[Joren]

Guess what? I found a bug.

I tried using Process Monitor to examine where it was trying to write a file. Here's the summary: Because the expected save location is in the Documents folder, the game tries to get the path to my user Documents folder.

However, my user name is in Unicode, and apparently this game does not handle Unicode correctly. My Windows Vista profile name is ジョーレン　コームズ, but SBCG4AP has decided to creat an alternate reality, where it doesn't have to spell correctly, mangling my user name from ジョーレン　コームズ to　ヘョーレン　ビームペ.

I did notice in Process Monitor that all the path and file names seem to have been formatted to be lowercase. Is it possible that some kind of string formatting function is being used, which doesn't know what to do with Japanese Katakana? Here are the two strings side by side so you can see where it went wrong.

ジョーレン　コームズ
ヘョーレン　ビームペ

ジョ became ヘョ, コ became ビ, and ズ became ペ.



So for anyone else out there who has this problem and wants a short term fix, there are two things you can do:

If you're The Cheat:

1. Use "Procmon" by Sysinternals to monitor the game and figure out what user name it is trying to write to. Note any "PATH NOT FOUND" errors.

2. You will want to create a junction inside your C:\Users folder. (C:\Documents and Settings in XP or 2K) The link's name should be the misspelled username found above, and the link's target should be your correct user folder.

To make this link, in Vista you can use the command prompt. There's a command called mklink. In XP or 2K, you should download NTFS Link.


If you're Homestar Runner:

1. Just use a different Windows profile with a non-Unicode name. Of course this profile should be an administrator. It's less complicated, but it's not as cool and you don't get as much street cred.


Long-term Solution

SBCG4AP is gonna need to learn how to spell. Can I have my Grumblecakes now?


-- Joren