Thread:Fossiliferous/@comment-27886349-20160602060435/@comment-24668482-20160602083816

Hi SonomaGary,

Unfortunately I am not unqualified to give computer advice. Advice on connect-4 strategy or the collective works of Joss Whedon, maybe, but operating systems not so much. I know AAA works in IT, so he might be able to help. Apple support would definitely be able to advise on issues with your macpro.

That being said, here are my completely unqualified (and possibly disjointed) thoughts.

.DS_Store files are just folder settings files. Every folder has one, it tells the OS your preferences on how to display items in the folder (large icons/small icons/lists; order of icons; background colour etc.). They are hidden by default as all folders have them and might be considered messy looking. They are generally harmless. There was a problem once with them causing issues for some users when it came to copying folders from location to another, but that was a few years ago and very few people were effected. They can be deleted without issue (other than perhaps loosing your folder display settings for that folder and having to change back again if prefer a certain appearance).

So without further information, I am trying to figure out what they might have to do with your original problem? I'm guessing either:


 * 1) you changed your OS settings to show hidden files when looking into backing up the game files. In doing so, all hidden files are now displayed so you are seeing the .DS_Store files when you weren't before (as are usually hidden). They may have had nothing to do with original problem, their sudden appearance just being related to disaplying hidden folders.
 * 2) you sent your full crash report for the game to apple support and they were able to symbolicate it (convert into something human readable) and find the exact cause of the issue (the point in the game's functions that the crash was happening and what it was trying to do at time). The part of the crash log you posted here showed that the problem was a EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV) error - which is an error where the application is trying to access a memory address that it does not have permission to access (an invalid address). I am not sure why a .DS_Store file would be involved in such an exception, but as I said, it is not my area of expertise.

Anyway, I guess it doesn't matter, the OS restore solved the problem with the game launching. But it sounds like maybe the previous restore attempt may have caused new problems. An OS reinstallation shouldn't really effect data.

So it sounds like you restored to a previous point in history, an old backup? (potentially only partially so if having problems). You laptop may have lost all files created since the restore point used. And the game files didn't make it through the process (either the hard drive backup was too old so didn't contain them) or from the fact it didn't quite work. Unfortunately, if you don't have your own backup of files from before the restore, it might not be possible to get them back.

I think you should brace yourself for the possibility that your game progress is lost and you may need to start over. As if the files containing your old game progress are no longer on the laptop and you don't have a backup of them, it is unlikely that you will be able to recover them (and so recover your progress). If they still existed, then when you open the game, although it would show a level 1 new game, you would see a message saying 'we see you have played before, do you want to restore your level 87 game or start over?' (sometimes you have to get to the point of actually typing in your old game name into the new player game name box for this to trigger). That in-built back up is a little inconsistent, which is why we tend to recommend making your own backups.

Did you ever manage to find your player.prf file and make a copy of it somewhere safe? If you have then you can copy it back to the game's folders and restore the game progress. But if you don't have a copy of it from before you started you restore process, it may be lost forever. Again, I'd talk to someone more qualified than me (maybe Apple support know if there are temp storage created in the restore progress you used or if you can otherwise revert it).

This may not be the news you wanted to hear, and I hope someone else can help. But one thing to consider is that you did get your game working again (and thats quite an accomplishment) and on top of that you are part of a pretty amazing community of players here. Should you decide to start over I have no doubt that they will all jump into action to help you progress through the game to your old level in no time at all. We have had a few players lose their games before and response from the community at large has always been exceptional in terms of generosity and support. And I know they would want to help you.