Fix for after-patch "World.dat" file is missing"

Déjà Bru · 09-29-2016, 09:08 PM

Every once in a while, after applying a patch, you get that "World.dat" file is missing" message (first screen print), followed by a sinking feeling. Not to worry, if your league files are still in the usual location. It's happened to me twice in this version cycle and I have seen other people ask about this.

For some reason, after the patch, the program thinks that your league is now located in the data folder where the program itself resides (Program Files (x86) in my case). Notice that when I tried to call up my game, it made a folder with the name of my league but there is nothing in it, hence the error message (second screen print).

To fix this, go to Game Settings in the OOTP Start Screen and click Expert. For Custom Data Path, click Select (third screen print). In the Select New/Data Folder, navigate up and out of the program folder, and all the way over to where your league files are stored (in My Documents, in my case). Click Select when you have located it (fourth screen print).

You get a couple of messages that essentially say the same thing (fifth screen print) except that you do NOT want to move your league files anywhere. You want the game to point to where they have been all along!

Anyway, you close out the game, restart it, and now, fingers crossed, you should be able to call up your league as always, by either clicking Continue Game or Load Game.

Disclaimer: I am not a OOTPD principal, a programmer, or even much of a techno-geek, so if this does not work for you, I will not be able to help you. You will need to contact Tech Support instead.

Déjà Bru · 09-29-2016, 10:45 PM

The strange thing about this situation is that the patch installer creates default league folders in C:\Program Files (x86)\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 17\data instead of the usual C:\Users\Bruce\Documents\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 17. Everything from backgrounds to world_templates. Why that is, I don't know; maybe it's something that I and other users do wrong when running the patch?

Anyway, in this situation, that's the reason why the game no longer knows where your saved league files are and why it has to be redirected back to C:\Users\[your name]\Documents\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 17.

Below is C:\Program Files (x86)\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 17\data with only the files and folders that should be in there, after I cleaned out all of the other erroneously placed folders.

Andreas Raht · 09-30-2016, 08:13 AM

Thank you for the posts and the detailled description!
Do you use installer default settings?
I usually test the setup files on my Windows computer and what I do is download the setup file to the /Downloads folder, run it, use default settings and click on "Continue game" which never failed yet.
Is anybody else seeing this problem?

Déjà Bru · 09-30-2016, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andreas Raht

Thank you for the posts and the detailled description!
Do you use installer default settings?
I usually test the setup files on my Windows computer and what I do is download the setup file to the /Downloads folder, run it, use default settings and click on "Continue game" which never failed yet.
Is anybody else seeing this problem?

You know what I think it is? (It hit me as I was driving to work . . . nearly drove off the road . . . just kidding

) That question it asks about whether you want to install the game just for yourself or for everybody . . .

Usually, you want to install the game just for yourself and that is the default I believe. So, in that situation it installs the game folders in My Documents.

However, and I think this is what I did, if you select installing the game for everybody, it does so by installing the game folders in the data folder of C:\Program Files (x86)\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 17, where the program resides. All users will have access to that folder.

So, if you originally installed your game folders in My Documents, and then choose "Everybody" when running the patch, that's what creates this error situation, I think. That's why you have to point the game back to My Documents.

Correct?

Andreas Raht · 10-03-2016, 01:43 PM

Quote:

All users will have access to that folder.

I don't think so to be honest. "All users" does mean something different. The installer should not install it to that folders when you select "all users". But we have to test to make sure.

NoOne · 10-03-2016, 05:43 PM

I use a custom path to store on a mechanical drive.

My trick is to open Custom_Folders.ini in notepad or any basic text editor and leave it open BEFORE and during the installation process. it will show your current choosen paths. you don't need to change them.

After the game finishes installing but before it starts the OotP Application (it will say "okay" or "finished" type thing at end of ootp's installation... it waits for your feedback before it boots the program, that is the key), save the open custom_folders.ini file that is opened from previous step. close notepad / text editor.

Go ahead and click the "finish" or whatever button at the end of ootp installation. The game will open and it will complete the installation using your custom folder path.

otherwise i have to wait for it to install all that "Data" folder stuff a second time for no reason. then re-delete all the redundant crap off my ssd thirteen or more times. so 26 installs of the data directory and 13 times remembering which folders are required in the root app's data directory and which aren't -- maybe other peope don't mind wasting time but i have better things to do than star at a screen blankly for 2x as long as neccessary...

