Can't save offline in Statskeeper

[soulreaver]

Ok, I don't know if this is a common problem or not, but it's happened to me on two separate PCs, one running Windows 98, the other running Windows XP. I'm just wondering what I'm doing wrong.

Here's the deal: I downloaded the base package, statskeeper, the books etc all into a Lone Wolf folder on my harddisk. I want to play them offline.

I access the books by clicking on 'index.html' in the base folder, then clicking the link to statskeeper and clicking the link to Flight from the Dark. I get an ActiveX warning message, but I click on it to tell it to allow the ActiveX content.

At first, everything went well. I created a character, then saved the game. I quit, shut down the computer etc. Then I restarted later, opened statskeeper, clicked to allow ActiveX, and loaded the saved game. Everything's going great.

So I play, finish Flight from the Dark, start Fire on the Water, and play for a while. Then I try to save. It looks like it goes ok, but when I try to load the game, it says "no save data", or something like that. Uh-oh.

I try other slots. Won't load. Brilliant.

I quit then try again. Allow ActiveX. Now all the save slots are empty (including the one that did work earlier).

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

[Doomy]

Cookie deletion is known to erase Statskeeper saves since it runs in the browser. I think this might be your problem.
Best advice is to not rely on Statskeeper's internal save function and save the printable version (accessed from the File menu) as a document and update it after each book. That way, if your save is lost you have a backup and just need to re-type the information.
Alternatively, you could try one of the other action chart packages which are available via this forum.

[soulreaver]

I'm not certain cookie deletion is the problem.

Just to test it, I've tried the save function again now, by saving, moving forward one or two pages, then trying to load.

Although it SAYS that it saves, it can't/doesn't load the games, saying "no save data" when I try to load them (despite the fact that the saved game name is visible).

When I restart Statskeeper the slots are empty again. This happens in both Flight from the Dark and Fire on the Water (so it's not an issue with just one book).

Surely it can't be deleting the cookies immediately? It can't be that my cookies settings changed - I'm the only one that uses this computer and I haven't changed them personally...

[Doomy]

Afraid I don't know enough about these things to give more advice than I've already offered.
To recap: save function is broken, keep text versions or use different software.
Maybe someone else can offer further/better info?

[outspaced]

Certain browsers do have settings that (1) prevent sites from creating cookies, perhaps using a whitelist only for permitted cookies; or (2) never allow a cookie from a particular URL if one is manually deleted (either intentionally or unintentionally); or even (3) auto-deletes all cookies/offline content when the browser is shut down or restarted. These are the more likely issues that could be causing the problem. As I haven't actually used IE7--I'll stick with Firefox 2.0--I can't comment on what they might consider security issues; ActiveX is quite a masive security issue in itself.

Can you check whether the cookie file is being created/set?

[soulreaver]

I'd like to check to see if the cookie is being created... but I don't know what the cookie is called, or where it's saved. Any idea of the filename I'm looking for?

[outspaced]

Well, I just tried it using IE7 and I did have a couple of problems with the default settings, but not the one you describe. I had to alter a setting in Tools/Internet options/Security/Internet/Custom level: Scripting: Allow scripts to prompt for information using windows -- from Disabled (default behaviour) to Enbaled. This then allowed me to type in a filename, which wasn't working otherwise.

Also, I altered Tools/Internet Options: Privacy to accept all cookies, which could be causing your problem.

Once I'd done that, however, everything seems to save OK, and all the data reloads correctly. You might want to try altering that setting about cookies to see whether that makes any difference.

Hope it helps!

[soulreaver]

Well, the scripting option doesn't even appear in my menu, and all other scripting-related options are enabled, so that's probably not it...

I also changed the settings to allow all cookies etc, but that didn't solve the problem either.

I swear, this is very irritating.