Trade Wars 2002 has always had data file problems, as have most on-line games. 
When a user logs off in the middle of a door, well, strange things can (and do)
happen....

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If:

The expander runs for a while, and then starts acting up
You mysteriously start running out of hard drive space
People complain about wierd things inside Trade Wars

Check the file called TWDATA.DAT, it should be exactly 214452 bytes long. And
I mean exactly. If the file is any length other than that, you have problems.
If it's too large, the solution is simple, get a copy of TWPRUNE (both Castle
Ravenloft and The Clock Works have copies) and use it to trim the file back 
down to size (believe it or not I've seen files as large a 3.1 megabyte).

If the file is too small? Re-roll the universe, unless you have a recent back
up.

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If:

TW2002 starts dumping people back to the board for no apparent 
reason, or locking up.

Are you using AEDIT, SHIPEDIT, etc? The authors of both did what they could to
make them safe, but I have seen problems with both when they write to the
TW2002.EXE, TW2002.OVR, TEDIT.EXE, and TEDIT.OVR files. You need to check the
version of TW2002 that you have is the version the modification utility is 
meant to work with. In either case if you have a problem after using either
of the above I suggest replacing the patched EXE and OVR files with clean ones
and testing the game. If the problem persists you have a data file problem and
I suggest running TWDOCTOR, otherwise don't use the patched files.

Any program that patches EXE or OVR files can be dangerous - and the docs for
both do say that you run them at your own risk... The same with anything that
plays with TW2002 data files, and this includes the EXPANDER. It should be
safe - my years of experiencing hacking game save files is finally paying 
off <GRIN>. If you see anything though, let me know. 

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