Unable to open project

Sorry, should have checked that the database actually had the right data to match with the rest of the project files. So, an additional fix:

Inside that repo.noindex folder, there's a file refs/heads/master with that text from the error dialog. Replace the contents of that file with a56b9c4e5fa32a0c4733074826d4669f656aa3de and delete the refs/tags/v188/saves/56 file. (it, like that master file seem to be pointing to data in a version of the database file that no longer exists, but the others are ok, so it should let you pick up from a recent point)

Oh, that error is also usually related to the project being in a sync'd folder. Let me look for a fix for that part, too.

That works great because it let me just download the most relevant parts and those are smaller than the whole project. If you look inside the Ch Data/repo.noindex folder, you'll see two files. They are identical in size, but very different in content: odb.sqlite3 and odb[Conflit].sqlite3

The odb.sqlite3 is the name of the file that has all the data that defines the project, but for some reason that file is a 40 byte hash and a bunch of zeroes. If you delete the file odb.sqlite3 and rename odb[Conflit].sqlite3 to replace it, it should resolve this issue. (odb[Conflit].sqlite3 does seem to be a valid database at least)

I think the file with the hash must be some kind of proxy that is related to how Google Drive syncs its data. This is a new variation on a theme I've seen many times where sync services mangle our project structure and leave it in an invalid state. :o(

One way situations like this can happen is if the project is opened while changes from another machine are being synchronized (editing on two machines at once is definitely dangerous), but usually in that case, _both_ files are some valid version of the database, so this is a new failure mode. Puzzling, but I think in this case, it is at least fixable.

Dan Tull

Hello and thank you for your answer.

I copied locally and the error persists.

Since with compression the file is too heavy and too slow to send, I share the file link with you in my google drive.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BmO83UwWnoUJPw3CFf62cF5NNDhMbe0M?usp=sharing

First make sure no copies of Character Animator are running and then see if Windows will zip up the project folder with the "Send to Compressed Folder" command in the right click menu (at the "top", the folder with the "Ch Data" and "Ch Media" folders).

One possible cause for this is if Google Drive is virtualizing the folder (sending to the cloud and then not retaining a full local copy). I ran into a similar error with OneDrive recently and had a bit of a scare. Sometimes virtual folders like that return errors for certain operations and so Character Animator balks at those errors.

If it can be zipped up, then at least we have a copy saved aside. Another experiment to try is to copy that whole folder to a location that is a plain local folder and see if it will open from there.

If the error is still presented when open from a known local/plain folder location, I may need to look at the project's internals to see if something else is amiss. I've repaired some damaged projects (in some cases damaged by sync services like OneDrive, Google Drive, CC FIles, etc).

Dan Tull
Character Animator Team