gamedata folder contents (v32 game install bug)

I tried to find a thread for this subject so forgive me if one already exists.

There is a bug when adding some v32 games into the Arcade, i finally discovered the nature of the problem after reading a post by Mys in this thread:
http://www.ibpdownloads.com/ipb/inde...howtopic=13297

If you find a lot of v32 games are no longer working or scores aren't submitted and you know that they used to work, take a look at your gamedata folder! I had installed a bunch of new games and if you add some particular v32 games, the install will work but ALL of the previous folders inside your gamedata folder will be deleted.

I discovered that when you automatically batch install a bunch of v32 games, all of the gamedata folders for the new games are properly added so you don't have to add them one at a time, but as noted earlier, any existing gamedata folders will be deleted during the install process by some v32 games. The renaming of the gamedata folder prior to installing the v32 games works great!

Back Up Your gamedata folder!!!!

1) Rename your gamedata folder on the server to anything else (ie:gamedatatemp)
2) Create a new gamedata folder and set permissions to 777
3) Upload your v32 tar files to the tar folder
4) Install the new games
5) Move the newly created folders from your gamedata folder into the old one (gamedatatemp)
6) Rename or delete your new gamedata folder, it should be empty!
7) Rename your old gamedata folder (gamedatatemp) back to gamedata.

Hope that makes sense, this is quite painless and you don't need to re-upload a backup of the gamedata contents.

[MrZeropage]

Ok, how many games did you install when this appears ?

Maybe you can send me all those game-archives to examine them and try to re-produce this error - and then to fix it ... ?

[Mys]

Originally Posted by MrZeropage

Ok, how many games did you install when this appears ?

Maybe you can send me all those game-archives to examine them and try to re-produce this error - and then to fix it ... ?

Do you mean the tar files? I can either tell you which games I installed off of ibpArcade or somehow email the actual tar files. I attempted to install about 10 games (via ftp) last eve and while using the installer (in AdminCP) , the gamedata folder went poof.

[ChicagoCoin]

Thanks for the information Mys!

I thought my troubles were over regarding the missing gamedata folder content but I'm still in the process of moving games into categories and this process is requiring me to play them.

Prior to reading the nature of this problem, I must have experienced it another time, was unaware and didn't have a complete backup of the gamedata folder because I'm finding a lot of v32 games that don't work because the tar files gamedata information for the game wasn't in the servers gamedata folder. To get them working all you have to do is upload the tar files gamedata contents but this is a huge pain, i might have hundreds of these games that are installed and don't work!

Just wondering if a future version could contain a script or something to identify installed v32 games that are missing gamedata folders, don't know if thats even possible but i still love the Arcade.
:up:

[Mys]

You are welcome! I am in that same boat. I have exactly the same issue, discovered it all a few months back when games that used to score were being reported as no scores. Hence why I went on this quest to figure out what went wrong and discovered the elusive gamedata folder disappearances. I have been very vigilant since, extracting the gamedata folder and keeping my backups (hard drive & server), in synch and up to date. But yes, it is tedious work at best

[ChicagoCoin]

Just an update to my testing and progress regarding this problem.

I successfully installed 58 new v32 games automatically and didn't have a problem with disappearing gamedatafolder contents.

The ongoing process of fixing previously installed v32 games that were not working due to a prior problem with the disappearing gamedata folder contents:

178 Games fixed by uploading their gamedata folder!
My gamedata folder now contains folders for 1,214 games.

[boatswife]

Thank you!

I just uploaded a missing gamedata file and now that game is back to submitting scores. The game was submitting a 0 for the score only after I uploaded some new games.

[ChicagoCoin]

Originally Posted by boatswife

Thank you!

I just uploaded a missing gamedata file and now that game is back to submitting scores. The game was submitting a 0 for the score only after I uploaded some new games.

The first time this happened to me i had to restore over 800 folders that were deleted from a backup, since my last update I've installed another 30 games without experiencing this problem so I've edited the first post in this thread. Just wondering if you installed a whole bunch of games at the time this happened or if it can be narrowed down to a likely suspect?

[Mys]

I have 3400+ games. About ? are v32. I just keep the gamedata and back up, up to date because I am never certain when it will poof. It did earlier today when I accidentally installed a game I meant to delete. It is fairly painless if I continue to do the maintenance. I still love my tempermental arcade mod

[boatswife]

I don't know a whole lot, but I can't figure out why it did that either. I just uploaded a bunch of random games, they were submitting scores and then the next day.....poof! LOL The games were no longer keeping score.

Thankfully I only had around 300 games that I had to re-do. Now I backup the gamedata files like you said and add to that file with each game that I add on. That was a pain having to go through every single game file, I don't ever want to be in that position again.

I agree, I love the arcade mod and my members sure do too!

[Mys]

It is truly a mystery. I'm just glad I figured a way around the poof problem. I don't think it is necessarily a specific game(s) that knock out the gamedata folder. It's in the installer somehow. Oddly enough, since I have been installing only v32 it happens less often then it did when I was installing v2 and v32 together.