Characters Won't Load

[Alden Loveshade]

With GURPS Character Assistant 4 running, I tried to open a character I last saved in February 2010. I got the message "GCACharacter:ThisItemAffectsThatItem: Error 5: Invalid procedure call or argument." When I clicked OK on the message the program shut down. I tried the same thing with a character I last saved in GCA4 in December 2011. I got the same problem.

To try it differently, with the program shut down I tried opening one of the characters by double-clicking on it. GCA4 started loading, then gave me the same error message, and when I clicked OK it shut down.

I did Check for Update, and got "Your version of GURPS Character Assistant is up to date. However, please check here to make sure you have the most current versions of the data files."

The data files are ones I already have.

What can I do to call up my characters?

[Armin]

Despite the fact that Update tells you you're up to date, it actually sounds very much like your GCA is not actually up to date. The error message you're seeing is one we addressed in the recent updates.

If you have an e23 download, I'd suggest uninstalling GCA, then reinstalling from the e23 download. Otherwise, I'd suggest re-applying the Patcher. After either one, make sure your GCA is version 4.0.421. Then try loading the characters again.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Armin

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by Armin

Despite the fact that Update tells you you're up to date, it actually sounds very much like your GCA is not actually up to date. The error message you're seeing is one we addressed in the recent updates.

If you have an e23 download, I'd suggest uninstalling GCA, then reinstalling from the e23 download. Otherwise, I'd suggest re-applying the Patcher. After either one, make sure your GCA is version 4.0.421. Then try loading the characters again.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Armin

Thanks for your advice. Unfortunately....

I checked and it said my version is b4.0.421. But I did the patch anyway, and got the same problem.

REMOVING GCA4

So I did Add or Remove Programs, and removed GURPS Character Assistant 4 with the Automatic button checked (the options were Automatic, Custom, and Repair). Where it gave me a choice of Perform Rollback, and I chose Yes to perform a rollback. I then uninstalled it. But then when I checked Add or Remove Programs, GURPS Character Assistant 4 was still there. I did it again and this time chose No to Rollback. There were a couple files it said no program was using and did I want to delete them, and I did not delete them (sorry but I didn't write down what they were)

INSTALLING GCA4

I then downloaded GURPS Character Assistant.zip from SJGames e23, and reinstalled the program. It said it was version b4.0.421. I tried opening one of the older characters and got the same error message and the program closed.

I then did Check for Update! and got "Your version of GURPS Character Assistant is up to date. However, please check here to make sure you have the most current versions of the data files." I ran GCA 4 Patcher (4.0.421). I did not turn off my "Anti-Virus or Anti-Malware programs for the duration of the patch process" because my program recognized it as not being a problem. I got the message that it had been successfully installed.

I then tried opening up the character from December 2011 and got the same problem (the error message and then when I clicked OK the program shut down).

I then ran GCA 4 Data Update (6FEB2012). (By the way on each of these I closed everything that showed up under Windows Task Manager/Applications but nothing else.) It said it was successful.

For comparison I tried opening a character I had saved recently and it opened fine--but it had opened fine before. I then tried opening a character I had saved in December 2011. I got the same problem; the error message and then when I clicked OK the program closed.

REMOVING GCA4

I then uninstalled GURPS Character Assistant 4. This time I did not get a rollback message nor did I get a message asking me if I wanted to delete a couple of files that no program was using.

INSTALLING GCA4

I then downloaded GURPS Character Assistant.zip from SJGames e23, and reinstalled the program. It said it was version b4.0.421. I opened up GURPS Character Assistant and it told me that character I had saved recently was saved as a temporary file and did I want to open the temporary file? The fact it still had that listed after I uninstalled GCA4 tells me something of the program was left after I uninstalled it, but I don't know what. Perhaps that something is the problem.

I then tried opening a character I had saved in December 2011. I got the same problem; the error message and then when I clicked OK the program closed.

Any suggestions?

[Armin]

Nothing now occurs to me off the top of my head.

Please, pick one or two of the characters that won't load, ZIP them together, and email them to me at gca4 at misersoft dot com, and I will take a look at them to see if I can figure out what's going on here.

Please reference this thread or include:

"GCACharacter:ThisItemAffectsThatItem: Error 5: Invalid procedure call or argument." in 4.0.421

in the email body, so that I have some idea what the email is about.

Thanks,

Armin

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by Armin

Nothing now occurs to me off the top of my head.

Please, pick one or two of the characters that won't load, ZIP them together, and email them to me at gca4 at misersoft dot com, and I will take a look at them to see if I can figure out what's going on here.

Please reference this thread or include:

"GCACharacter:ThisItemAffectsThatItem: Error 5: Invalid procedure call or argument." in 4.0.421

in the email body, so that I have some idea what the email is about.

Thanks,

Armin

I just sent them. Thanks a lot for your help.

[Armin]

Originally Posted by Alden_Loveshade

I just sent them. Thanks a lot for your help.

Got them, thanks. I can confirm what you're seeing, so that's something. Unfortunately, I won't be able to delve into things until tomorrow morning, but hopefully I'll be able to figure out what's happening then.

Armin

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by Armin

Got them, thanks. I can confirm what you're seeing, so that's something. Unfortunately, I won't be able to delve into things until tomorrow morning, but hopefully I'll be able to figure out what's happening then.

Armin

Update: Armin actually looked at the problem Wednesday afternoon/evening, and then fixed it today. He not only fixed the two characters I sent to him, he also gave easy-for-me-to-understand directions for how I could easily fix any other characters that have the same problem.

Note that the problem was likely caused by me, although neither one of us knows what I did. But in spite of it likely being my fault, he fixed it quickly and graciously.

Kudos to Armin!