[16.23] cryptic error message while connecting to server

[bbgun06]

"Cannot join. The following mod script files are not identical between you and the server: level"

I got this error message trying to connect to a multiplayer server. I had been in the server but lost connection, so I tried to rejoin.
Before losing my connection, the "Server not responding" began blinking on and off about once a second. That continued until another player paused the game, then left the server. While paused, the "server not responding" progress bar started filling up until I was dropped.

Then I exited Factorio and tried again, but got the message "A player with your name is already in the server"

[db48x]

I was hosting the server; here's the log.

[Rseding91]

That means the scenario you're using is different between you and the server as in: it's broken or you/the server changed it.

[db48x]

I had actually stepped away from the computer for a moment. The server was left running with the other players connected to it. They were dropped from the game, and when they tried to reconnect they were unable to do so. When I returned I saved the map, exited back to the menu, and restarted the game. They were then able to join with no difficulty.

As you can see, there was no change to the scenario at all.

[Klonan]

I had actually stepped away from the computer for a moment. The server was left running with the other players connected to it. They were dropped from the game, and when they tried to reconnect they were unable to do so. When I returned I saved the map, exited back to the menu, and restarted the game. They were then able to join with no difficulty.

As you can see, there was no change to the scenario at all.

When I returned I saved the map, exited back to the menu, and restarted the game.

Saving and reloading changed the scenario

[bbgun06]

Saving and reloading changed the scenario

Yes, but that only happened after we had problems rejoining.

The main problem is the error message doesn't make any sense.

[db48x]

Saving and reloading changed the scenario

Yes, but that only happened after we had problems rejoining.

The main problem is the error message doesn't make any sense.

I think he means that saving and reloading changed the scenario back to whatever it should have been, and thus fixed the problem. Of course, I have no idea why saving the game and then immediately loading that save should change anything significant. If the game in memory was broken (which would be a bug), but the saved game was not, then either the saved game was not a faithful representation of the game in memory (a bug), or loading the game did not result in a faithful reproduction of the saved game (a bug, or a deliberate feature to fix broken saved games).

The error message is indeed cryptic. It blames a mod, but doesn't indicate which one. It may even be referring to the level.dat file inside the saved game, in which case there is no mod to blame at all. Also, if it's level.dat that is the problem, then this cannot be a mismatch between the local game and the server, since the local game must download the save from the server. If the server sent a corrupted save then the local client should specifically say so.

Also, note that the returning players were also given the error message "A player with your name is already in the server". This seems to indicate that the server had not properly cleaned up after disconnecting them (a bug).

Thanks

[Leoliuos]

We had the same problem. The error message was the same and in our case incorrect.

* Sign out from options before you create headless server.

* Then join that game normally signed in.

the problem for us was that the host is already there as headless and trying to join with that same account.
Just the error was total nonsense when it should be "player already signed into session" or something like that