LadyCFII please sticky this if you feel its useful

If something happens to your game, mysterious mass suicide, homicide or whatever you think might have happened. Close the game down and BEFORE you restart the game:

1. Immediately go into your My Documents Folder.
2. Then open the LDW folder.
3. Then open Virtual Villagers - The Lost Children folder (BigFish version).
4. In that folder is your game log file. It is called ldwLog.txt. Move this log file to your desktop or somewhere to preserve it. This log can 9 times out of 10 explain what happened.
5. Create a thread in the support forum and attach your log file and LadyCFII or Arthur can analyze your log file as soon as then can to help you determine what happened to your game, whether it was a bug, an accident, or something else altogether.
6. When you post your log, describe the circumstances that lead up to the alleged village wipe in as much detail as you can think to give. This will help out the LDW staff greatly

haha i juz checked myne out and this was the action preformed

Mon Feb 19 14:59:59 2007: Tuna collected some fish.

Lol

A few comments:

The file is still open until the game is closed, so they should exit the game and THEN preserve the log file.

The folder that the log is in could have a different name. For the Big Fish Games version, it's Virtual Villagers - The Lost Children.

Finally, we can and will look at the logs as time permits, but we don't promise an answer for every situation. We will most likely only analyze logs that look suspiciously like a bug, so please provide some information about what you saw in your game that prompted you to post the log in the first place.

Changed my post

I blame the GC! He cursed the village and made them all die!

This is the only thing remaining of my log, but the game was started a week or so earlier than this log indicates. I have no idea why my villagers were unable to keep ahead of things and get things done in order to survive, but they did not. They could not keep ahead of the birds, and the builders did not progress much. Most of the time, everyone was lazy. Finally, they all died except to a child who subsists on mushrooms and finding treasure for the researchers that no longer exist.
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The log is erased and rewritten every time you start the game, so there really isn't any information in there that would help. From your description, though, it sounded like you needed to solve a critical puzzle that would have helped your villagers. A very good method of play is to occasionally drag different villagers around the island to see if they see anything new. Different villagers (builders, scientists, farmers) see different things, and more skilled villagers notice things that less skilled villagers will miss. I'm sorry that there isn't more information in the log that would help.

Is there any way to have the log in a different location other than My Documents? I have this on my computer at work and would prefer to not have the LDW file showing up in My Documents (kind of a tip off that I'm not really doing what I should be )!!

The savegame files must be there, or the game won't find them. They have been put there for very compelling technical reasons.

In addition to preserving the log to figure out what happened to the village, I would like to add that in that same folder is a backup copy of your village. If you are playing in the first slot of the game, your save game will be called Isola21.ldw and your backup file will be called Isola221.ldw.

If some tragedy befell your village, you may be able to salvage the situation by preserving the original and backup copy of the save files to the desktop and then copy over the save file with the backup save file in the save file folder. (ie get rid of Isola21.ldw and replace it with Isola221.ldw but rename the Isola221.ldw to Isola21.ldw).

Yes, that's possible. The entire procedure is covered in this post.

ty for your help last night i had 1500 food but now i have 0 idk how it got like that all my farmers were ther amd so were the farms iam still lokking what happend

still having trouble with game not saving new villages. I even bought a new game and it still does not work. this is my last log file don't know if it will help. started a new village and it was not saved. ms-frog

Oh good. I'll do this next time. I've one village that spontaneously dies. I'd have all the puzzles finished, a good amount of food and ~20 people... then 24hrs later -- BAM. Everyone's dead.
It's happened 3 or 4 times to one of my tribes, so I expect it'll happen again

I sure do wish I had read this thread before I wiped out all my saved games. I thought that folder in My Documents folder was the recipe books I had downloaded and couldn't open and therefore I trashed it. My game with all the collectables found and the whole population of 115 villagers was gone the next time I opened the game...I cried.

New question. Is it possible that I trashed one collectable at the same time? In my new game, I have all the collectable but one pebble. I have been at this for about a week now and that one little pebble is nowhere to be found. Have I thrown the baby out with the bathwater?

Janice,

Sorry to hear of your loss. No, the trashing of the savegame files can have had no effect on the game itself, so your pebble should appear eventually. I've seen reports that some people have been looking for one last collectible for three weeks, so don't give up!

Thanks, Arnie. I'll just keep ignoring my housework and looking for that pebble....I'd rather do that anyway..it's easier.

i have not gotten all of my collectibles, and i bought the game in February. There are three collectibles that I have one collection left on and cannot find them anywhere

pause game when not using then keep looking when on they will show up

I hate to say this, but I have been waiting on one butterfly, one pebble, and one shell for 4 months

That happened to me you just haft to be patient and eventually they will show up!

Wow!
Mon Sep 19 14:59:59 2007: Tuna can't find anyone to heal.

GOOD!!! That means everyone is happy and healthy ... and your healer can relax and enjoy the pond, go swimming, admire the casing, the mosaic, do laundry, etc. and keep HERSELF happy and healthy

i had the exact same problem.i deleted my old game, copied the entire folder to my documents (you could put it anywhere) and started up a new game. i dont know how it worked but it did. maybe it will work for you!

I looked at my log file and it was a whole like 500 lines of

so and so collected some fish
so and so collected some fish, lol

OR

So and so collected a coconut
etc...

I got when I look in the vv not pad all the way down cannot find heal target.

That's normal. It means that there weren't any sick villagers for your doctor(s) to heal.

Is everything in the game's log file the same in VV3? I looked at my VV3 log file and all I saw was loading sequences. For example:

Fri Jul 11 09:56:56 2008: Loading Graphic -> ldwarialbold.png
Fri Jul 11 09:56:56 2008: - Success!

I just want to see what my peeps are doing when I'm gone.

The log file has been mostly disabled for VV3 to improve game loading and shut down.

Ok. Thanks!

So just make copies?

That happens to me alot but probbaly besause i am busy with vv1