Circumventing locked assets for PBEMs

[Maniac]

Or rather making the game think the file hasn't been modified. Is there a way? What causes the game to think a file has been modified? I've discovered an annoying code error in an ongoing mod PBEM. The fix is merely commenting out a line, but that's sufficient to make the PBEM save impossible to load.

 

[Asaf]

Was there a modified file?

 

[Maniac]

Yeah, the fix requires changing a line of code in the SDK, so the DLL should be replaced.

 

[Asaf]

EDIT: (deleted my original post) Sorry, I misunderstood you.

What you mean is that you turned the 'lock modified assets' option on, and started a game, and now you want to disable it mid-game, right?

Is PBEM started as MP?

(I'm sorry for being so slow and sound like a noob, I just never used this option so I'm trying to understand how it works).

EDIT 2: It seems 'lock modified assets' is only used for Single Player. Is this done automatically for MP? Or is it for PBEM specifically? Or is this something completely different? What's the exact error message that is given in this case?

 

[The_J]

Overlooked one question:

What causes the game to think a file has been modified?

Windows time stamp of last modification is the "bad boy" here.
Just opening a XML file and clicking "save" will be enough to make the game think that something has been done. Even a clean reinstall with the same files will not work.

Had that once when I fixed a small typo in my FfH2 translation...and my game was lost .

 

[Maniac]

EDIT 2: It seems 'lock modified assets' is only used for Single Player. Is this done automatically for MP?

Yeah it's done automatically.

Windows time stamp of last modification is the "bad boy" here.
Just opening a XML file and clicking "save" will be enough to make the game think that something has been done. Even a clean reinstall with the same files will not work.

The first thing I tried was using a program to make the time stamp of the new DLL the exact same to the second as that of the old DLL. Alas, it didn't help.
Edit: Clean reinstall works for me to get it working though. Just had to do it as I just accidentally messed up the original file.

 

[The_J]

Edit: Clean reinstall works for me to get it working though. Just had to do it as I just accidentally messed up the original file.

Uh, really?
Why did it not work with my old FfH game ?
Whatever, too late now.