Here’s me trying to open three different games: Violet, Wishbringer, and Zork I.
Last login: Wed Nov 13 14:43:34 on ttys000
/Applications/Spatterlight.app/Contents/MacOS/Spatterlight ; exit;
sue@solfar ~ % /Applications/Spatterlight.app/Contents/MacOS/Spatterlight ; exit;
2024-11-15 15:58:56.237 Spatterlight[58624:7216033] could not get directory contents at file:///Users/sue/Library/Containers/net.ccxvii.spatterlight/Data/Library/FontCollections: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=256 "The file “FontCollections” couldn’t be opened." UserInfo={NSURL=file:///Users/sue/Library/Containers/net.ccxvii.spatterlight/Data/Library/FontCollections, NSFilePath=/Users/sue/Library/Containers/net.ccxvii.spatterlight/Data/Library/FontCollections, NSUnderlyingError=0x600002286df0 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=20 "Not a directory"}}
2024-11-15 15:59:04.333 Spatterlight[58624:7216033] +[IMKClient subclass]: chose IMKClient_Modern
2024-11-15 15:59:04.333 Spatterlight[58624:7216033] +[IMKInputSession subclass]: chose IMKInputSession_Modern
2024-11-15 15:59:10.046 Spatterlight[58624:7216033] Bookmark is stale! New location: /Users/sue/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox/infocom/blorb/Violet.zblorb
2024-11-15 15:59:10.113 Spatterlight[58624:7216033] signatureFromFile: File too small to make signature!
E
Xo2024-11-15 15:59:14.554 Spatterlight[58624:7216033] signatureFromFile: File too small to make signature!
E
Xo2024-11-15 15:59:22.630 Spatterlight[58624:7216033] signatureFromFile: File too small to make signature!
E
Xo2024-11-15 15:59:25.687 Spatterlight[58624:7216033] signatureFromFile: File too small to make signature!
E
Xo
Thanks! It would have been a little more helpful if I had thought to include the name of the file in the error message.
Anyway, my guess is that it means that Spatterlight thinks that the game file data is zero bytes, because the system refuses to let it read from the CloudStorage/Dropbox directory.
I suppose I will have to get a Dropbox account in order to continue investigating this.
No, the files are really there, and not online-only.
To make things even stranger, I went through and tried starting every game in my library, to make the bug go away… and only the last 27 (not 24, not 32) games will now start without another one of the most recent ones already running.
The "<RET> E <RET> <SPACE> Xo" bit at the end of every error message is interesting, too – almost as if it were trying to print something that isn’t actually a string.
I don’t think I’m going to solve this tonight. Still, I’m a little curious if there are any relevant log messages in the Console app when a game fails to run.
“Absolutely nothing” sounds strange. Unless you mean absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Are you sure you are looking in the right place? These are the messages I get when I run a game in Spatterlight:
@sue I’d like to get this fixed, but I’m having a little trouble replicating your setup. Perhaps we could continue the discussion in the Github issue report?
It should be able to read the graphics from the single-file Journey .zblorb version, and also fixes many other issues with how my Bocfel hacks handled blorb files.
It also adds a little better handling for when files can’t be read to create signatures. It does not address the core issue of sometimes not being able to read files handled by Dropbox / File Provider, but it might give better error messages.
It would be great if @sue, @dfabulich and others could give it a spin.
@Angstsmurf - I just tried Spatterlight v1.2.8b with just the “journey-r83-s890706-graphics.zblorb” alone in a folder and it appears to work fine with graphics loading.
Would you like me to try it with any other game file | graphic file combinations?
Thanks! I suppose it is mainly a matter of autorestoring games that use blorb resources, moving the game files to a new location before opening them again, deleting external blorb files, and so on. Basically anything you can think of that might make it crash.
That is interesting. I can’t think of any reason why there would be a difference, and when I try it I keep getting the latter result, no matter what combination of Zork Zero and Spatterlight versions. In Gargoyle the header image just flashes and disappears. Something is apparently still broken.
Update regarding the Dropbox file access problem, for those that don’t follow along on Github: It seems that @sue is using Dropbox with File Provider support, which Dropbox won’t let me install on my computer, and won’t say why. "You are not eligible for the new Dropbox for macOS on File Provider at this time” the app tells me. I tried asking about this at the official Dropbox forum, and got a response from “Dropbox Staff” that seemed unwilling to give me more information, except to confirm that I wasn’t eligible.
In other words, I can’t really test this. I tried using the old fashioned, non-File-Provider Dropbox, but I couldn’t reproduce any file access problems. All games seemed to run as they should, even from an external HDD.
I see the same message, for what it’s worth. (I’m on the latest MacOS version.) The web site says
Some macOS users with complex configurations won’t be migrated at this time. These users will continue on their existing Dropbox experience.
It doesn’t say what “complex” means. I could start guessing but eh, it would just be guessing.
I suppose you could try installing a different cloud service that uses the File Provider API. E.g. Google Drive Desktop. Who knows whether that would reproduce the issue, though.
