Sometimes, when you try to open your once working MFA file in CF2.5, you may be greeted with this message:
This may also happen to your auto-backup files, which end in extensions like .001, .002, etc.
If you look the file up in a hex editor, you may notice that the file doesn't look corrupt at all: the magic header is fine, you can see your project title and path, but the project simply won't open.
Here's a solution I came up with just accidentally while recovering my MFA projects from a wiped hard drive. In my case, the success rate is around 90%; out of the 10 MFA files that wouldn't open, only one of them didn't work even after this fix. This may or may not work for MMF2/MMF2 Developer files; I haven't tested it as all of my projects were mostly done in CF2.5
First, let's get ready with the things you'll need:
- A hex editor (preferably HxD, it's free and it's really easy to use)
- A good, working MFA file (an empty project will work just fine)
- Your damaged MFA file
- A bit of patience
First, download HxD from this link and start the program.
Go to File, Open, and then select your reference MFA and your corrupt MFA together and open them.
Go to your reference file, scroll down to the end of the file and look for the word !DNE!.
Select everything from !DNE! to the end of the file and hit Ctrl+C to copy the selection. If you get an error message about clipboard filtering, ignore it. It doesn't apply as we're using HxD for copying.
Now, go to the end of your bad MFA file and find !DNE! in it.
Select everything from !DNE! to the end and hit Ctrl+V to paste the copied content into the bad file.
If you get a message that the operation changes the file-size, ignore it.
Then, save the file by hitting Ctrl+S.
Now try opening the file...
...voila! Our MFA now opens as usual. You can see that our bad MFA located at the path in the lower left corner now works normally and can be ran without a hitch. You can make another copy of the MFA and it will work as usual.
I hope this short tutorial helped you, and always remember to frequently backup your MFA files to prevent scenarios like these again!
