In the abstract, that’s a reasonable argument. In practice, however, doing it this way is going to cause confusion, as some TDs will install the December supplement assuming it is cumulative (as was always the case in the past). Personally, I think the non-cumulative file is pretty pointless, but if you’re going to dio it this way you should include a clear and detailed explanation on the download page of what each file is and does.
I tried this and all I get with either/or step 1 and 2 is a message to insert disk 1 (following step 2) or insert disk 2 (following setp 1). I don’t have a disk, just the downloaded and unzipped files on my C drive in a folder.
Tim
Point well taken regarding the descriptions of the files, John, I’ll pass that on to the office.
The supplement download page has not been ported over to the ‘new’ website yet, as unimpressed as I am with the way the lists of available files on the financial documents and USCF forms pages appear, I’m in no major hurry to do so, as that would probably diminish the amount of description we can provide for each file rather than increase it.
Tim, I think when you get that message you’re supposed to use the browse option to select the TARSFLE1.DBF file, wherever you unzipped it. This step is a holdover from the days when we were sending out supplement files on floppy drives and most computers had floppy drives, which is also why the 2007 Annual List has 4 TARSFLEn.DBF files in it.
I don’t know if Tom plans to change how that works on the next version of WinTD, there may still be TDs out there with older computers that have floppy drives, I suppose.
If we changed the way we build the supplement update files so that there was always just ONE file (TARSFLE1.DBF) would this cause problems for any TDs?
Mike,
I know all that; however, when I tried to follow the directions posted here using the same routine I have used for a long time off of my C drive with unzipped files (no floppy drives for me!) I suddendly got those silly disk 1 and disk 2 messages (silly because I have used the C drive and same folder for years now to update the USCF data base using WinTD).
All I know is that my WinTD is now useless. USCF changed their files. Estima has not jumped on the badwagon to respond to that change. I am the user caught in the middle.
Did anyone update their files with SwissSys without a hitch?
Tim
We haven’t changed the file definitions or the way the supplement ZIP file is supposed to be built, but the ZIP file for December still has an error in it.
Hopefully Darrell will get a corrected file uploaded today.
Well, the good news for me is that I took a chance and did what Allen did; i.e., I simply downloaded and unzipped the golden database for December. I realize that I had issues with getting earlier Golden data bases to work with WinTD but this time it was slick as grease! Thanks to Allen for teaching this old dog a new trick that he thought he was not going to be able to learn.
Mike–thanks for listening to all of our trials with this month’s download, even if it is not your responsibility. As usual you are the consummate pro.
Tim
Darrell has uploaded a corrected December file, can someone please test it to make sure it works?
He’s also made some changes to the descriptions that will hopefully make things a bit clearer as to what data each set of files contains.
I, too, just love the annual database, so I really don’t need this file, but…
I downloaded the new file and now I get a different error.
I get a “Insert disk 2. OK when ready” popup prompt. I click OK and and it just comes back. So, no go on this one. 
Ditto
Tim
I don’t think that has anything to do with a problem with the file itself, but you may want to drop a note to Tom Doan about it.
I did. I used the annual list, though. I couldn’t see any real reason to use the December supplement instead.
Alex Relyea
I had to wait until I got home to check. I updated the December supplement on 11/12/07 using SwissSys and had no problems.
I still have the zipped download file if needed for comparsion purposes.
Does that make sense that the Dec supplement was available that early?
That is the date on the file. I’m pretty sure it is correct because I updated the Nov supplement at the same time and it has the same date, file wise.
I had the same problem when I tried to update tonight. I ended up going with the Golden database instead, which worked fine.
– Hal Terrie
I thought I would redownload the Dec supplement to see if it would work with Swiss Sys. The file I downloaded originally had 4 dbf files in them and had a zip file size of 1699kb. The new file has only 1 dbf file and is 293 kb.
With Swiss Sys I don’t think you would get the asking for disk thing because you simply import each dbf file one at a time and then index them after you have done them all.
Question: If an organizer loads the December list (monthly or annual) and then tries to load the Golden “over” it, will he lose the provisional game count for those players who were in the December list?
This question may have two answers, one for WinTD and one for Swis-Sys.
Bill Smythe
Bill,
I believe that the Golden Data Base is a separate stand alone cumulative file and different from December 2007 file. It is my experience that the December list would overwrite the appropriate data in whatever file a TD is currently using (the one the software is set to use). The Golden Data Base is a stand alone cumulative file that is separate from any file used by the TDs software and does not overwrite any other file. The software settings need to be changed in the pairings programs to switch to the Golden Data Base.
Tim
In WinTD, I can have the two different files (golden and cumulative) in two different directories, and then point to the one I want.
One option could be to do the golden (to get the full database regardless of whether or not a player has actually played) and then following with the annual (to get the number of games). In recent years I generally do not have a reason to be concerned about the number of games, so I don’t bother with the extra step but rather just go with the most recent golden.
I’ve uploaded another version of the December supplement file (RS0712.zip), which I think will eliminate the latest error.
It certainly did. Good job, Mike.