[comp.sys.mac.games] Spaceward Ho! 1.1 sort of bug

gt4586c@prism.gatech.EDU (WILLETT,THOMAS CARTER) (02/15/91)

I discovered a sort of a bug with Spaceward Ho! version 1.1 i'd like to share
so you'll know how to avoid the problem.  I made a partion of my hard drive
specifically for games and i kept it small so i wouldn't waste too much
space with games.  after i loaded spaceward ho i only had around 150K left.
i started playing a game and all went well for a few thousand years, and 
then suddenly the game refused to update my turn.  the year would progress
but none of my ship movements would be carried out.  It turns out that
the problem was that my hard drive had run out of room.  Even when you don't
specifically command a save of your game, the program is constantly writing
to the hard drive after each turn to update the current status, and it 
writes a new file before deleting the old one.  if you don't have enough
disk space, it can't write the new one and it won't update your turn
correctly.  You should keep around at least a spare 300K of disk space
since the save files can get up over 100K and you need room for two of them
to coexist however briefly.

I called Delta Tau about it but i don't know if its a problem that will
get fixed.  At the very least it should detect a "no disk space" error and
inform you about the problem.

Other than that, I think its a fantastic game.


-- 
thomas willett 
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta  
gt4586c@prism.gatech.edu
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." - Salvor Hardin (Foundation)