BUG prevents relaunch of "Recent" games over LAN (solved in build 1698)

[dlanor]

I found a bug in the Windows builds after 0.9.1-839 preventing games that were launched over LAN from being relaunched properly using their entry in the "Recent" game list. The games are still displayed with the proper icon in the list (proving that the file access is working), but every attempt to relaunch the game from that link results in a PPSSPP error message stating "Error loading file: error reading file." This bug has stayed with us through all builds since then, including the last one I've tested (build 1676).

I believe that error message is nonsense, caused by a pre-launch file test that simply doesn't work right for this kind of LAN filepath string. So it deems a perfectly good filepath to be invalid, and refuses to allow its use in a relaunch.

I tried to pinpoint which version this problem first appeared in, but that was made difficult by the fact that the buildbot doesn't offer a Windows binary for every build number. But the bug occurred somewhere in between build 839 and build 863, for both of which I've tested the buildbot amd64 binaries.

Test example: (one of many such tests)

The line below is from ppsspp.ini as used in testing both 839 and 863

FileName0 = //Ra1/g/_ISO_PSP/Working on PS3/Disgaea - Afternoon of Darkness.iso

That line was created by build 863, at a successful run of the game.
After exiting back to PPSSPP menu I tried to relaunch the game from its icon in the "Recent" list which failed. I then quit from build 863 and opened its ppsspp.ini file in an editor and copied this FileName0 line, after which I pasted it into the corresponding position of the ppsspp.ini file for build 839. I then launched PPSSPP build 839 and verified that launch of the game through this entry in the "Recent" list works fine.
(NB: Testing needs to be done in the given order, as build 839 still didn't process the filepath according to current standard, to enforce forward slashes.)

Conclusion:
Somewhere between builds 839 and 863 something has been added that prevents relaunch of a game over LAN using its "Recent" list entry. I believe it is most likely the routine that tests the validity of the filepath which does that incorrectly. (If the path string was used untested it would work !!!)

Since this bug appeared shortly after the decision to force filepaths to use forward slashes, it's possible that a new file validity test routine added around the same time may still have been coded with an assumption of backward slashes (for the Windows builds).

Btw:
I really should have spotted this bug earlier, since I'm the one who originally suggested using forward slashes in all paths (for more consistent cross-platform usage). But ever since then I've been focusing mostly on Android devices for my PPSSPP use, so I've neglected testing it properly on a PC for quite a while...

Edit:
I'm also opening a github issue about this problem.

Best regards: dlanor

[TheDax]

You've probably seen it already, but I made a pull request which should fix this, so feel free to try it out once it's up on the build bot.

[dlanor]

(10-11-2013 11:28 PM)daxtsu Wrote:  You've probably seen it already, but I made a pull request which should fix this, so feel free to try it out once it's up on the build bot.

Actually I had not noticed it until you now told me about it in your reply, as I've spent some of the time since my last post in bed (it's now appx 6:30 AM here, and it was appx 2:30 AM when you made your reply).

Checking the buildbot page now I see that build 1698 should be the one where your 'pull' was merged, but for some odd reason that was only built for Android, and it needs to be tested under Windows. So I'll test it with the latest release instead, that currently being build 1708. I'll be back a bit later with results of that test.

Thanks for the quick response to the issue!

Best regards: dlanor

[TheDax]

No problem. It worked for the cheesy test case I came up with(I shared a folder on my network on this PC and then accessed it on the same PC via \\MYPCNAME\shareme) and it seemed to work once I fixed the dumb typo, so in theory it should work for you, too.

[dlanor]

(10-12-2013 03:45 AM)daxtsu Wrote:  No problem. It worked for the cheesy test case I came up with(I shared a folder on my network on this PC and then accessed it on the same PC via \\MYPCNAME\shareme) and it seemed to work once I fixed the dumb typo, so in theory it should work for you, too.

Yes, it does work fine now.

I have all my ISO files stored on a dual-core WinXPpro_x86 computer that used to be my main PC until I bought my current quad-core (i7) computer which I use with Win7pro_x64. The latter is the one I use for PPSSPP, while loading all the game ISOs from the older computer. (I do the same with PS1 and PS2 ISOs too, for ePSXe and PCSX2 respectively.)

PPSSPP build 1708 (and others with your new fix) now handles this perfectly both for direct launch from "Load" file selector (which always worked) and for the relaunches from the "Recent" game list which failed earlier.

Edit: I've just been to github again, where I closed this issue as solved.
I've also renamed this thread to indicate its solved status.

Best regards: dlanor

[TheDax]

Good to hear. Thanks for replying back.

[vnctdj]

Problem resolved, so I can close this thread

Closed.