"Lockdown" Error Code 38 data gathering.

I'm more inclined towards thinking it has to do with something else, because cash shop and monster life don't have a different resolution, but produce the error nontheless.

If you dare, you could try a higher resolution, but I'd bet it's the same result.

They do, actually. Both Cash Shop and Monster Life force you into the 1024x768 resolution.
I don't think it's the resolution change as such, because when you're changing channel you don't change resolution (and the initial error 38 dc is at cc), but it might be something that the client does when connecting to a server, but only at the higher resolutions.
Or maybe it only happens when the window takes up a bigger chunk of memory, which perhaps was not accounted for somewhere. Hmmm...

They do, actually. Both Cash Shop and Monster Life force you into the 1024x768 resolution.
I don't think it's the resolution change as such, because when you're changing channel you don't change resolution (and the initial error 38 dc is at cc), but it might be something that the client does when connecting to a server, but only at the higher resolutions.
Or maybe it only happens when the window takes up a bigger chunk of memory, which perhaps was not accounted for somewhere. Hmmm...

The error code 38, by definition, triggers when the game tries to lead something that doesn't exist, I believe. Or something like that, feel free to prove me wrong. My guess, with that in mind, is that some line of code tricks the game into loading something corrupted, but if you bypass it by switching resolutions and freezing it, the game goes on without rendering the images, and therefore not loading the corrupted chunk. I'm not into the technical terms, but it's what it seems most likely at this point.

Since this is VERY helpful, I'll try to catch someone on live chat whenever I can. This should be helpful to the devs, and might even save them some time, so the sooner the better... Tickets aren't fast enough. With some luck they could be reading this very sentence at some point.

I OWE YOU A... A... A WHAT SOMETHING.

IT WORKED! Apparently, I didn't see that post before, because I think I was only reading it before the edit. ON TO THE TESTINGS!

AND ALSO

This is critical in one sense, because we now now WHEN it triggers. When connecting to a server! Monster life is a server, cash shop is a server, game channels are a server... And yeah, it's then, because nothing expired on me while I tested it. I'm now going to test a few things with this crap...

We have narrowed it down a LOT, this information should be very juicy for Nexon...

EDIT: I HAVE SCAPED THE LOCKDOWN. I extracted the Hilla equipment that clogged up my inventory! Now I don't crash upon inserting the PIN. The trick is to freeze the screen as it starts to fade into black, when it switches resolution, that's when the magic happens.

THERE IS A WAY TO BYPASS IT. Drown PandaHugs in Pineapples, fame, mesos, and whores! Whatever! infract me! I'm too hyped to care!

That's awesome! Glad it worked out for you! Of course, all credit should go to Asylum for finding the actual fix; all I did was copy and pasted the information so that everyone can be fully aware of it. It kind of sucks having to keep tabs on my inventory to prevent full lockout every time I play, but I guess this is what we have to put up with for now. I am happy to see that this thread has made significant progress due to everyone's contributions and findings so far. Keep up the good work!

The error code 38, by definition, triggers when the game tries to lead something that doesn't exist, I believe. Or something like that, feel free to prove me wrong.

This is fairly accurate, but it also would occur when a specified location runs outs of room. For instance, if you try to load 103 items into a location that can only hold 100.

I was able to enter the cash shop fine this morning, but ever since I got an iridescent scale from Livyatan I just crash with error 38.

Interesting Thread +1

Keep up the good work!
This error really frustrates me... Really need to get my farm to Lv30

Just some info about me/my main character:
-World: Scania
-Place: USA (California)
-Farm Level: 28

-Had several inventory expansions
-Error occurred right after patching to v.142: Dawnveil
-Can be classified as an "old time mapler"

*Note: I have only experienced the error when entering Monster Life. I have yet to encounter it when entering the Cash Shop or logging on my main.

I've also linked this thread to the Error Code 38 thread on the Nexon forums, just incase any GMs or techs may want to help us crack down this issue.
http://maplestory.nexon.net/community/#%...26nxid%3D6

My Kaiser only started getting Error code 38 messages right after getting hellbanned last week, and extracting items to have fewer items than before I got hellbanned didn't help at all. I know I have well over 300 items so I don't expect to be able to fix myself anyways.
Question: Since I was able to enter Monster Life normally about 10 minutes before last week's maintenance started but never again since the maintenance finished and caused me to get hellbanned, have any of you who have the error code 38 issue ever been hellbanned or experiened some sort of trouble with trading?

My Kaiser only started getting Error code 38 messages right after getting hellbanned last week, and extracting items to have fewer items than before I got hellbanned didn't help at all. I know I have well over 300 items so I don't expect to be able to fix myself anyways.
Question: Since I was able to enter Monster Life normally about 10 minutes before last week's maintenance started but never again since the maintenance finished and caused me to get hellbanned, have any of you who have the error code 38 issue ever been hellbanned or experiened some sort of trouble with trading?

