Alert: Unable to load character def

[pr1983]

(sorry if this has been addressed somewhere else, i couldn't seem to find it)

Right, basically, up until today, my FFVTR was working fine, i was adding powers and meshes with very little trouble (thanks to the fine folks on this forum).

i had my cyclops in, so i needed someone for him to fight. i went and got the SentinelsFX pack, and went about installing it, as a sentinel that can't fight back is kind of redundant.

after having trouble locating where the sounds go in ffx3, i decided to put the sounds in the actual ff sound folder.

tried to load the game, got the message:

'Alert: Unable to load character def'

so i said ok, i made a mess of it, and uninstalled the game, deleting the users folder and the program files folder. not the actual ones, just the ffvtr ones in those sections.

did a fresh install, then installed ezfx 6.0 and then ffx3. then the modtools. i tried to start the game using the ffx3 shortcut, but for some reason, i keep getting the message, even though a fresh install usually works fine. i have no idea what's going on...

any help would prevent my head from exploding...

[Previsionary]

iirc, that means either the character.dat or object.dat is corrupt. I don't know if you added anything, but I'd suggest trying to use a fresh copy of those files just to see if the game loads. ffx3 (.2+) should have copies of those files in its folder and those files are also on the game cd...or should be.

When you jump into something, you really jump in, eh? :P

[pr1983]

yeah lol...

i dunno how to fix that, though... i mean, shouldn't a fresh install do the job?

[pr1983]

sorry, double post...

ok, i installed the game. it worked fine.

then i installed ezfx 6.0, and again, it worked fine.

then i installed ffx 3.2, then 3.3. then i got the error message again. this has happened when i've just installed 3.3 and not 3.2 as well.

i went into the freedom force data folder, and copied both the objects.dat and characters.dat files, and pasted them into the ffx3 folder. still the same problem.

i like ffx, and i'd hate to not be able to use it...

edit: ok, the weirdest bloody thing just happened. i set the ffx 3 shortcut to run as administrator. and its working now... :blink:

[Previsionary]

glad you got it working. It probably didint have permission to access something. As a side note...you only need to install the "full" version of ffx 3.3. No need to install ffx 3.2 then 3.3. Tis redundant.

[pr1983]

ah...

now my rumble room is freezing... it gets to 'loaded 395 of 433 objects' and then clams up...

it works on ff normally, but when i try to load it in ffx 3 with a custom character, it freezes... grr.

edit: uninstalled ffx 3, and reinstalled. works now.

if this game was a person, i'd have bathleth'd the hell out of it by now...

[Epimethee]

Interesting. Everyone on Vista seems to have a different bug.  Sigh. Which version of Vista are you using? Specifically US or international and 32-bit or 64? Is Vista forcing the game to use virtual folders (I know this description might be vague, but I don't use Vista).

Where are your custom characters stored? Des it work correctly for a custom if the mesh use the old FF1-type path (e.g., C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters)?

Is it always choking on the same objects in ff.log? (Posting the last few lines of ff.log and script.log for crashing missions would help.)

[pr1983]

i have home premium (32 bit). i'm in ireland, and bought it here, so european i assume...

i use the 'c: \users\paul (yeah, thats my name)\appdata\local\irrational games\custom\art\library\characters' path. i havent tried the other one, tbh...

as of last night, it seemed to be working.

i havent even played the single player missions as yet... i buy ff for the modding more than i do the single player campaign, though i'm sure i'll get to it eventually...

if it crashes, though, i'll be right back here lol...

no choking as yet, though if you tell me exactly what you want posted, i'd be happy to...

[Epimethee]

> i'm in ireland, and bought it here, so european i assume...
The few tidbits I've gleaned are rather contradictory, but, for example, the UK version seems to place some files in a different location from the French one.  :huh:

> no choking as yet, though if you tell me exactly what you want posted, i'd be happy to...
The basic debugging info is in C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\ff.log and script.log. Right after a crash from a FFX3 mission, please copy at least the last dozen of lines from and each file and post them along with as much info as you can think of.

[pr1983]

once i play a mission and it actually crashes, i will lol...

i originally bought the digital jesters version, but i couldnt get that to work at all, so i went back and bought the xplosive version, which seems to be working fine...

but anyways, ff.log:

00:00:05.80: FF: CInterpreter::init() completed
00:00:05.80: FF: Py_GetPath(.\System;.\System\PythonLib;.\Data\Missions\Scripts;C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich\temp;C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\FFvTTR\.\ffx3\missions\scripts;)
00:00:05.81: FF: Py_GetProgramFullPath(C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\FFvTTR\ffvt3r.exe)
Startup Plugin 'a_recordsession' imported
Startup Plugin 'pypathpriority' imported
loading datfiles version 0.256000
loading cshelper ...
00:00:53.18: FF: CObjectTemplateDataMgr::term()
00:00:53.18: FF: CRpgImp::saveCharacterCostCache: Cache file: characterCache.dat has been saved.

and script log:

>>> C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich\temp\massacre_team.py executed
>>> def MP_IsTeamGame():
    pass

>>> def MP_GetShortDescription():
    pass

>>> def MP_GetLongDescription():
    pass

>>> def MP_IsStoryModeOnly():
    pass

>>> def MP_IsLeaderGame():
    pass

>>> def MP_NeedsTargetChoice():
    pass

>>> C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich\temp\tag.py executed

no idea what any of it means, to be honest... anything else you need, lemme know...

[Epimethee]

Well, if these lines are the last ones before your FFX game crashes, FFX per se doesn't even get to really load.

There are two possible remedies I think of:
1. Move your c:\users\paul\appdata\local\irrational games\Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich\custom\art\library\characters custom meshes to C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\Custom\Art\library\characters (ignore the path I gave you earlier)

2. Delete or, better, move somewhere else the files inside c:\users\paul\appdata\local\irrational games\Freedom Force vs the 3rd reich\settings and c:\users\paul\appdata\local\irrational games\Freedom Force vs the 3rd reich\temp. N.B.: You will lose any configuration info (resolution, sound, etc.) stored in options.dat.

If it doesn't work, please check if your log files are the same each time it crashes. Otherwise, hopefully someone else here will have a solution.

[pr1983]

hmm... well luckily, it hasnt crashed in a while, so i'm doing ok... if it does, i'll be right back here lol...