American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Some club members have begun experiencing a problem saving game files. It appears as though something has been introduced via a recent Windows Update which causes copied/saved files to be marked "Read Only". Since files and folders use the same routines, this also applies to the latter. It is also unknown whether this applies to all previous Windows versions or just 10. This discussion will be confined to BTE files.

The issue manifests when one tries to save a turn with the moves they have made. A message displays "Unable to open file". Open a new window outside the game. Open the Windows file/folder directory structure. Find the BTE file in question in the main game folder. Right click on the name and then select Properties from list displayed (at the bottom). At the bottom of the next screen under the General tab, find the attribute Read Only. The box is likely to be checked. Uncheck and Apply. Then click OK. Go back into the game and try saving the turn again. If you still receive an error message, then exit the game. You will not be able to save and will need to redo your move.

I would suggest checking each file before you begin your moves to determine if the BTE file is marked Read Only.

2/17 See separate reply below

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MG Robert Frost

Thanks for the heads up.

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General Ernie Sands
President ACWGC -Sept 2015- Dec 2020
7th Brigade, 1st Division, XVI Corps, AoT
ACWGC Records Site Admin

"If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there."

This use to be an issue only if the games were installed in the default "Program Files" area. Is this now happening on games stored in user created folders as well?

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General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)

To Kennon's question: Yes

This is unrelated to that issue. The finger of guilt points to a recent Windows Update. I have noted 2 updates for 64-bit versions in the last 2-3 weeks. This is when I and others began experiencing the problem.

Of course, if one does not have Windows 10, or does not have Automatic Updating turned on, then one will probably not have the problem.

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MG Robert Frost

So far I haven't seen the problems on my Windows 10 install which I have been using since September of last year. However, I did do a clean install which removes any trace of older versions of Windows.

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General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)

If one is experiencing the issue described in this post, please indicate when you first encountered and whether this is persistent or random.

It could be that only some club members will have the problem, but, if all running Windows 10, it would be difficult to explain why.

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MG Robert Frost

I've not experienced the problem running Windows 10 with automatic updates with scenarios from three different games.

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General Mark Nelms

3/2/XX/AoC "Blackhawk Brigade"

Union Military Academy Instructor

2/17 I have spent the last 2-3 days on the Microsoft forums researching the recent updates and postings made concerning same. Apparently these updates made some rather significant changes to Microsoft Office 365 suite involving file security. Should you be using Word, Excel, etc. personally, you may encounter them, but for purposes of passing game files only ACWGC members using Outlook Mail will be affected. With Ken Miller's help I was able to observe the source of the Read-only situation.

An email attachment (BTE or ZIP) Saved from Outlook Mail assumes a Read-only attribute. This is apparently to prevent online editing and the potential of spreading malware. It forces the user to copy the file to their respective machine in order to edit. This is not a bug. Outlook users need to be aware of this change. If a BTE is received and saved, it will be marked Read-only and one will need to turn off this attribute -- every time. If, however, the BTE is contained in a compressed folder, the Open option can be selected and the BTE copied to the game folder as per usual. If the user saves the ZIP file then it will be marked Read-only, but this is meaningless.

Bottom line: ZIP your BTE files before sending to another player. No way of knowing whether other email platforms will adopt this type of security approach.

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MG Robert Frost

That would explain why I haven't seen the problem. Got so feed up with slowness of Outlook I went back to Live Mail.

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General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)

My computer updated to Windows 10 yesterday. All games ran fine until a security update this morning. Now I am experiencing the problems described in your post. Has anyone developed a solution that does not require changing the attributes of the .bte file?

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Brigadier General Dwain Cunningham
3rd Brigade/3rd Division
II Corps/AofT/CSA

It seems that ZIPPING the .bte file prevents a change to the file.

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General Ernie Sands
President ACWGC -Sept 2015- Dec 2020
7th Brigade, 1st Division, XVI Corps, AoT
ACWGC Records Site Admin

"If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there."

As General Sands states sending the BTE in a compressed file is the only means of preventing it being marked Read-only. Since this is MS intention, it is unlikely that anything will change.

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MG Robert Frost

Club users of Outlook Mail

I have noticed over the last couple of weeks that BTE files are no longer being marked Read Only. Why the change is of no concern to me. Maybe MS received unfavorable feedback on a number of fronts for different products.

I will leave it to the Powers That Be to determine whether this should continue to be flagged as an issue. Apparently it is not.

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MG Robert Frost