I have never been hellbanned or had any trading problems.
I did have the Error 38 entering cash shop years ago.

Good to see such an active thread about this here. I've been trying to get this solved through tickets and the maple community forums without any luck. To contribute some data, I can confirm the following statements:
-Guild and buddy notifications ('character has logged in') do manage to pop up when you attempt logins for other people.
-Characters affected by it, also got affected by error code 38 when accesing monster life from that character.
-Character affected is usually played often and/or main character.
-Shortly before having the character locked down, error code 38 would trigger when entering the cash shop.
-Last action before lockdown (temporal and permanent, see below) was changing channels.
-Character has expanded inventories.
-Character suffered from Error 38 on entering cash shop bug 3 years ago (http://www.southperry.net/showthread.php?t=34911). (Also suffered from the error 38 lockdown during december 2012 - february/march 2013)
-Character was created and used from before the shut down of the MTS.
-Affected accounts are from a foreign region (outside North America and Oceania), created before the "new account area restriction".

The following are plausible:
-Items seem to be the cause. Having items past a certain point trigger the Monster life lockdown, further into it, Cash shop lockdown, and further into the limit, full lockdown, link skills seem to add towards the limit, so exceeding the limit and then removing link skills can also result in lockdown removal temporarilly, as long as the limit is kept. (Unlinking skills didn't seem to help getting unglitched)
-The locked down character is available to relog back for a variable ammount of time (estimated around 2 hours) ONE time, before becoming finally 100% locked down. (I WAS able to get unglitched at two occasions if I recall correctly, but I blame this on patches/server checks)

Can't say that it's good to see some fellow bugged people from before because I don't wish this upon anyone, but at least I'm not alone. I remember Combattente that helped keep the threads alive last year. Weren't you the one who made contact with GM Girasol to take a look at the issue back then?

Good luck to everyone affected!

Can't say that it's good to see some fellow bugged people from before because I don't wish this upon anyone, but at least I'm not alone. I remember Combattente that helped keep the threads alive last year. Weren't you the one who made contact with GM Girasol to take a look at the issue back then?

Good luck to everyone affected!

Ah, yeah, I believe I got affected a day or two before they first fixed it. But after that, just before Girasol left, she tried to help me with the problem when it only affected monster life, but shortly after, she was out of Nexon.

Anyway, if you are locked at phase 3-b (Check first post), try the window freezing method, it should help to get back. Make sure it's when the screen fades to black, clicking too soon will just cause the error when you click out of it.

Also, I think we have a TON of info by now, I'll try to contact live chat and hand them over this juicy info before they lose too much time trying to figure out the things we already know. That should help a lot. If anyone has any suggestion for making the information easier to read, feel free to rewrite whatever you need of the first post.

http://maplestory.nexon.net/community/#%...26nxid%3D6

First post on that page claims that having too much equipment cause the monster life error code: 38, so try it if it possible.

On a side note, how the heck did the people who purchased the max inventory slot package a while ago not get this error.

I did. I don't like telling nexon that because they just keep trying to tell me that its my problem. Their response to my recent ticket was to reinstall the game. All the times I got this error, its the same situation. Looking at my ticket history I got the error:
11/28/2010 for just Cash Shop. That lasted over a month...
4/4/2012 for Login. I don't remember how long that one was for
1/5/13 for Login. That was at least a month and a half
xx/xx/xx for MonsterLife (whenever that came out) to present
12/20/13 for Cash Shop to present
12/22/13 for Login to present (was able to log on for a day somewhere in between)

I didn't have max slots in 2010... but I was pretty close. Only 4-8 slots missing in each one. My Set-Up was maxed in 2010 though.

I don't know what's relevant info...
My character was around before MTS, and I have used it before.
The character effected was my main character, although I changed it on the site after my first lockdown. Apparently that doesn't help D:
My MonsterLife is level 26, I have 14/15 monsters.
I have autoloot, so my inventories were pretty full when I got locked out this last time.
My storage is 4 or 8 slots from being maxed.
I lost count of how many familiars I have, but it was 300+. My crusader codex is finished.
I have 30+ mounts in use.
Professions are herbalism, alchemy, and mining.
I had 12 linked skills when I got locked in Dec last year. 5 linked skills when I was able to log on and off for a day before getting locked again. I tried removing them all after but it didn't help. When I was able to log on, my safety charm from my Cash tab was the only thing that expired. So it could have been a combination of the linked skills and my item expiring?

idk what other info I can give... D:

**its the same character every time. I play it the most, by far.
**also, window freezing doesn't work for me D:

Oh, I just remembered this, but one of my friends was locked out of the cash shop on a character by error 38, I accidentally gifted him a item (think it was an sok or psok if that matters) and he was able to enter the cash shop after that.

Well guys, I contacted Nexon via live chat (Don't swarm them with silly stuff, this was a special case where they could save resources spent on this), and sent them this thread. They forwarded it to the proper people. Hopefully they'll get all the info they need. In the meantime, feel free to keep posting, Maybe they can use that extra data.

