Corrupt platform xml after 11.6 update

[xevidroid]

I just updated to 11.6. After install, the launch fails due to a corrupt platform .xml (in my case, it was Windows).

 

I will try to use an xml backup hoping that was the only issue, and report back.

[faeran]

Hi @xevidroid. Please let us know if restoring from a backup has fixed your issue.

[xevidroid]

Okay so, a couple more details.

 

 

This is the error. 

Comparing the file with the one before the update shows no difference in a text editor.

The line in question contains the value: &#xC

I think this character is not okay to be parsed under the new XML parsing system that was introduced in this version, hence the issue, which will occur for all users who have similar characters in any of their entries.

Deleting the unsupported character fixes the issue, and I'm able to load. It probably is just a case of catching the exception in the parsing process.

 

[xevidroid]

I'll add that for obvious reasons the suggested fix of restoring a backup will not work for this issue, so any user not able to edit xml files will not be able to fix this.

[Jason Carr]

Thanks for the sleuthing. We'll look to get that fixed.

[GTi]

Same here but then for my Sega Genesis.xml

Guess the update can't handle something. I did restore two different backup attempts of that xml file, but nothing happened. So I currently just deleted that platform of the folder and then it launches ok.
Hope you can fix it as I don't want to re-import all those games etc.

tnx

[C-Beats]

@xevidroid Could you PM me the file that had that character? Want to take a look at it if I could to try and get this corrected.

[xevidroid]

I PMed you. Check line 31872. It's the only instance of an illegal character in the file. Stackoverflow seems to have a few mentions of this causing issues with XMLs so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a workaround.

[xevidroid]

@GTi as a temporary solution waiting for an update I could fix the file for you and send it back. I will simply delete the "bad" character, it probably is an emoji somewhere. If you don't need it right now I would suggest waiting for the official fix obviously.

[GTi]

16 hours ago, xevidroid said:

@GTi as a temporary solution waiting for an update I could fix the file for you and send it back. I will simply delete the "bad" character, it probably is an emoji somewhere. If you don't need it right now I would suggest waiting for the official fix obviously.

Thanks xevidroid,

I've just PM you the file.

Cheers

[C-Beats]

11.17 beta 1 the loading logic has been altered a bit and your bad characters shouldn't stop the load process. Let me know if you still have issues starting up LaunchBox in that version (preferably in the 11.17 beta testing thread).

[xevidroid]

52 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

11.17 beta 1 the loading logic has been altered a bit and your bad characters shouldn't stop the load process. Let me know if you still have issues starting up LaunchBox in that version (preferably in the 11.17 beta testing thread).

Sadly I'm not enrolled in the beta (LB is very time consuming to maintain for me so I didn't want to risk anything glitching out - this after I had a bad experience with XMLs losing data one or two years ago..so I didn't get into the beta ?) (btw at the time the issue turned out to be something mostly on my end, but I still got very burned out by the troubleshooting)