Lukas Berger · 10-03-2016, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andreas Raht

Is anybody else seeing this problem?

I've seen a couple other people report this as well.

Déjà Bru · 10-03-2016, 07:28 PM

Well, whatever the cause, the cure seems to be OOTP Start Screen, Game Settings, Expert, Custom Data Path. People who encounter the "World.dat" file is missing" message would be well-advised to try this first.

davidwright77 · 10-12-2016, 07:27 PM

Hoping someone can help... I followed the directions provided in this thread, but I continue to get the error message. Is there any way I could send someone my world.dat file and they check to make sure it's not corrupted? I don't even know if that's possible, but I'm a bit desperate. I did the patch/update and haven't been able to play for weeks. I drafted my entire team, as well as all the minors, and am nearly halfway through a season. It would depress me to no end to have to contemplate starting from scratch.

I should note that the location of my .dat files were not the same as what DejaBru had advised. So it seems like it's I'm all over the place!

Déjà Bru · 10-12-2016, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidwright77

Hoping someone can help... I followed the directions provided in this thread, but I continue to get the error message. Is there any way I could send someone my world.dat file and they check to make sure it's not corrupted? I don't even know if that's possible, but I'm a bit desperate. I did the patch/update and haven't been able to play for weeks. I drafted my entire team, as well as all the minors, and am nearly halfway through a season. It would depress me to no end to have to contemplate starting from scratch.

I should note that the location of my .dat files were not the same as what DejaBru had advised. So it seems like it's I'm all over the place!

You know how to do a search for a file in Windows Explorer (or the equivalent on a Mac)? Like this one here; I got a ton of world.dat files from various leagues but only one concerns me. That is the MLB.lg folder which contains my primary league. If it were lost, this is how I would find it and I would use OOTP Start Screen, Game Settings, Expert, Custom Data Path to point the game to this folder. So first things first; search your C:\ drive (not just your documents) and find the world.dat file that is in the league folder with the saved game name that you remember.

Lukas Berger · 10-12-2016, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidwright77

Hoping someone can help... I followed the directions provided in this thread, but I continue to get the error message. Is there any way I could send someone my world.dat file and they check to make sure it's not corrupted? I don't even know if that's possible, but I'm a bit desperate. I did the patch/update and haven't been able to play for weeks. I drafted my entire team, as well as all the minors, and am nearly halfway through a season. It would depress me to no end to have to contemplate starting from scratch.

I should note that the location of my .dat files were not the same as what DejaBru had advised. So it seems like it's I'm all over the place!

I'm happy to help.

Fill out a support ticket and ftp us your .dat files (directions for both are in my signature) and I'll take a look at your files and get back to you asap

glenmere14 · 10-13-2016, 09:53 AM

Saw this error for the first time after the latest update - all good now.

Thanks

RchW · 10-13-2016, 02:20 PM

The only time this has happened to me was when I installed a patch to the default path instead of my custom path.

09-29-2016, 09:08 PM	#1
Déjà Bru Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Long Island Posts: 11,740	Fix for after-patch "World.dat" file is missing" Every once in a while, after applying a patch, you get that "World.dat" file is missing" message (first screen print), followed by a sinking feeling. Not to worry, if your league files are still in the usual location. It's happened to me twice in this version cycle and I have seen other people ask about this. For some reason, after the patch, the program thinks that your league is now located in the data folder where the program itself resides (Program Files (x86) in my case). Notice that when I tried to call up my game, it made a folder with the name of my league but there is nothing in it, hence the error message (second screen print). To fix this, go to Game Settings in the OOTP Start Screen and click Expert. For Custom Data Path, click Select (third screen print). In the Select New/Data Folder, navigate up and out of the program folder, and all the way over to where your league files are stored (in My Documents, in my case). Click Select when you have located it (fourth screen print). You get a couple of messages that essentially say the same thing (fifth screen print) except that you do NOT want to move your league files anywhere. You want the game to point to where they have been all along! Anyway, you close out the game, restart it, and now, fingers crossed, you should be able to call up your league as always, by either clicking Continue Game or Load Game. Disclaimer: I am not a OOTPD principal, a programmer, or even much of a techno-geek, so if this does not work for you, I will not be able to help you. You will need to contact Tech Support instead. Attached Images __________________ - Bru

