KoL Mafia creates folders, doesn't open

KoLMafia: 17.2, 17.1, 16570
Java: V8U45 - V8U66
Windows 8.1

Hi everyone,

I've been an avid Mafia user and I've never had issues with it. However, I recently had to reformat my PC and now I can't get it to run. I've tried the .jar and .exe files both independently. Both create the following folders:

images, relay, scripts, and settings

then it fails to open. Scripts has several files, as well as settings having GLOBAL_prefs, but none have any content (0 KB, no text when opening in notepad) KoL Mafia doesn't even register in task manager, nor create a debug log. I have tried uninstalling Java and using the last known working version prior to my reformat (V8U45) and the same problem occurs. I also tried downloading 17.1 as I believe it was the version I was using prior to reformatting without luck. I have tried reformatting again and that did not solve the issue.

I did a google search and looked on the forums but didn't see any threads that have the same issue. Has anyone seem this problem before? I apologize that I don't have more info to give.

If you could, try opening up a command prompt, cd to the folder with mafia in it, then run "java -jar KoLmafia[whatever].jar" (no quotes). Does it run? Is there more error output to work with?

Also, if you've put it into your Program Files or some such place, the problem MIGHT have to do with the virtual folders Windows makes tto taunt you with illusions of success. Try one of these two options:
1) Put your mafia folder on your desktop and run it from there. This gives you a folder that you definitely have full access to. If it works, you can try it somewhere else, but you know it's an access issue.
2) Do what lost said but run your command prompt as an administrator. In Windows 8.x and 10, just because you're an administrator doesn't mean that stuff actually runs as an administrator. Unless you demolish Metro and UAC hard. So right click on your Command Prompt menu item and run it as an administrator, and then try what he said. If it works, again, it's Microsoft's funky permissions messing you up.

lostcalpolydude said:

If you could, try opening up a command prompt, cd to the folder with mafia in it, then run "java -jar KoLmafia[whatever].jar" (no quotes). Does it run? Is there more error output to work with?

Click to expand...

Theraze said:

2) Do what lost said but run your command prompt as an administrator. In Windows 8.x and 10, just because you're an administrator doesn't mean that stuff actually runs as an administrator. Unless you demolish Metro and UAC hard. So right click on your Command Prompt menu item and run it as an administrator, and then try what he said. If it works, again, it's Microsoft's funky permissions messing you up.

Click to expand...

So... I tried moving it to the desktop and it would not work. So I made a separate folder directly on the main harddrive and it still would not work. I opened the command prompt as an administrator and ran the jar file from the folder. It opens and seems to work perfectly fine. Once opened and the files are completed, I have no issue running the jar file without the command prompt, but the exe file does not work. If I delete the folders, I can no longer run the jar file without the command prompt, but functionality resumes again if run once from cmd.

Well, we've definitely figured out it's not a mafia bug and is instead a permissions issue for your OS. Sounds like with the way you've got security locked down on your computer, you just need to make mafia run as an administrator.

Regarding the executable, you can probably get around that by right clicking on it and going into properties and telling it (in the compatibility tab) to run as an administrator automatically.

I'm having the same problem, but the adminstrator cmd from the desktop trick didn't make anything open, just created the folders. message was:
KoLmafia v17.2 r16576
Released on November 28, 2015

Currently Running on Windows 8.1
Local Directory is [editedout]\Desktop\KOL
Using Java 1.8.0_66
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: 1
at java.lang.String.charAt<Unknown Source>
at net.java.dev.spellcast.utilities.DataUtilities.toColor<DataUtilities.java:427>
at net.sourceforge.kolmafia.KoLmafia.main<KoLmafia.java:388>

I'm a biologist, not a computer scientist. Tips?

Can you check your sessions/GLOBAL_prefs.txt for the following preferences:
? These should all look something like
, but for some strange reason yours look like they might be blank. Try removing the corresponding lines, and please report back if you get some other error after doing that.