• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 20:20
CET 02:20
KST 10:20
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT25Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book18Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0241LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)46Weekly Cups (Feb 2-8): Classic, Solar, MaxPax win2Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker16
StarCraft 2
General
How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Liquipedia WCS Portal Launched Kaelaris on the futue of SC2 and much more...
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) How do the "codes" work in GSL? LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ? [A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare Mutation # 512 Overclocked
Brood War
General
CasterMuse Youtube A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone A new season just kicks off Recent recommended BW games BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 1 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [LIVE] [S:21] ASL Season Open Day 1 Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular? Fighting Spirit mining rates Current Meta
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread New broswer game : STG-World Diablo 2 thread ZeroSpace Megathread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Mexico's Drug War Canadian Politics Mega-thread Ask and answer stupid questions here!
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2026 Football Thread TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Inside the Communication of …
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1494 users

Need help repairing broken replay (reward offered)

Forum Index > BW General
Post a Reply
fNacks
Profile Joined March 2010
United States39 Posts
May 17 2020 05:26 GMT
#1
I have a deleted .rep file that was recovered using file recovery software. The file attributes (date modified, file name) were preserved. But the replay itself is unreadable to StarCraft. It prints the error message:

"The scenario is unreadable because it is invalid or corrupted."

The replay also does not open in BWChart (it is from 1.16.1, before SC:R.) There were other deleted replays from the same drive that were also recovered and corrupted. I have the working versions of those replays because some were found on another drive, undeleted.

I can send some of those corrupted replay files, along with the working versions for a side-by-side comparison. So far I have tried examining them side-by-side using a hex editor to try and make sense of the differences. But as far as I can tell the corrupted ones have the same values, just very scrambled (big surprise.)

I am offering a reward of $200 USD if anyone can do a full and complete working recovery of the replay. If you can get it to a point where someone can make further progress so that it is actually workable (i.e. the replay opens in StarCraft, but the sequence of commands is different from how they actually occurred, or does not show any input at all) I am offering a part of the total reward in accordance with the work done or progress made.

I am offering this reward because of the sentimental value of the replay. I'm sure you all understand. PM me for further details and the files themselves.
"No worry, I use special tactics." - White-Ra
razorsuKe
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Canada2000 Posts
May 17 2020 05:38 GMT
#2
Have you tried opening it with older versions of bw? Cause even some previous proleague maps can't be opened in SCR (Icarus comes to mind)
If the match was played in 2008ish, you might want to try v1.15
If it was after 2009, then 1.16.1

I think reps worked from 1.15 on 1.16 but it doesn't hurt to try just to be sure. A relatively easy check before shelling out cash.
EntusGalleries.com - CJ Uniform Sale
fNacks
Profile Joined March 2010
United States39 Posts
May 17 2020 05:43 GMT
#3
The replay was recorded on Brood War 1.16.1 in 2012. Also I remember it playing correctly on 1.16.1 as well as SC:R before it was deleted. I could try it on another copy of 1.16.1 as well as 1.15 anyway to be sure, but like I said it did play correctly on 1.16.1. I would imagine the people who coded BWChart understand how the game records commands and would be able to restore some, if not most of them into working order. Changing one hex value on the editor completely breaks any replay, so I imagine the data might still be there, just scrambled.
"No worry, I use special tactics." - White-Ra
razorsuKe
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Canada2000 Posts
May 17 2020 07:17 GMT
#4
Well in that case you can try messaging masterrey, he created SCRchart:
https://tl.net/forum/brood-war/546710-software-scrchart-replay-analyzer

I don't think the bwchart guy has been around for SCR (his name was JCA)
EntusGalleries.com - CJ Uniform Sale
Dakota_Fanning *
Profile Joined January 2008
Hungary2359 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-21 09:42:15
May 21 2020 09:33 GMT
#5
Send me the replays and I take a (quick) look. Mark which one you want to be repaired, and mark the corrupted-valid pairs too. My email address is at the bottom of this page: repmastered.app/about (yes, I coded repmastered.app, including its replay parser engine).

