Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Strange XP problem

This is topic Strange XP problem in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-23-2003, 05:56 AM:

I just bought a new computer with Windows XP.
On my old 98 system I played a game called Oni which stores the save games in a file called persist.dat. After installing the game on the new system, I moved this file over and placed it in the directory the game is installed in. However, when I start it, none of the save games are there. Also, when I start a new game without the old file, it doesn`t remember the new save games and user settings. I am sure that the save games are just in that file as I copied, edited and moved it on my old system a couple of times.
Even if there was a problem with the old file, I don`t understand at all why a completely fresh installation wouldn`t remember the settings.
It appears as if the game is not allowed to access the persist.dat file under XP. Could it be that this file type is generally protected under XP?

Posted by Stephen Brown (Member # 292) on 01-23-2003, 06:11 AM:

I think the *.dat file suffix is now used as a windows System File. This certainly would make windows a bit hesitant about acess to this file.

regards
Steve Brown

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-23-2003, 06:55 AM:

Before, .dat files were not used as system files? That would certainly explain a lot as I heard that XP is very system security aware. Maybe I find a setting somewhere which allows to configure certain programs to access .dat-files.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 01-23-2003, 11:22 AM:

Hmmm... I don't think it has anything to do with the .dat extension per se. A quick Google search didn't turn up anything like you're describing. Don't some popular anti-virus programs use virus pattern files with a .dat extension?

Can you see the file with Windows Explorer? It's not hidden or something is it? Anything unusual with the file attributes? Are you logged into XP with Administrator rights, or something lower like SuperUser? If it's a text file, have you tried opening it with Notepad or something?

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 01-23-2003, 11:32 AM:

Is the program you are using a windows 2000 compatable program? Find the Icon for the program you are having problems with and right click it go to properties and click on compatability. Check the box to allow you to run the program under windows 98 environment. Then see what happens.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-23-2003, 02:17 PM:

Thanks Darryl, setting the compatibility mode for the game`s exe file to 98 does the trick! I thought I had tried that but must have confused with another old program where the compatibility setting did not help.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 01-24-2003, 01:13 AM:

Michael,

I am glad that worked out for you.