Store/shop disappear bug still present

[dlux]

(what, this board doesn't support BBCode for spoilers? This is going to be a long post...)

This method has worked fine for me, I have not had any problems whatsoever. Nevertheless, BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE EDITING. If you make even the slightest mistake a whole area or possibly even your entire savegame could become corrupted.

Essentially what you must do is unpack the savegame file that contains the corrupted map and edit this map. The savegame files of can be found here (Windows 7):
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\inXile entertainment\Wasteland\<savegame folder>

Contents of GAME1 unpacked

map00.xml (World Map)
map01.xml (Quartz)
map02.xml (Quartz, Scott's Bar)
map03.xml (Quartz, Stage Coach Inn)
map04.xml (Quartz, Ugly's Hideout)
map05.xml (Quartz, Abandoned Building Interiors)
map06.xml (Quartz, Courthuse)
map07.xml
map08.xml
map09.xml (Highpool)
map10.xml
map11.xml
map12.xml
map13.xml
map14.xml
map15.xml
map16.xml
map17.xml
map18.xml
map19.xml
savegame.xml (current stats and inventory of the characters in your party) [1]
shopitems0.xml
shopitems1.xml
shopitems2.xml


Contents of GAME2 unpacked

map00.xml (Sleeper Base, level 1)
map01.xml (Las Vegas, Abandoned Building Interiors)
map02.xml (Las Vegas)
map03.xml (Sleeper Base, level 2)
map04.xml (Sleeper Base, level 3)
map05.xml
map06.xml
map07.xml
map08.xml
map09.xml
map10.xml
map11.xml
map12.xml
map13.xml
map14.xml
map15.xml
map16.xml
map17.xml
map18.xml
map19.xml
map20.xml
map21.xml
savegame.xml (current stats and inventory of the characters in your party) [1]
shopitems0.xml


Preparation for fixing a corrupted map in your savegame:

Download the latest version of the Wasteland Suite (Version 1.3.1 as of this post) and unpack the archive (for example to C:\wlandsuite-1.3.1).

make sure Java is installed. [2]

Copy the savegame file containing the corrupted map (either "GAME1" or "GAME2", see above) to the main folder where you unpacked the Wasteland Suite.
Copy the corresponding Master File [3] to the main folder where you unpacked the Wasteland Suite. If the corrupted map is in GAME1, then copy MASTER1. If the corrupted map is in GAME2, then copy MASTER2.
You should use a good file editor to edit the extracted files. I recommend Notepad++ or an equally good editor of your choice.


Example on how to fix the inaccessible merchant in Quartz (do the above step first):

Open a command prompt in the main directory of the wasteland suite and type in the following command (without quotes):
"unpackgame GAME1_ GAME1"
This will unpack the "GAME1" savefile to the subdirectoy "GAME1_".


Now unpack the MASTER1 file by typing the following command into the command prompt (without quotes):
"unpackgame MASTER1_ MASTER1"
This will unpack the "MASTER1" savefile to the subdirectoy "MASTER1_".


Enter the GAME1_ subdirectory and open the "map01.xml" file with your editor. Now enter the MASTER1_ subdirectory and open the "map01.xml" file in this folder as well.

Between the <actionClassMap> and <actionMap> tags you will see the programmed actions taht correspond to each tile of the map of Quartz. If you compare the GAME1_/map01.xml and MASTER1_/map01.xml on the corresponding tiles where the merchant is, then it will look like this:

GAME1_/map01.xml (savegame map) with inaccessible merchant:


MASTER1_/map01.xml (untouched map) with accessible merchant:


I marked the position in the screenshots that correspond to the tile where the merchant is to be found, you will notice the discrepancy which is caused by a bug in the game engine. In the GAME1_/map01.xml file (of your savegame) there are just dots instead of variables unlike in the untouched master file. The dots tell the game to do nothing when entering this tile. This is of course not what you want, you want the game to open the merchant screen when entering this tile.

To correct this, you need to overwrite the positions in the GAME1_/map01.xml file that have been corrupted. OVERWRITE the position that corresponds to the faulty tile under <actionClassMap> (single dot) with an "a", and OVERWRITE the position that corresponds to the faulty tile under <actionMap> (two dots) with "04". when you are done, the corresponding tiles where the merchant is in the GAME1_/map01.xml map file (of your savegame), will look the same as in the MASTER1_/map01.xml file.

Don't change anything else. Save the GAME1_/map01.xml file.

Back to the command prompt. Type in the following command:
"packgame GAME1_ GAME1".
THIS WILL OVERWRITE THE OLD "GAME1" FILE. Make sure you have made a backup before this step!!

Copy the file back to your savegame folder and you're done. The shop can be entered again when you start up the game.


You can use this method analogously for any other merchant, the clone tank bug, or any other problems with corrupt maps/tiles.


