File Corrupted, Maybe?

[ywkls]

So, my computer shut down randomly and when I reloaded ZQuest, my quest's header file is apparently damaged. I had just recently saved, but at the time this occurred ZC itself was in the process of shutting down so I don't know if that caused it or not.

I thankfully only lost about 3 days of progress, but given the incredibly complex scripting stuff I've been doing, that's still a lot of work.

Here's the quest file- https://www.dropbox.com/s/a7m2a2xplirketl/metroid3_bug.qst?dl=0

Please let me know if it's a lost cause or not.

[Saffith]

Do you have backups and/or timed saves enabled? If so, the most recent (not highest-numbered) .qt* or .qb* file should be virtually the same.

[ZoriaRPG]

Saffith: What precisely did you use to restore corrupted quest headers in the past? Did you assemble a toolkit do to that, or did you manually edit the binary files somehow?

[ywkls]

Do you have backups and/or timed saves enabled? If so, the most recent (not highest-numbered) .qt* or .qb* file should be virtually the same.

For the most part, I find the quest backup options to be more annoying than useful, since they tend to interrupt whatever I'm working on at random moments so I generally disable the feature.

I might turn it back on, at least for a daily backup; after this.

[DarkDragon]

I can take a look, but if the program was killed midway through writing the quest, you may be SOL, since the scripts are among the last parts of a quest to be saved.

[ywkls]

I can take a look, but if the program was killed midway through writing the quest, you may be SOL, since the scripts are among the last parts of a quest to be saved.

Well, what about the ffcs? That was what I was modifying, mostly. I have the scripts as a separate file and I can just reloead them if I need to. Since the majority of the changes were of that nature and recent, practically anything else I can export from my backup file.

[ZoriaRPG]

Well, what about the ffcs? That was what I was modifying, mostly. I have the scripts as a separate file and I can just reloead them if I need to. Since the majority of the changes were of that nature and recent, practically anything else I can export from my backup file.

IIRC, the ffcs on every screen, are written with maps . The ffc scripts (ZASM) are written with scripts at the end of the write function.

Write out order is:

Header, rules, string table , doors, dmaps, misc. data, misc. colours, game icons, items, weapons, maps, combos, combo aliases, colour data (palettes), tiles, MIDIs, cheats, init data, guy data, Link sprites, subscreens, scripts, sound effects, dropsets, favourite combos; then encrypt (compress).

[DarkDragon]

Here is the restored quest (load it in the latest beta): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2042983/metroid3_restored.qst

Some of the sections were corrupt, including SFX, and possibly other sections. But the maps are there.

[ywkls]

Here is the restored quest (load it in the latest beta):

Some of the sections were corrupt, including SFX, and possibly other sections. But the maps are there.

Which latest beta, exactly? ZoriaRPG's, or 2.50.3?

As for recovering what is lost, I do have that backup to work from for the purposes of comparison so hopefully I'll be able to tell what's damaged.

[DarkDragon]

The latest development build from GitHub, which I now realize may be difficult for you to compile/run. I can export parts of the quest if that's easier; for instance here is the map data, which sounds like is the part you're most hoping to recover: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2042983/metroid3.map

[ywkls]

The latest development build from GitHub, which I now realize may be difficult for you to compile/run. I can export parts of the quest if that's easier; for instance here is the map data, which sounds like is the part you're most hoping to recover:

That includes the ffc's, right?

Which of the game's 70-odd maps is that from? (Since exporting the map data only does whatever map is current and not every single map in the game.)

[DarkDragon]

56.

Let me know if it works for you and which maps you need me to export and I will do them for you.

[ZoriaRPG]

The latest GH builds will not produce a quest file that you can open in 2.50.x. That was the purpose of the deprecated export function, that we discussed, and I removed. I can however, cross-convert the quest for ywkls.

[ywkls]

Let me know if it works for you and which maps you need me to export and I will do them for you.

It successfully imported and all the ffcs seem to be loaded with the correct data. I'll have to physically wander through the quest again to confirm they're working as intended, but I needed to do that anyways.

For the moment, I'm creating a back-up file from before these changes are implemented just in case something goes wrong.

As for the maps that were recently adjusted, here's a list.

Map List

4,10,30,41,42,52,61,65.

If you could number the exports so I know which as which, that would greatly assist in getting them properly restored.

[DarkDragon]

Here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2042983/maps.zip

[ywkls]

Thanks a bunch! Everything imported successfully, so I won't have to repeat the tedious process of setup all over again.

From now on, I think what I'll do is keep 2 copies of any quest file I'm working on. (A main one and a backup one.)
Then switch which one I save to every other time I make any significant changes.
That way, if something like this happens again, I can at least have a far more recent backup available.