3.6.1 failing to open large extension files

I have a hobby project (Global treatment of WW2 using the SPI WiE and DG WitP maps, plus several of my own creation) which creates the largest vmod+extension file sizes I have seen. Since the 3.6.x releases have begun these have been problematic for me. I get a complaint that the extensions where most of the maps are separated out cannot be opened. Yet the same open without complaint on 3.5.8.

All told these are over a gigabyte, so non-trivial to either copy or open. Links below.

Thanks for getting in touch. We’d seen a number of bug reports in which a WiF module was having a tiling problem, but none included an email address or a way to obtain the module, so there was nothing we could do other than wait.

I’ll have a look later today.

Unrelated to the problem: You have a completely useless __MACOS directory in the module which has about 15MB of image preview files in it that you could simply delete.

We’re going to need more information to be able to help.

If you find your module in the Module Manager and expand the list of extensions it has, you should be able to hover over each one and the tooltip will show you the path where it is stored.

  • What do you see when you do this?
  • Are those paths correct?

3.5.8 (noting that this version appears to work normally):

From the CLI:

➜ vmod-3-5-x pwd

/Users/mmiller/Documents/Docs/Gaming/WftW/vmod-3-5-x
➜ vmod-3-5-x ll
total 2018424
-rw-r–r–@ 1 mmiller staff 293M Nov 4 22:12 WftW-v4.9.200.vmod
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 mmiller staff 192B Dec 5 21:04 WftW-v4.9.200_ext
-rw-r–r-- 1 mmiller staff 692M Dec 5 21:05 WftW-v4.9.200_ext.zip
➜ vmod-3-5-x ll WftW-v4.9.200_ext
total 1417464
-rw-r–r-- 1 mmiller staff 14M Dec 5 17:52 ETO-Arctic-maps.vmdx
-rw-r–r-- 1 mmiller staff 357M Dec 5 17:40 ETO-Main-maps.vmdx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 mmiller staff 321M Mar 20 2020 PTO-Main-maps.vmdx

3.6.x directory (the 3.5.8 was copied from this. Note error dialog and none of the extensions are visible in the 3.6.1 Module Manager)

Yet the CLI directory listing shows seemingly fine. I’ve tried various approaches like gratuitous edits of the vmdx files with new versions, and creating new zips of the contents and renaming with .vmdx.

➜ vmod-3-6-x pwd
/Users/mmiller/Documents/Docs/Gaming/WftW/vmod-3-6-x
➜ vmod-3-6-x ll
total 600528
-rw-r–r–@ 1 mmiller staff 293M Nov 4 22:12 WftW-v4.9.200.vmod
drwxr-xr-x@ 7 mmiller staff 224B Dec 5 13:50 WftW-v4.9.200_ext
➜ vmod-3-6-x ll WftW-v4.9.200_ext
total 1417480
-rw-r–r–@ 1 mmiller staff 14M Dec 5 13:41 ETO-Arctic-maps.vmdx
-rw-r–r-- 1 mmiller staff 357M Dec 5 13:47 ETO-Main-maps.vmdx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 mmiller staff 321M Dec 5 13:43 PTO-Main-maps.vmdx
drwxr-xr-x@ 2 mmiller staff 64B Dec 5 13:50 inactive

Best regards,
MM

That error message implies VASSAL is having trouble reading the directory the extensions are in, not the extensions themselves. You might want to try force deleting the vmod-3-6-x/WftW-v4.9.200_ext directory (making sure you have a backup copy of the extensions elsewhere first!) and then use VASSAL 3.6.x to re-add the extensions (which will automatically recreate that directory).

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Your extensions directory is a symlink (that’s what the @ means). The Java function that lists out directory contents very likely doesn’t understand how to resolve symlinks. Make it a real directory and I’ll bet it works.

@jrwatts had the right idea. I deleted the extensions directory, started v3.6.1, added the extensions from the 3.5.8 directory, and all seems well now. Thank you, gentlemen!

Just so you’re aware, when you add an extension, VASSAL moves it from its existing location to the new _ext directory, so they’ll now be missing from the 3.5.8 install–you’ll need to manually copy them back (outside of VASSAL, and make sure you don’t create a shortcut/symlink instead of a physical copy) if you want them available to both versions of the module.

I really don’t like that VASSAL does this, instead of copying the extension file.

Duly noted on that, and thanks again to you and @uckelman! Though at this point there will be no very good reason to edit under the v3.5 release train. The editor enhancements in 3.6 will significantly help my project.

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