locked out of game

this is probably just me doing something wrong, but every time I try to load my game, it says: "as a demo user, you do not have access to this level". I am a demo user, but when I saved the game, I was on Lomond and about to finish! plz help!

Hmmm, what? I wonder if this is a new bug introduced in the 1.1.1 version, I just don't see how this happened. Did you try the level editor perhaps?

Check your Savegame.ini file first (search in the 'settings' subfolder); under [General] there should be your current location, if it's not Lomond maybe it was somehow changed and you can edit it manually. If that's not the case, chances are the 'Demo Access' attribute value in the Planet.ini file of Lomond was altered or removed.

Welcome to the Forum! Too bad the reason for you joining had to be an unfortunate bug.

@nifflas: I thought it could be that, but I'm still using 1.0...

@AA:the 'savegame' folder is empty, but the game still says I have a saved game in slot A.
and hi to you too 

now it won't let me start a new game! am I going to have to upgrade? coz I cant 

What do you mean it could be 'that'? In case you used the editor you will void the level's demo access, which means you'll have to re-install the game or get the original Map.bin for the level.

The fact that the savegame folder is empty but a savegame still exists sounds a lot like you installed a non-portable build over a portable version, or vice versa. The zip and installer builds of the game stores data very differently, the installer sticks to every Windows standard while the zip stays within it's own application folder. You must be a quite good computer user to know all the standards, but generally not much should be able to go wrong unless the portable and non portable versions are mixed...

 

What do you mean it could be 'that'?

sorry, when I said 'that' I was talking about:

Hmmm, what? I wonder if this is a new bug introduced in the 1.1.1 version

as far as i know, I only installed the non-portable version. and i didn't even know there was a map editor.  Also, the planet.ini file for Lomond says:
Demo Access=F24D8B205861EC7AEA1E27761F4AB775
and the .inis for all the planets I previously visited contain something similar. I am using XP SP3 If it helps.
thankyou for your time, I know you're very busy  
and just ask if you need more info.

Sorry, i had wrongly assumed you had the portable version. Check in '\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Application Data\Nifflas\Saira': the save file should be somewhere in there. If it says you're in Lomond, then I don't know what's wrong; you could double check what Nifflas mentioned about version problems by seeing if 'Portable Mode' is set to 1 in Saira.ini (installation folder).

I checked the save file in slot 1; it reads
[General]
Battery Power=46
Planet=Lomond
Star=Austra
and the settings file says
[General]
Version=1.0
Portable Mode=0
[Safe Episodes]
Nifflas - 000 - Teleporters=1

d'oh! I want my game back! *cries at loss of cool game* 

You could try to reinstall.

yeah, i'm gonna re-install.
will post if it doesn't work

I can't figure out why this would happen. The only thing that should be able to cause this is if Planet.ini is changed or not recognized, or if the actual content of Map.bin have been modified or corrupted.

I'm having trouble understanding it myself.

anyway, the moment the installer finishes, i'm off to bed. i'll try again in the morning.

I just re-installed the game, and now it says something about the level trying to load an area that doesn't exist. as far as I can tell the data for Lomond is still intact, except map.bin which I can't open.
I think that it's just a problem with my computer, and not with the game. after all, no-one else has reported problems like this.
I'm going to check the spare key thread.

I guess it will remain a mystery for a while. The more people that reports it, the easier it will be for me to pinpoint what the cause is, but right now this is the only case I've heard this happen....

I had this problem too, it randomly stopped working.

I bought the game, and that fixed it.