Password lockout/reset

Technical Support & Bugs
1

Hi,

I usually manage my Vassal games in my lunch hour at work. Recently, I started a new job and so thought I’d better move my games to my home machine.

However, when I load up my log files I’m unable to access my hidden areas as though I’m playing solo. I presumed this was a username or password issue but I’ve tried every combination I can think of and for “casual” things like Vassal I almost always use the same ones anyway, so I’m pretty sure I’m using the right ones.

I don’t suppose this could have anything to do with switching machines and/or vassal versions? And is there any way to get back into my games with a username or password reset or clue? It’d be a real shame to lose them: one game has been running for nearly two years, and was nearing conclusion!

Cheers,
Matt

2

It’s definitely a password issue–the username is immaterial, and being on a different computer or VASSAL version won’t matter either. Sounds like you no longer have access to the computer where the files worked as expected, which is too bad. The module password you used could be extracted from the Preferences file there with a little chicanery.

Failing that, unfortunately you’re out of luck.

3

Thus spake mattdp:

Hi,

I usually manage my Vassal games in my lunch hour at work. Recently, I
started a new job and so thought I’d better move my games to my home
machine.

However, when I load up my log files I’m unable to access my hidden
areas as though I’m playing solo. I presumed this was a username or
password issue but I’ve tried every combination I can think of and for
“casual” things like Vassal I almost always use the same ones anyway, so
I’m pretty sure I’m using the right ones.

I don’t suppose this could have anything to do with switching machines
and/or vassal versions? And is there any way to get back into my games
with a username or password reset or clue? It’d be a real shame to lose
them: one game has been running for nearly two years, and was nearing
conclusion!

Is there any way you can recover your VASSAL settings from your old work
machine?

–
J.

4

I might be able to, because I’m still in touch with the person who’s now using it. Providing he hasn’t done a clean reinstall of the OS of course.

What file do I need to ask him for?

And I didn’t realise that the username was irrelevant - if that’s the case it’ll make the process of checking the possible passwords rather easier.

5

Thus spake mattdp:

I might be able to, because I’m still in touch with the person who’s now
using it. Providing he hasn’t done a clean reinstall of the OS of
course.

What file do I need to ask him for?

The file is called Preferences. Where it lives depends on your OS—but
it’s always in the same directory as the errorLog, so the guide for
finding your errorLog is relevant:

vassalengine.org/wiki/Error_Logs

–
J.

6

Yay, I got a copy of the file.

It appears to be full of binary - how do I extract what’s required? Or can I just paste it over my new installation on my home PC?

7

Thus spake mattdp:

Yay, I got a copy of the file.

It appears to be full of binary

This is because the Preferences file is a ZIP archive.

  • how do I extract what’s required? Or
    can I just paste it over my new installation on my home PC?

If you don’t care about keeping the preferences VASSAL has on your
home PC, you can simply replace the Preferences file there with the
one you recovered from your work machine.

If you do care about the preferences already on your home machine,
then you’ll need to unzip the work Preferences file. Inside, you’ll
find a directory for each module, each of which will contain a text
file which has whatever password you used inside it.

–
J.

8

Great, thanks.

How does one unzip the archive on windows? Winzip doesn’t recognose it, neither does ExtractNow.

9

Thus spake mattdp:

Great, thanks.

How does one unzip the archive on windows? Winzip doesn’t recognose it,
neither does ExtractNow.

It’s a standard ZIP archive. Those tools might be rejecting it if they
determine the file type by file extension rather than file contents.
Try appending .zip to the filename.

–
J.

10

Either append a .zip extension as noted above, or try the freeware utility 7zip to open it–7zip doesn’t seem to be fussed about what a file extension is, it will open nearly any kind of compressed file imaginable.

11

Thanks so much for all your help. Sorry it’s dragging on so much.

So, I got it unzipped. But was surprised to find that it only contained the prefs for one game when I actually had several modules plugged into that installation. And as it turns out, that one had the password I was expecting.

So I tried the password again, and the overwrite my existing pref file with the one from my old machine - no dice.

But I don’t think that can have been the prefs file that my installation was actually using. Could it have been anywhere else?

12

Thus spake mattdp:

Okay, well I got it unzipped. But was surprised to find that it only
contained the prefs for one game when I actually had several modules
plugged into that installation. And as it turns out, that one had the
password I was expecting.

So I tried the password again, and the overwrite my existing pref file
with the one from my old machine - no dice.

But I don’t think that can have been the prefs file that my installation
was actually using. Could it have been anywhere else?

Could you send me one of the save files which are giving you trouble?

–
J.

13

Thanks again - sent to uckelman !atSymbol! nomic !aFullStop! net