Bad surface type

[Smashy]

Hey all,

 

Getting onto silent server has been an issue.  Keep getting bad surface type message, or texture boots.  How do I fix?

[ZaZa]

I read somewhere (i think it was splash damage forum) that it's propably caused by bad .pk3 or a corrupted file but i'm not 100% sure. You can try running pk3 cleaner maybe it would help.

[RedBaird]

13 hours ago, ZaZa said:

splash damage forum)

 

I used the search term ... wolfenstein "Bad surface type" ... and it found 2 topics on Splash Damage forums, which confirms your idea.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=wolfenstein+"Bad+surface+type"

 

 

@Smashy It could be a *.pk3 file that you had picked up from another clan's server. ADDED:  or one got corrupted on your harddrive, but that is rare these days.

 

You can try running FA's PK3-Cleaner, by DareDevil.  Click on the "view file" banner to download the file.  It should remove all pk3's that are not from FA. 

 

 

Smashy, did this problem start recently?  I see that you have your S:ET in your profile, so you had to have connected at least once.  Oh, wait, you did not need to connect to an FA Silent server to get that value. 😄 

 

You can also see if there is a "silent_crash.log" in your silent folder.  If it is larger than 1kb, then it should have crash-data in it that might be helpful.  Sometimes the log only has the 'header line' in it and is useless.  😄  Each new crash overwrites the old file, so I add the date to the file and keep them.

 

 

 

Edited May 19 by RedBaird
ADDED line

[RedBaird]

The Silent#1 and Begin#2 records show you as on them for 6 and 14 minutes, respectively, today.

 

Were you getting dropped from the server?

 

 

[Smashy]

7 hours ago, RedBaird said:

The Silent#1 and Begin#2 records show you as on them for 6 and 14 minutes, respectively, today.

 

Were you getting dropped from the server?

 

 

As soon as it switches maps is when I get the error and cant reconnect! 

Edited May 19 by Smashy

[Smashy]

Could it be my config? 

[ZaZa]

Not sure, You can share it so we could check, but out of curiosity what's Your hunkmegs value?

Does it say anything else or just bad surface type?

And If You could check what RedBaird said previously (I will just copy/paste): You can also see if there is a "silent_crash.log" in your silent folder.  If it is larger than 1kb, then it should have crash-data in it that might be helpful.  Sometimes the log only has the 'header line' in it and is useless.    Each new crash overwrites the old file, so I add the date to the file and keep them.

Edited May 19 by ZaZa

[Smashy]

50 minutes ago, ZaZa said:

Not sure, You can share it so we could check, but out of curiosity what's Your hunkmegs value?

Does it say anything else or just bad surface type?

And If You could check what RedBaird said previously (I will just copy/paste): You can also see if there is a "silent_crash.log" in your silent folder.  If it is larger than 1kb, then it should have crash-data in it that might be helpful.  Sometimes the log only has the 'header line' in it and is useless.    Each new crash overwrites the old file, so I add the date to the file and keep them.

I played silent earlier no issue. It’s one map, bad surface type is fixed, I’ll have to sit on silent to get a screenshot.  Hunkmegs are 128,  what should they be? 

[ZaZa]

128 is good, i have hunkmegs at 128 too 

[Smashy]

Got the error this morning.  Only on silent server.  I also never play on any other servers accept for the occasion mis-click,. 

[ZaZa]

No idea to be honest.

On 5/19/2024 at 6:01 PM, Smashy said:

It’s one map

So it only happens during or after one specific map? If yes, then maybe try deleting that map from Your etmain folder so that it gets redownloaded, and possibly fixed.

[Smashy]

17 minutes ago, ZaZa said:

No idea to be honest.

So it only happens during or after one specific map? If yes, then maybe try deleting that map from Your etmain folder so that it gets redownloaded, and possibly fixed.

I’ll just delete them all I can’t figure out which is doing it.

[RedBaird]

After Smashy re-intalled ET, I noticed a difference between her S:ET GUIDs on the servers and in her profile.

 

I was double-checking the GUIDs in her profile and the one there did not seem to exist on the Silent servers?  I had assumed that she had made an error, BUT it turns out that the silent databases had 'lost' or corrupted her GUID, which acts as the index to records in the DB.

