Periodically I get this error trying to open a new game from a database "Error: Error decoding game 178". The number being the specific game number. Other games can open. Sometimes restarting the laptop (running Windows 11) cures the issue. The last time I had to shutdown first then start up again to cure the problem. Today that doesn't help. Trying to open the same game on my desktop also gets the same error. What am I doing wrong? How I stop this from happening? It's so frustrating.
Probably some error in the pgn file at game 178?!
Maybe it's wrongly encoded, maybe the file is corrupt, maybe Scid doesn't parse it correctly. Without seeing the file it's impossible to tell.
@nadjarostowa said in #2:
> Probably some error in the pgn file at game 178?!
>
> Maybe it's wrongly encoded, maybe the file is corrupt, maybe Scid doesn't parse it correctly. Without seeing the file it's impossible to tell.
There's obviously something wrong but what and why it happens is the question. It' happening to individual games within a database and won't open. Other games open fine.
I erase those games, way easier than trying to correct them. Open the pgn-file in a text editor, go to the indicated row.
Common errors are incomplete games or a player made an incorrect castle. Yes, it happens in tournaments.
How did you create the database? Did you download a scid vs pc database? Or did you create it yourself, and if so how?
Usually I run the command 'pgnscid games.pgn'. I prefer this to importing games from a pgn to scid directly. Here pgnscid is a script that is distributed with scid vs pc. When I run the command, I get errors and warnings, which are saved in a file (e.g., games.err). I view the file with an editor (on windows you may have notepad, which can open it). If there are illegal moves or something serious like that, I look at the game to figure out what could be wrong. If I really want that game, then often it is available from some other source. Sometimes the last move may look wrong, and that is because players often keep their kings on e4, e5 or e4, d5 (or something like that) depending on the result, and that may get recorded automatically in the pgn. Sometimes the game has ended, but there is no indication of result at the end of the pgn. I fix such problems using pgn-extract --fixresulttags .... If you import the games directly, some games with errors or warnings may get imported despite the errors or warnings. Also, I believe scid vs pc doesn't yet support Fischer Random games.
If you post the pgn or let us know what that game is, I can take a look.
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