL6.6.4 will launch in early April. Along with it will come a new los-enabled version of the Dinant board. It has been working fine on my machine. So help is on the way.

 

[uckelman]

2022-03-22 18:30:33,231 [11692-Thread-0] WARN VASSAL.tools.ErrorDialog - Source: bdDinant Error: Unable to open board file
2022-03-22 18:40:57,726 [11692-Thread-0] ERROR VASSAL.tools.ProblemDialog -
java.util.zip.ZipException: zip END header not found

This indicates that the file containing that board is corrupt. These are downloaded automatically if not present, right? A likely cause is a truncated download. I'd remove that file and try again.

 

[John Fedoriw]

I want to thank everyone for all your help. The ASL community is really great that way.

I have tried loading bdDinant with VASL6.63.3.1 and VASSAL3.6.5. Worked just fine. In my case, I was starting a new game. I see from your logfile that you were trying to open existing games that use Dinant. Did you try open it by starting a new game?

I don't remember exactly now but I think I tried opening Dinant by a new game yesterday and it didn't work. I tried again today and it did. So then I tried opening an existing game with it and that worked! This is weird.

This indicates that the file containing that board is corrupt. These are downloaded automatically if not present, right? A likely cause is a truncated download. I'd remove that file and try again.

You cannot get the Dinant board on the VASL downloads page. I asked my opponent to send me a copy of his Dinant bd in case mine is corrupted. Maybe that will be a permanent fix.