You could also upload your replays to repmastered.app so they won't get lost again
https://repmastered.icza.net
fNacks
Profile Joined March 2010
United States39 Posts
May 21 2020 10:59 GMT
#6
Thanks a bunch. Messaged!
"No worry, I use special tactics." - White-Ra
Dakota_Fanning *
Profile Joined January 2008
Hungary2359 Posts
May 21 2020 11:04 GMT
#7
On May 21 2020 19:59 fNacks wrote:
Thanks a bunch. Messaged!

I haven't received any emails.
https://repmastered.icza.net
fNacks
Profile Joined March 2010
United States39 Posts
May 21 2020 11:14 GMT
#8
Entered the e-mail info wrong. Should be sent now, maybe check the spam folder if not.
"No worry, I use special tactics." - White-Ra
Dakota_Fanning *
Profile Joined January 2008
Hungary2359 Posts
May 21 2020 11:19 GMT
#9
On May 21 2020 20:14 fNacks wrote:
Entered the e-mail info wrong. Should be sent now, maybe check the spam folder if not.

Ok, got it now, thanks.
https://repmastered.icza.net
Dakota_Fanning *
Profile Joined January 2008
Hungary2359 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-21 11:42:26
May 21 2020 11:41 GMT
#10
Sorry to disappoint you, but your broken replays don't seem like replays at all. Maybe the deletion scrambled the data to make them unrecoverable (on purpose), or the disk space was already overwritten by the time you recovered the files (or rather just the sectors at the same place).

I highly doubt there's even the slightest chance to recover these replays just from the corrupted replay files.
https://repmastered.icza.net
fNacks
Profile Joined March 2010
United States39 Posts
May 21 2020 12:02 GMT
#11
On May 21 2020 20:41 Dakota_Fanning wrote:
Sorry to disappoint you, but your broken replays don't seem like replays at all. Maybe the deletion scrambled the data to make them unrecoverable (on purpose), or the disk space was already overwritten by the time you recovered the files (or rather just the sectors at the same place).

I highly doubt there's even the slightest chance to recover these replays just from the corrupted replay files.


Damn, that's a shame.

The sectors they were on were almost certainly overwritten by the time I recovered them. I thought at least some data might be recoverable but I guess they really are that scrambled.

Thanks anyway though
"No worry, I use special tactics." - White-Ra
AttackZerg
Profile Blog Joined January 2003
United States7474 Posts
May 21 2020 15:14 GMT
#12
Hello,

Is there any chance that you shared this replay with anyone back then or more recently?

Do you have an idea who was in the replay originally, could they still have it? Are they findable?

Is there a chance you already uploaded to one replay database years ago? Like battlereports.net or something like it.

I wish you luck
intrigue
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
Washington, D.C9934 Posts
May 21 2020 18:23 GMT
#13
what was the game like? why is it so sentimental? please tell us it's a 5pool
Moderatorhttps://soundcloud.com/castlesmusic/sets/oak
TelecoM
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
United States10695 Posts
May 21 2020 18:45 GMT
#14
LOL, 2 People must be arguing about having a replay beating someone. The E-Peen level is high
AKA: TelecoM[WHITE] Protoss fighting
Poly_Optimize
Profile Joined March 2016
Canada156 Posts
May 21 2020 20:43 GMT
#15
On May 22 2020 03:23 intrigue wrote:
what was the game like? why is it so sentimental? please tell us it's a 5pool


^This is exactly what I need to know!

try uploading your replay on OpenBW : http://www.openbw.com/replay-viewer/

it still supports 1.16.1 replays. maybe it could work.
fNacks
Profile Joined March 2010
United States39 Posts
May 21 2020 22:07 GMT
#16
Hahaha, not a 5 pool. But based on the title it was a build I was working on for a long time and finally executed it properly on the ladder which meant a lot to me at the time because I was pretty young I guess. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and memories you associate with things are priceless.

I've had a folder with all my files from the past 15 years or so stored on it. Documents, images, videos, and yeah stuff from old games I used to play. Some things I don't really care about losing because they can be replaced, it's the memorabilia that I wanted preserved. I was very serious about it and kept everything preserved on four different external backup drives. One of which I kept locked up in a damn fire-proof safe.

I deleted everything during a manic episode. I feel my entire livelihood was destroyed. Probably could've had an earthquake and a fire hit in the same day and chances are at least one backup would've survived, but it was completely my fault. I got lucky and found a older backup from 9 years ago so I recovered some files, but so much is missing.

