quake/articles/1997/art-1044
Path: mantis!not-for-mail
From: andrew@minos.co.uk (Andrew Brennand)
Newsgroups: rec.games.computer.quake.announce
Subject: QW, time-travel, chicken fat.
Followup-To: rec.games.computer.quake.servers
Date: 4 Feb 1997 11:50:29 -0000
Organization: MINOS Games Ltd.
Lines: 43
Sender: moderate@jobstream.co.uk
Approved: quake@mantis.co.uk
Message-ID: <32f67702.37642716@news.mantis.co.uk>
Reply-To: andrew@minos.co.uk
Hi,
The European QW master has encountered the cursed 'filegrow' bug. The
users.dat file grew from a modest 10Mb to a really rather irksome
800Mb sometime over the weekend.
Although the QW Master is still functioning normally, the users.dat
file (the one that contains all acount information) is too large to
back up, and way too big to open. This is why QW stats have not been
updated. This is why we are going to have to... turn back time.
We are restoring the QW user.dat file from a backup. This means that
all QW accounts numbered 8501 to 10455 inclusive will be wiped. We
apologise for this. There just ain't nowt you can do with a file
that's 800Mb in size.
Therefore, anyone who had a user account between 8501 and 10455 at
9.50pm on Monday 3/2/97 will have to recreate their user account. This
will mean you will get a new number.
As for the rest of you... well we know some of you had a bad week in
QW, so maybe losing the last few days scores will do you the power of
good! As soon as the QW gurus update the data-storage mechanism for
QW we will move over to a more robust system. Total downtime for this
whole affair was 10 mins on Monday night.
As for the 800Mb file? MINOS experts theorise that the entire genome
of a hybrid Quake player which combines all the best traits of our
10000 users was created. We are using the genetic information to
culture the next generation of quake super-players in a large vat of
chicken fat in our back yard.
All enquiries about lost or changed account data should be sent to
qw@minos.co.uk.
Adios!
Andrew.
~~~~~
MINOS
t 01223 508532
f 01223 500601