# Vassal has stopped working for me

**URL:** <https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/vassal-has-stopped-working-for-me/9991>\
**Category:** Technical Support & Bugs\
**Created:** [September 1, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/vassal-has-stopped-working-for-me/9991 "2019-09-01T13:16:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bindusri](https://forum.vassalengine.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@Bindusri](https://forum.vassalengine.org/u/Bindusri)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/vassal-has-stopped-working-for-me/9991/1 "2019-09-01T13:16:15Z")

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Hi there,

I have been using VASSAL for several years \>5 when it has recently stopped working on 29 August 2019.  
I click on Vassal and it no longer opens. Prior to this I was losing the modules I had already loaded and was required to reload them every once and awhile.  
Would appreciate any help you could provide.

thanks Bindusri

information requested:  
Model: ASUS F102B  
OS: Windows 10 Home  
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.20GHz  
Memory: 4.00GB (3.44 GB usable)  
Video: AMD A4-1200 APU with Radeon™ HD Graphics 1.00 GHz  
VASSAL: 3.2.17  
Java: 1.8.0\_211-b11  
Module: Paths of Glory

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**Author:** ![Bindusri](https://forum.vassalengine.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@Bindusri](https://forum.vassalengine.org/u/Bindusri)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/vassal-has-stopped-working-for-me/9991/2 "2019-09-02T03:02:13Z")

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Sorry that should be:

Model: ASUS F102B  
OS: Windows 10 Home  
CPU: AMD A4-1200 APU with Radeon™ HD Graphics 1.00 GHz  
Memory: 4.00GB (3.44 GB usable)  
Video: AMD Radeon HD 8180  
VASSAL: 3.2.17  
Java: 1.8.0\_211-b11  
Module: Paths of Glory

Tried running to trouble shooting tool on in which recommended trying VASSAL on Windows 8 but that did not work either.

Appreciate any suggestions or help you can provide.  
thanks Bindusri

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**Author:** ![uckelman](https://forum.vassalengine.org/user_avatar/forum.vassalengine.org/uckelman/32/10020_2.png) [@uckelman](https://forum.vassalengine.org/u/uckelman)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/vassal-has-stopped-working-for-me/9991/3 "2019-09-08T23:34:06Z")

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What’s in your errorLog? [vassalengine.org/wiki/Error\_Logs](http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Error_Logs)

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**Author:** ![Bindusri](https://forum.vassalengine.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@Bindusri](https://forum.vassalengine.org/u/Bindusri)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/vassal-has-stopped-working-for-me/9991/4 "2019-09-12T13:33:55Z")

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Thanks uckelman, it contains:

2019-09-07 17:41:28,684 [0-main] INFO VASSAL.launch.StartUp - Starting  
2019-09-07 17:41:28,733 [0-main] INFO VASSAL.launch.StartUp - OS Windows 10 10.0  
2019-09-07 17:41:28,734 [0-main] INFO VASSAL.launch.StartUp - Java version 1.8.0\_221  
2019-09-07 17:41:28,735 [0-main] INFO VASSAL.launch.StartUp - VASSAL version 3.2.17  
2019-09-07 17:41:36,532 [0-AWT-EventQueue-0] INFO VASSAL.launch.ModuleManager - Manager  
2019-09-07 17:41:42,077 [0-main] ERROR VASSAL.tools.ErrorDialog -  
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Malformed \uxxxx encoding.  
at java.util.Properties.loadConvert(Unknown Source) ~[na:1.8.0\_221]  
at java.util.Properties.load0(Unknown Source) ~[na:1.8.0\_221]  
at java.util.Properties.load(Unknown Source) ~[na:1.8.0\_221]  
at VASSAL.preferences.Prefs.read(Prefs.java:192) ~[Vengine.jar:na]  
at VASSAL.preferences.Prefs.(Prefs.java:74) ~[Vengine.jar:na]  
at VASSAL.preferences.Prefs.getGlobalPrefs(Prefs.java:271) ~[Vengine.jar:na]  
at VASSAL.launch.ModuleManager.(ModuleManager.java:352) ~[Vengine.jar:na]  
at VASSAL.launch.ModuleManager.main(ModuleManager.java:183) ~[Vengine.jar:na]

Hope this means something to you.

cheers Bindusri

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**Author:** ![uckelman](https://forum.vassalengine.org/user_avatar/forum.vassalengine.org/uckelman/32/10020_2.png) [@uckelman](https://forum.vassalengine.org/u/uckelman)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/vassal-has-stopped-working-for-me/9991/5 "2019-09-13T21:49:43Z")

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Your global prefs file is corrupt. Look for prefs/V\_Global and either delete the file or edit out the offending character. You’ll find prefs in the same directory as VASSAL’s errorLog.

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**Author:** ![Bindusri](https://forum.vassalengine.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@Bindusri](https://forum.vassalengine.org/u/Bindusri)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 11:37am UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/vassal-has-stopped-working-for-me/9991/6 "2019-09-15T11:37:50Z")

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Thank you uckelman you have solved my problem.

cheers Bindusri