09-29-2016, 10:45 PM	#2
Déjà Bru Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Long Island Posts: 11,740	The strange thing about this situation is that the patch installer creates default league folders in C:\Program Files (x86)\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 17\data instead of the usual C:\Users\Bruce\Documents\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 17. Everything from backgrounds to world_templates. Why that is, I don't know; maybe it's something that I and other users do wrong when running the patch? Anyway, in this situation, that's the reason why the game no longer knows where your saved league files are and why it has to be redirected back to C:\Users\[your name]\Documents\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 17. Below is C:\Program Files (x86)\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 17\data with only the files and folders that should be in there, after I cleaned out all of the other erroneously placed folders. Attached Images __________________ - Bru Last edited by Déjà Bru; 09-29-2016 at 10:49 PM.

09-30-2016, 08:13 AM	#3
Andreas Raht Administrator Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Hollern/Stade/Germany Posts: 8,992	Thank you for the posts and the detailled description! Do you use installer default settings? I usually test the setup files on my Windows computer and what I do is download the setup file to the /Downloads folder, run it, use default settings and click on "Continue game" which never failed yet. Is anybody else seeing this problem? __________________ Andreas Raht andreas@ootpdevelopments.com Out of the Park Developments

10-03-2016, 05:43 PM	#6
NoOne Banned Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 7,273 Infractions: 0/1 (3)	I use a custom path to store on a mechanical drive. My trick is to open Custom_Folders.ini in notepad or any basic text editor and leave it open BEFORE and during the installation process. it will show your current choosen paths. you don't need to change them. After the game finishes installing but before it starts the OotP Application (it will say "okay" or "finished" type thing at end of ootp's installation... it waits for your feedback before it boots the program, that is the key), save the open custom_folders.ini file that is opened from previous step. close notepad / text editor. Go ahead and click the "finish" or whatever button at the end of ootp installation. The game will open and it will complete the installation using your custom folder path. otherwise i have to wait for it to install all that "Data" folder stuff a second time for no reason. then re-delete all the redundant crap off my ssd thirteen or more times. so 26 installs of the data directory and 13 times remembering which folders are required in the root app's data directory and which aren't -- maybe other peope don't mind wasting time but i have better things to do than star at a screen blankly for 2x as long as neccessary... Last edited by NoOne; 10-03-2016 at 05:47 PM.

10-03-2016, 07:28 PM	#8
Déjà Bru Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Long Island Posts: 11,740	Well, whatever the cause, the cure seems to be OOTP Start Screen, Game Settings, Expert, Custom Data Path. People who encounter the "World.dat" file is missing" message would be well-advised to try this first. __________________ - Bru

10-12-2016, 07:27 PM	#9
davidwright77 Bat Boy Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 7	Help from Smart People Hoping someone can help... I followed the directions provided in this thread, but I continue to get the error message. Is there any way I could send someone my world.dat file and they check to make sure it's not corrupted? I don't even know if that's possible, but I'm a bit desperate. I did the patch/update and haven't been able to play for weeks. I drafted my entire team, as well as all the minors, and am nearly halfway through a season. It would depress me to no end to have to contemplate starting from scratch. I should note that the location of my .dat files were not the same as what DejaBru had advised. So it seems like it's I'm all over the place! Last edited by davidwright77; 10-12-2016 at 07:28 PM.

10-13-2016, 09:53 AM	#12
glenmere14 Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 255	Me, too Saw this error for the first time after the latest update - all good now. Thanks

10-13-2016, 02:20 PM	#13
RchW Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Toronto ON by way of Glasgow UK Posts: 15,629	The only time this has happened to me was when I installed a patch to the default path instead of my custom path. __________________ Cheers RichW If you’re looking for a good cause to donate money to please consider a Donation to Parkinson’s Canada. It may help me have a better future and if not me, someone else. Thanks. “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Frank Wilhoit