And be aware that it's a thing that may take some time to fix, still, but even then, we have a full lockdown temporary fixer, so use that for now.

Thanks for your help, everyone that contributed! And thanks from Nexon too, or at least the GM I talked to.

EDIT: the bypass to the error code is VERY hard to achieve, but doable. I say this because I got locked out again by accident, phase 3-b, and it's very hard to pull off. It's apparently clicking Right at the start of the screen fading to black. Not before, not after. VERY narrow room of clicking.

And the first time I achieved it I got lucky and got it on my first try.

EDIT2: I'm not sure I'm the only one, but I'm fully on lockdown again. Some cash shop stuff may have expired, freeing from it, just as I tried the windowed mode. The "trick" is not there, apparently, and if that's the case, it's a step back... because it can mean anything.

My comment and experiance on what I think of the drag on window trick does to unlock your characters.
The first time this trick work for me is after two unsuccessful log on, dragging the window allowed me to log in. The dojo glove probably expired allowing the trick to work. Then I immediately added two equipment to my inventory, and behold locked out of the hero again. (Talk about throwing away your key to freedom)
The tricks no longer works after this for two days.
Now today I tried the trick again and it works (wing boot from event currently equipped by pet expired). (Attempting to log in normally minute ago without doing trick is unsuccessful)
What I think this trick does is delay the crashing just long enough for items to expire. It will not work if you do not have any item that is not expired.

Oh great, just my luck. I got myself locked out again...and now I can't seem to get the trick to work. I swear, I think I'm going to remove most of my equips and chairs just to be safe until this is fixed because I can't deal with the frustration that comes along with it...that is, if I can successfully log in again. Not taking any more chances.

I think I understand the reasoning.

Basically:

You hold the window down.
Server won't crash the game from trying to load a corrupted item since it will be stalled.
This stalled time gives enough time window for an item to expire if it has reached its expiration date.
If an item expires, the server will process the change instead of processing the corrputed item, and instead of going back to reload the corrupted item, just forgets about it completely.
Player is able to log in.

If you do not have anything to expire, the glitch will not work. Most people who have this error have had it for awhile. Long enough for something to usually expire. Hellmost people here are old players that I assume have pets with pet equips that are not perma.

I think I understand the reasoning.

Basically:

You hold the window down.
Server won't crash the game from trying to load a corrupted item since it will be stalled.
This stalled time gives enough time window for an item to expire if it has reached its expiration date.
If an item expires, the server will process the change instead of processing the corrputed item, and instead of going back to reload the corrupted item, just forgets about it completely.
Player is able to log in.

If you do not have anything to expire, the glitch will not work. Most people who have this error have had it for awhile. Long enough for something to usually expire. Hellmost people here are old players that I assume have pets with pet equips that are not perma.

Makes sense. I hope you are right with an item expiring. I can test this out later during the day and see if I can log in successfully, as I have accepted a red leaf high key yesterday but didn't get a chance to use it yet. I think I also have a gingerbread man label ring that is suppose to expire today, so I really hope it works. Fingers crossed!

I think I understand the reasoning.

Basically:

You hold the window down.
Server Client won't crash the game from trying to load a corrupted item too many items since it will be stalled.
This stalled time gives enough time window for an item to expire if it has reached its expiration date.
If an item expires, the server will process the change instead of processing the corrputed item, and instead of going back to reload the corrupted item, just forgets about it completely instruct the client to update the item list, which will cause it to abandon loading the old list, and load the shorter one.
Player is able to log in.

If you do not have anything to expire, the glitch workaround will not work. Most people who have this error have had it for awhile. Long enough for something to usually expire. Hellmost people here are old players that I assume have pets with pet equips that are not perma.

Fixed to the best of my understanding.

Actually I'd guess that the longer they've been playing the same character as main, the more likely they are to have had the chance to get perma pet equips on it.
But yeah, thanks to Nexon's fondness for expiring titles, medals, scrolls, mounts, and everything else, most of us are likely to have something expire when we log in after a long time locked out.

There is no such thing as a corrupted item.

This is just an theory.

The login process right now is as follow
1. Confirm pin
2. You are logged into the server, but not in any channel. (responsible for the "character has logged in" message)
3. Server sends character data to your client (before your screen start to fade to black)
4. Your client then attempt to log into the channel, and sends your character data to the channel (screen start to fade to black)
5. The channel process your character data and send you in game (resolution change)

Error code 38: Reach end of file occurs at step 5 due to too much data being processed (aka too much item in inventory), and ends the process before items can expire.
Step 3 take at most half a second to process, while step 4 will take the most time for the client to load up everything.
Items are then compared with the server clock at step 2 onwards.

The window drag trick stop the process at step 4 and delays step 5 until you release it.

What I would like to know is how this connects to the error happening while trying to enter the farm on a main. Both me and my wife suffers from that, albeit she have had it for much longer.