Item [1]

Your current party record will be saved in either GAME1 or GAME2 depending on which location you are currently in. For example, if you are in Quartz, then your current party record will be saved in GAME1. If you are in the Sleeper Base, then your current party record will be saved in GAME2. This info is not needed to correct corrupt maps (tiles) in your savegame, it is general info on how the savegame system works.


Item [2]

For this program to work you must have java (http://www.java.com/en/download/) installed. You must either:

1. add the java executable the system path (not recommended) or
2. edit unpackgame.bat and packgame.bat with the path to the java executable on your system. For example:



Item [3]

The MASTER1 and MASTER2 files in your savegame folder contain the untouched (unplayed) maps, store item lists, and default party (with Snake Vargas, Angela Deth, Thrasher and Hell Razor). When you start a new game these files are copied to create the GAME1 and GAME2 files.

Instead of unpacking these files you could copy the GAME1 and GAME2 files from .\Wasteland\rom\data folder where you installed the game. They are the same in regards to contents as the MASTER1 and MASTER2 files in your savegame directory.

[dlux]

If that is the case, it is something we cannot fix (but I believe there are steps you can take to make sure it does not happen to you).

Only known way to circumvent it is always saving right after you leave a store.

From Per's guide:

Because of a PC-specific bug, you should always save (manually or by instantly leaving for another map) after exiting an important shop.

Always save after leaving a shop. Due to the nature of the autosave, if you leave a shop and then get attacked and die, the saved game location will be in the shop. When it loads up again, it kills the shop.

Exhaustive Wasteland Walkthrough By Ben Morgan

You maybe cant fix the bug, but perhaps its possible to program a script to avoid the bug from happening. Every time you exited a store, the game must autosave to avoid this bug. Shouldnt it be possible to program a script that can do this? Maybe autosave could be triggered by the disapearing shop portrait? Or something else?

A simple script would not suffice and as far as I can see there is no command to tell the game to save when transitioning (changing maps) in the map files. You would have to hack the executable for this to work. As it seems Inxile does not have source code access for some reason, so this would be extremely hard feat to accomplish. With source code access they could fix the bug in just minutes (!), but sadly, that is not possible without the source code.

They can't get rid of the bug, but a workaround might be possible so that the bug never triggers by editing the maps in some way (I believe it has something to do with transistion).
Or you can write a script that corrects any faulty map tiles by unpacking the save game, correcting corrupted tiles, and repacking the savegame. Similiar to what I have done manually in the last post, just automatically with a script.

[QUAKE]

You can use an OCR script to check when you're in a shop, then wait until you leave, then save?

Thanks for that guide, but is there a way to make the map file read only to avoid corruption in the first place?

My Quartz shop is gone, but afaik it's identical to the one in Needles, so there's no big issue.

[dlux]

Thanks for that guide, but is there a way to make the map file read only to avoid corruption in the first place?

without source code access? Possibly. Is there a shop in the game that never disappears? You could start from there.

Like I wrote, it might possible to edit the game files (maps) in such a way so that the bug can never trigger.

My Quartz shop is gone, but afaik it's identical to the one in Needles, so there's no big issue.

The method would work for other shops or even the clone tank bug, basically any save game with a corrupt map. I haven't posted any more examples (because of the large lack of interest) but it is possible.

[Revolucas]

You can use the DOSBox source and the source from Wasteland Suite to edit the savegame directly, mimicking a save. Just do the memory compare trick to tell when the player is in the shop. Lots of possibilities, just no willingness.

[HunterZ]

(what, this board doesn't support BBCode for spoilers? This is going to be a long post...)

This method has worked fine for me, I have not had any problems whatsoever. Nevertheless, BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE EDITING. If you make even the slightest mistake a whole area or possibly even your entire savegame could become corrupted.

Essentially what you must do is unpack the savegame file that contains the corrupted map and edit this map. The savegame files of can be found here (Windows 7):
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\inXile entertainment\Wasteland\<savegame folder>

THANK YOU for this! I've had at least 2 shops disappear on me. Your post should be split into its own thread and then stickied.

It would probably be too much work, but inXile could probably use the source of the Wasteland Suite tool to script up a fix that runs automatically every time you launch the game to patch the shops back into the game files in case they went missing during the last session.

Also, I found a site that has all the maps. It's handy if you're trying to figure out which map file to look for: http://www.enigmalake.net/wasteland/

[jpayne1138]

I just walked into Leroy's boutique, and he won't speak to me. Is this the bug? People talk about this happening when they die near a shop, but I haven't died anywhere near Leroy's. Any ideas?

[naossano]

Is that method of unpacking Wasteland 1 still works on the current steam version ?
I tried and failed to do it. My goal is to edit the game files to make a partial or full french localization of Wasteland 1 for Fallout/Wasteland french community.
I think the steam version offer some nice features like not needing to look for external paragraph so i would like to use this version as a base.