 

I have no idea how that could create a 'jpg texture error', but sometimes the error that is reported is only the first one that the software can "catch" and report.

 

I think that the server could read her silent.dat file, but the S:ET GUID generated from that could not actually be found on the server records.  It was still there in some records, but it could not act as an index into the database, so 🚅-wreck!

 

I added an explanation into her application, after I had previously posted that the S:ET GUID in her profile was wrong.  😄 

 

 

That topic might be "archived" in the future and disappear from public view, so I have copied it to a quote here.

 

Quote

48 minutes ago, Smashy said:
Weird I think it’s because I reinstalled ET to fix it.

 

======================================================

11 minutes ago, Redbaird said:

 

I figured that out when I went back to Begin#2 to search for your name and found the old S:ET, as in your profile, when I did that.  Only THEN did I remember your  "silent troubles!" 

Directly searching for your profile's 'old S:ET' gets a "not found' from the server.  Searching for your name does show it in the list of "Smashy" names.  Searching for the old S:ET with the parameter "aliases" and ALSO displays the 'old' S:ET GUID! 😮 

 

The old S:ET only exists in some of the server records!  😄  Perhaps some of the server's database records were corrupted.  

If the record was corrupted, then that might explain your troubles when trying to connect to the server.  The GUID existed and it Did Not Exist, at the same time. 😄

// correction, it did not exist as a Database Index value//

 

 There is no telling how the server might react to such an issue.  

 

==  Alias search for "smashy" on Beg#2 ==

                  == server times == 
ALIASSEARCH - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ( Total Results 5 )
__#__|_silEnT ID_|_____First Seen______|______Last Seen______|_____Time Played____|___Name__
   1 | on server | 2024-05-26 02:13:46 | 2024-05-26 02:22:17 |            9min 4s      | Smashy   == has level 5
   2 | on profile| 2024-05-18 01:13:47 | 2024-05-22 00:34:29 |        2h 7min 28s   | Smashy
   3 | hidden    | 2024-02-03 03:49:29 | 2024-05-09 03:50:32 |        8h 56min 3s   | Smashy
   4 | hidden    | 2024-04-12 18:21:54 | 2024-04-12 18:28:06 |           8min 57s     | SmashyScotsman
   5 | hidden    | 2023-11-23 01:15:28 | 2023-12-11 03:58:02 |        1h 4min 34s   | OGSmashy

I would have to do a more detailed search to prove any of those last five Smashy's are our Smashy! 😄
 
I hate to reinstall anything to "fix problems" but this is one time that it worked!  😮 If Smashy had saved her Silent.dat file, as she did with her etkey file, and then restored it after reinstalling, then I suspect that the same problem might have re-occurred.   // I would wonder if the silent.dat file got corrupted, but the Silent software should have caught that // 

 

 

Edited May 29 by RedBaird
delete a 'confused line'

[Smashy]

1 hour ago, RedBaird said:

After Smashy re-intalled ET, I noticed a difference between her S:ET GUIDs on the servers and in her profile.

 

I was double-checking the GUIDs in her profile and the one there did not seem to exist on the Silent servers?  I had assumed that she had made an error, BUT it turns out that the silent databases had 'lost' or corrupted her GUID, which acts as the index to records in the DB.

 

I have no idea how that could create a 'jpg texture error', but sometimes the error that is reported is only the first one that the software can "catch" and report.

 

I think that the server could read her silent.dat file, but the S:ET GUID generated from that could not actually be found on the server records.  It was still there in some records, but it could not act as an index into the database, so 🚅-wreck!

 

I added an explanation into her application, after I had previously posted that the S:ET GUID in her profile was wrong.  😄 

 

 

That topic might be "archived" in the future and disappear from public view, so I have copied it to a quote here.

 

 

Also, I didn’t know my et folder backup onto my cloud drive so when I deleted and reinstalled there were two versions of everything on my PC . Sorry for the f***ery! 

[RedBaird]

39 minutes ago, Smashy said:

two versions of everything on my PC

 

If you still have a copy of your 'original' Silent.dat file, I would be interested in looking at it! 😄 

 

It should just have 32 hexadecimal numbers in it.  That is a 'seed' value used to generate your actual Silent GUID.   Do not share it.  😄 

 

 

Edited May 29 by RedBaird
checked my silent.dat file contents