I am having fits trying to load the December supplement into WinTD. It is getting to about 70% complete on the update and then stops with a Windows error. I cannot get any description of the nature of the error from the computer diagnostics. Is anyone else having such a problem?
We received a similar query by email a few days ago. I have asked the office to verify that the December supplement works correctly with WinTD, but I have not yet heard back on that request.
Have you tried contacting Tom Doan on the Estima site?
I went out and downloaded the Golden Dec 07 database and then replaced my entire USCF file to solve the problem.
Walter Brown has reported that he had no problems loading the December Supplement into Version 4.03 of WinTD.
Glad you found a workaround solution. (Loading a new Gold Master periodically is highly recommended anyway, that gives you new members plus the updated expiration dates for those who have renewed but not had a ratings change.)
My December supplement also fails to load at the 70% level in WinTD V4.02. I have never used the golden data base as my version of WinTD does not work with it.
Tim
Hmmm… I fear I have the same version as Tim. Has anyone had any luck loading the December Supplement with WinTD v4.01 or v 4.02?
- Enrique
Just for the record I have 4.03
I, too, have version 4.03 and I can confirm that the program gives a windows error at 70%. Looks like maybe a reissue would be a good idea.
Is there any further news regarding the Dec. Supplement crashing at 70% or a re-issued file for download?
- Enrique
Darrell does those, I’ve asked him to regenerate the file and post it today, but I don’t know if the office has the version of WinTD that it is apparently crashing on to test it.
I also don’t know what’s causing the problem.
I’ve contacted Tom Doan. (I also asked Darrell to leave the old file available for download so that Tom can get a copy if he needs it to test.)
Am I correct that this is only with the December monthly file, not with the 2007 Annual List or with the latest Golden Master file?
Darrell tells me there is a new copy of the December file posted, please let us know if that solves the problem. (The old one is still out there but marked as ‘bad’.)
No matter how often you hear it, it’s never enough… THANK YOU!
- Enrique
On a slightly different topic, I just now went to download the December Supplement/Annual List and noticed that these were separate files. What’s the difference?
Alex Relyea
I assume the difference is that “Annual” is cumulative and the “Supplement” is not. But this raises the question of why anyone would not want to use the cumulative. I suppose it might make a tiny difference if you’re using dialup, but the difference in file size is small, and how many people use dialup these days?
Using WinTD 4.02 the Dec 2007 Supplement (new) crashed at 70% during the update.
I followed the earlier advice and loaded the Golden Database.
- Enrique
At one time Mike Nolan said that there was a slight format difference and only with the supplement would you get all of the information for the recently changed players (my slightly suspect memory is that the supplement gave the number of games for a provisional player). They may no longer be different.
The monthly and the 2007 Annual files have the same format, the Gold Master file uses a different format, one that doesn’t include the provisional game count. (I’m not sure why the Gold Master file was defined that way, someone else created that format.)
A ‘unified’ file format is still in the works, but that task keeps getting bogged down and pushed down the priority list.
BTW, Tom Doan has identified the problem with the December monthly update file.
When unzipped there will be 4 files named TARSFLE1.DBF, TARSFLE2.DBF, TARSFLE3.DBF and TARSFLE4.DBF. The 2, 3 and 4 files should not be there (I think they’re probably left over from when the 2007 annual file was being zipped up.)
I’ve asked Darrell to rebuild the zip file, but in the mean time here’s a workaround:
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Delete the TARSFLE2.DBF, TARSFLE3.DBF and TARSFLE4.DBF files
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Edit the tadskcnt.dat file to have the number 1 in it, rather than 4.
I haven’t tried this, but I’m pretty sure that will work.
Followup: Tom Doan says that step 1 is unnecessary, changing the count in the tadskcnt.dat file to 1 should be sufficient.
I’d still like to know exactly what the difference is between RS0712 and RS07Annual. Note that I do not want a description of the file structure. I want to now what the difference in result will be if I install one or the other in my existing database.
If I am correct that one of them is cumulative and one is not, I’d still like to know what the point is of creating a non-cumulative version.
My apologies, I misread your original question as referring to a difference in the golden format (which Mike clarified).
If memory serves, the monthly has the changes since the last monthly and the annual has all the changes since the last annual. If you’ve been steadily updating each month then the monthly should work. If you’ve skipped some months then the annual could be more appropriate. I believe that both monthly and annual are limited to changes based on played games, so if you want to get membership changes that have occurred with no games being played then the golden is an option.
The December monthly file is for those who only need to update their computer for ratings that have changed between the issuance of the November list and the issuance of the December list. That’s about 13,000 members, as I recall.
The 2007 annual list has about 95,000 members on it, everyone whose rating has changed since the issuance of the 2006 Annual List 12 months ago. (People use the annual file for things other than updating their computer, so I think it is important to issue it each year, that’s also why it isn’t at the top of the list.)
The Gold Master has about 680,000 members on it, and has everyone, including those who did not have a ratings change in the last 12 months (or who do not have a rating at all.)
Personally, when I’m running an event, I always just get the latest Gold Master file, I don’t bother with annual files, semi-annual cumulative files or monthly files. But I’ve got two broadband Internet connections here (cable modem and DSL) and lots of disk space. We still have TDs using relatively slow dialup connections and modems, they might prefer to get the monthly file (which should be less than a megabyte once the corrected ZIP file is uploaded) rather than a file which is much larger.