I know of people whose houses burned down and all they cared about losing was memorabilia, like photo albums. I want to feel like I have salvaged as much as possible.
"No worry, I use special tactics." - White-Ra
fazek42
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Hungary438 Posts
Last Edited: 2020-05-21 22:57:53
May 21 2020 22:44 GMT
#17
+ Show Spoiler +
On May 22 2020 07:07 fNacks wrote:
Hahaha, not a 5 pool. But based on the title it was a build I was working on for a long time and finally executed it properly on the ladder which meant a lot to me at the time because I was pretty young I guess. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and memories you associate with things are priceless.

I've had a folder with all my files from the past 15 years or so stored on it. Documents, images, videos, and yeah stuff from old games I used to play. Some things I don't really care about losing because they can be replaced, it's the memorabilia that I wanted preserved. I was very serious about it and kept everything preserved on four different external backup drives. One of which I kept locked up in a damn fire-proof safe.

I deleted everything during a manic episode. I feel my entire livelihood was destroyed. Probably could've had an earthquake and a fire hit in the same day and chances are at least one backup would've survived, but it was completely my fault. I got lucky and found a older backup from 9 years ago so I recovered some files, but so much is missing.

I know of people whose houses burned down and all they cared about losing was memorabilia, like photo albums. I want to feel like I have salvaged as much as possible.


You should send the hard drive to https://www.kurtsec.com/contact/ They worked on 9/11 burnt hard drives and stuff AFAIK. Might cost you more than 200 USD though :D

edit: But even just talking to them you might get a couple of useful pointers as to what might be possible in your case data recovery wise

edit2: Not touching (that is, disconnect it and don't mount it in an OS) the drive is pretty important, as the leftover magnetic residue that the file has imprinted weakens if you keep using the drive or something, but even overwritten files can potentially be recovered, if you want it bad enough
fNacks
Profile Joined March 2010
United States39 Posts
May 22 2020 16:46 GMT
#18
On May 22 2020 07:44 fazek42 wrote:
You should send the hard drive to https://www.kurtsec.com/contact/ They worked on 9/11 burnt hard drives and stuff AFAIK. Might cost you more than 200 USD though :D

edit: But even just talking to them you might get a couple of useful pointers as to what might be possible in your case data recovery wise

edit2: Not touching (that is, disconnect it and don't mount it in an OS) the drive is pretty important, as the leftover magnetic residue that the file has imprinted weakens if you keep using the drive or something, but even overwritten files can potentially be recovered, if you want it bad enough


I'll check them out. Thankfully even using cheap software it's pretty easy to recover/repair broken images and video files. Those guys seem way more comprehensive than that. That's pretty crazy how they were able to work on hard drives recovered from 9/11 though.
"No worry, I use special tactics." - White-Ra
TelecoM
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
United States10695 Posts
May 22 2020 16:48 GMT
#19
I understand now, Memorabilia is priceless I agree.
AKA: TelecoM[WHITE] Protoss fighting
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
00:00
OSC Elite Rising Star #17.5
CranKy Ducklings128
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SteadfastSC 186
RuFF_SC2 163
PiGStarcraft132
Nathanias 70
Temp0 37
StarCraft: Brood War
GuemChi 1635
Artosis 769
NaDa 16
Dota 2
syndereN654
Counter-Strike
fl0m1439
taco 505
Fnx 373
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox415
PPMD51
Other Games
summit1g13094
shahzam550
C9.Mang0371
Maynarde135
Trikslyr77
ArmadaUGS9
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1067
Counter-Strike
PGL665
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 84
• Mapu1
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota21613
Other Games
• Scarra1660
• imaqtpie1317
• Shiphtur124
Upcoming Events
WardiTV Winter Champion…
10h 40m
Replay Cast
1d 7h
WardiTV Winter Champion…
1d 10h
The PondCast
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Korean StarCraft League
4 days
CranKy Ducklings
4 days
SC Evo Complete
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
[ Show More ]
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Wardi Open
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-02-22
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Acropolis #4 - TS5
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
WardiTV Winter 2026
PiG Sty Festival 7.0
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025

Upcoming

[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round Qualifier
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.