I've recently installed the Ambitions EP, patched the game up to current, uninstalled the old CAW tool, and reinstalled the latest version.. and ever since doing so I'm encountering a pretty severe collection of errors. The first and foremost of these is CAW's refusal to load up any and all previously saved world files from the project in question, regardless of renaming. Another error is the save failure, but that was usually easily fixed by saving to a new file; the difference since installing Ambitions is the fact that CAW will crash following every save failure when it previously would allow for another attempt.

I've pumped my very blood into this project and while it is possible to rebuild/replace everything missing from the old back-up version over the course of an hour or so.. it forces me to do all edits in a single sitting of work and pray that there isn't a save failure.

Any help concerning this error and how to make it go away would be much appreciated.

Here's a screenshot of the error message when trying to load up one of re-edited (sourced from the only working back-up) worlds:

Would really like SOME SORT OF help concerning this.. :/

Have you moved the folder? Are you doing this from recent files? More info is needed to solve this. I think one of the issues we came across was that the CAW for Ambitions wasn't on the CAW page, it was on the site on the top menu under games. They really should name them so that people don't make that mistake. Go take a look again and see if you have the right CAW, 9 times out of ten that is the issue

Failing all that, reinstall your old CAW again, then save the world somewhere safe, like a different folder. Then do the install of CAW and try to open it again

I never use the "recent file" menu function to retrieve my files, if that's what you mean; I always search out and select my files myself. Whenever I save my project, I do so under a new name, and the only folders/files I have moved are the particular ones which actually do still open in CAW; and I do this for the sake of safe-guarding them against this problem. I reinstalled CAW twice since this problem started popping up, so I'm positive I have the most current for Ambitions.

Have you tried loading up other worlds after saving them? Try using SunsetValley_Lite, make some edits and save. Is this error then reproduced?

I added some trees and a single lot to SunsetValley_Lite, saved, and the error didn't reproduce upon closing the world and reopening it.

.. And the error still occurs when trying to open my "Project Hollow_Y4" world file even after moving the respective folder and file elsewhere in My Documents.

I'm having the same issue after letting the patch install, and installing late night. None of my old files will open. The error message is different, it's the "corrupt files" error. I've just started doing some reasearch to find a solution, so If I find anything, anywhere, I'll post back here Carrot.

I waited to install the new updates until after I finished Spooky Town. So glad I did now. If I don't find any information, I think I'll try to put it on a new map I've saved with the new update using s3pe. I haven't done it before, but there's always a first.

Hmm. I've been working on a world since September and have not had any issues re-opening it after installing Late Night.


OP, have you tried clearing the cache files in the Create a World folder under My Documents?

@auntielynds: Unfortunately, I've already tried to reverse engineer an exported version of the "Project Hollow_Y4" world file into a fresh world file using the S3PE method and it hasn't worked for me. It gives me the exact same error as if nothing was changed at all, sadly. I'm searching other forums for a solution, too, so I'll be sure to share my findings if they're of any help at all.

@Jasumi: I've been working on my world ever since CAW was initially released, and this is the first time it's given me such an issue. I've bought Late Night on its release day, but have waited to install it for fear of worsening my situation with CAW.. and also since I like to wait until the patch to patch the first patch on any EP is released. Do you think that the Late Night version of CAW might fix this error? Or should I simply try downloading the CAW.exe off of the official site again and reinstalling just to see if anything changes?

.. And, yes, I've cleared the CAW caches multiple times to see if that might get rid of the error with no luck whatsoever.

Do they have more than one version of Caw to download?

I downloaded what I thought was the new one for Late Night from the "Free Stuff"; Create a World section on the EA site. Is there another one?

My version #; 15.0.0.498

@auntielynds: I just re-downloaded the CAW.exe from the site to see if the version had changed and it hasn't. It reads 15.0.0.498 also.

I got mine to work using Large Address Aware. I have no idea why it suddenly decided it need extra ram to run, but there you go.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=112556

@auntielynds: I'll download that and give it a try to see if it fixes my problem. I'll edit this post with the results.

EDIT // It seems to have worked for future saves, but the files which refuse to open are still displaying the same error, unfortunately. So, it's my guess that the file itself was corrupted somehow during a save from the 2GB RAM ceiling. Thanks for the help, though.

I think you should try getting a memocleaner to prevent CAW from using too much RAM. I use one myself.

I have around 3.5GB of RAM and regularly shutdown my background tasks when I'm doing my world building, so I take precautions to keep things under control.

I did some additional testing with the SunsetValley_Lite world and discovered something that may or may not be the source for the error. Repeated saves didn't reproduce the error upon reopening whatsoever, but.. I proceeded to use EIG and, when the editor unexpectedly crashed (i tried to place a lot using the feature added with the Ambitions patch, which triggered it) soon thereafter. I'm not sure if it was just coincidence or not, or if it may have been the 2GB RAM ceiling that induced the crash while using EIG. At any rate, that version of the SunsetValley_Lite world now displays the same error as ProjectHollow_Y4 after the crash; the world was not saved, yet it now has the error.

Hopefully, this can narrow down the definite source to the problem. I'll try to see if I can recreate the crash in EIG a second time with another SunsetValley_Lite copy. It's a shame that the current version of my project seems to be unrecoverable unless the Late Night update (when released) fixes anything with the CAW itself.