Help! I can't open my save file! (MacOS)

PixelRecall

I just got this message this morning when I went to go work on my project. I've been working on it for weeks, and suddenly today I had this issue, and I'm scared I just lost all of my work.

If I can't open this again, is there a way I can at least recover the code so I can transplant it into a new twine file?

I re-downloaded the latest Twine to see if that would fix it, but it didn't solve my problem.

Please help!

EDIT: I've tried since posting this to convert the file to rtf (which didn't result in an openable file) and txt (which included all of the twine file's code above and beyond what I myself had input into each passage). Saved it as tws again, and same problem remains, Twine won't open it. I Opened a fresh Twine story and saved it, which was openable without issue. I have no idea what to do.  :'(

2ND EDIT: So by saving the file again as a tws, then choosing "Import", then "Compiled HTML Code", choosing the file I'm trying to recover, everything imported into a new file. I think I'm good. Hopefully this panic attack helps someone else in the future.

L

I'd like to see the original bugged file, if you still have it. (If you don't, then, oh well.)

Crowbeak

This may be related to the problem I came on here to mention today, since weird save magic saved the day for the OP. I am also using the Mac version, specifically 1.4.2 beta 3.

I made a Twine game for Ludum Dare 29. I want to make a post-compo improved version, but to preserve the original, so I made a copy of my .tws file and put it in a different directory. However, modifying the original also modified the copy. Although it's not an alias/shortcut according to the finder, the save files are definitely linked. Here's a list of the bizarre behaviors I'm getting:

• If I open the copy from Finder, it actually points me to the original file; if I rename the new file and then open it, I still get the original file opened up in Twine instead.
• I can open the new file manually via the menu from within the Twine application; if I make changes and then save it, then the original becomes the "slave" and points to the copy instead.
• If I delete the original file and then try to open the copy, I get a new file, blank but for Start, storyTitle, and storyAuthor passages. All data is lost. Restoring the file from the trash can fixes this problem.
• If I copy the original and then rename it, then both files just open up as a new, blank Twine game. (The same one, as above.) I can change the original's file name back and it restores the game with no loss of data.
• I tried renaming a file that didn't have a copy and it also reverted to a blank file and was fixed on changing the name back.
• I can rename the copy all I want and no data goes missing.
• Using Save Story As from the Twine menu creates a second file which acts exactly like a copied file made in Finder.

L

Crowbeak wrote:

This may be related to the problem I came on here to mention today, since weird save magic saved the day for the OP. I am also using the Mac version, specifically 1.4.2 beta 3.

I made a Twine game for Ludum Dare 29. I want to make a post-compo improved version, but to preserve the original, so I made a copy of my .tws file and put it in a different directory. However, modifying the original also modified the copy. Although it's not an alias/shortcut according to the finder, the save files are definitely linked. Here's a list of the bizarre behaviors I'm getting:

If I open the copy from Finder, it actually points me to the original file; if I rename the new file and then open it, I still get the original file opened up in Twine instead.
I can open the new file manually via the menu from within the Twine application; if I make changes and then save it, then the original becomes the "slave" and points to the copy instead.
If I delete the original file and then try to open the copy, I get a new file, blank but for Start, storyTitle, and storyAuthor passages. All data is lost. Restoring the file from the trash can fixes this problem.
If I copy the original and then rename it, then both files just open up as a new, blank Twine game. (The same one, as above.) I can change the original's file name back and it restores the game with no loss of data.
I tried renaming a file that didn't have a copy and it also reverted to a blank file and was fixed on changing the name back.
I can rename the copy all I want and no data goes missing.
Using Save Story As from the Twine menu creates a second file which acts exactly like a copied file made in Finder.

Thanks for spotting this - will address.

Crowbeak

No problem. If you need me to test more cases or something, let me know.

L

Hmm - could you supply me with the full directory paths of each of the files? Like, an example would be /Users/leon/Desktop/Thing1.tws , or /Users/leon/Documents/Thing/Thing1.tws . (You can find them by using "Get Info" in the Finder and copying the "Where" listing.)

Crowbeak

Sure! Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I am really bad about keeping up with forums.

/Users/crowbeak/Documents/Projects/Twine/LD29/LD29.tws was the original file I was working with. I tried to copy it to the /Users/crowbeak/Documents/Projects/Twine/LD29/LD Original/ directory and then started messing with file names and stuff.

But shortly after I realized something was strange, I realized that I didn't want to take the chance of permanently ruining my LD29 file, even though I have a backup online because Ludum Dare requires a source be available. So I did my more exhaustive testing with /Users/crowbeak/Documents/Projects/Twine/Save Testing/ as the parent directory and /Users/crowbeak/Documents/Projects/Twine/Save Testing/Blah/ as the subdirectory. I have not tried it with two completely different directories.

Edit: My computer is currently in a state where testing is not a good idea. I will try with different directories soon and tell you the results.