Fix Yer Woes: Selective Cache Clearing

WARNING! This is a work in progress! It's not completely done yet! Please be very careful in utilizing the information contained herein!

WARNING! This post is for educational purposes only! I neither promote/encourage nor condone practices of this sort. By utilizing the information in this guide, you understand that you are utilizing this information out of your own accord, and you agree that you will NOT hold me liable for any and all damages that may directly or indirectly arise from such usage!

Do Note: This method only works on IE and KCV (which uses IE's cache); users on Chrome and Firefox may try a different method (more on this later).

Intro

Ever met a ghost ship? You know, the one that just shows up as a blank piece of nothing, no sprite appearing at all, takes several seconds to do an attack, stays like a ghost everytime you meet her, stuff like that?

Moderately-damaged ghost ship.

Or have you experienced one of your kanmusu's lines getting cut off way before it's supposed to finish, and staying that way?

This one's for you.

Why Ghost Ships?

	Warning! Technical Stuff Ahead!

To understand why Ghost Ships (and other maladies) exist, one must understand the existence of the cache. If you already do (and I'm sure you do), you may skip the next paragraphs.

The cache is like a temporary holding ground for files grabbed from the Internet so that your browser/KCV can quickly grab it again whenever it is needed. For instance, if your browser grabbed the image files of I-kyuu every time you do your 1-1 sparkle runs, it would:

• introduce slight to massive delays before the battle starts as the browser grabs the file(s);
• push you closer to your data cap (for those who are in one; remember, small things eventually add up);
• hammer the Kancolle server with redundant traffic;
• get you banned (maybe).

So instead of grabbing it off the Internet whenever it is needed, the browser would only grab it once, store it in your computer, and consult that copy whenever that particular file is needed.

And where is that copy stored? You guessed it—the cache.

Now the problem here is that the browser trusts the contents of the cache. There are particular instances (quite common to people in Third Worlddeveloping countries with derpy Internets) where the file gets horribly mangled (corrupted in slightly more techy parlance) due to connection errors yet the browser would still treat it as a good copy.

Hence the rise of the Ghost Ships.

To fix this, we have to force the browser to get clean copies the files in question. To do this, we clear the cache. With the (mangled) local copy vaporized, the browser is now forced to grab the files again, which is what we want.

...well, not exactly. Clearing the cache nukes everything in the cache; the after-effects of such an action are familiar to anybody after a game update: the five-minute or so stare at the loading screen, tons of blank kanmusu images in the Formation/Resupply/etc screens, delays in opening the Formation/Resupply/etc screens, and other delays as the browser grabs a ton of files, in addition to the one that was causing our woes in the first place, anew.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just nuke the offending file, and leave everything else intact?

Enter Selective cache clearing.

Selective What?

That's the idea here: Nuke what needs to be nuked in the cache, and leave everything else intact. I'm pretty sure that there are tools for this, but in the following paragraphs there will be a short walk-through of the rough-and-ready technique, which requires no tools save Windows Explorer (yes, Windows-only tutorial; sorry, 'nix guys).

Now, Nuke It!

Let's give it a go, shall we?

Step 1: Open the Cache

To nuke the target in the cache, we need to know where is the cache. How can you kill the boss if you can't get to it?

Navigate to the cache. Windows 7 users can try C:\Users\<Your user name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files; peeps on Windows 8.x or 10 can have a peek at C:\Users\<Your user name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache. Alternatively, you may:

1. Open the Start Menu. Search for internet. Click Internet Options in the results that appear.
2. On the Internet Options dialog, under the General tab > Browsing history, click the Settings button.
3. On the Website Data Settings dialog that appears, under the Temporary Internet Files tab, click the View Files button.

Anyway, if you did it right, you should be staring at a window that looks like this:

You got to the boss; now let's nuke the flagship.

Step 2: Locate (and Nuke) Your Target

This is the tough part. In the absence of tools that automate this process, you're left to your own brainstorming ability, Google, and a few other resources.

If Your Target is a Shipgirl...

...you can try this, which is a (semi-) frequently updated database of mind-numbing geeky info about your shipgirls. Don't let this faze you; using it is simple:

1. Search for the shipgirl in question. (Hint: Ctrl+F helps.)
2. Look under the api_filename column: you should see what appears to be a random string of letters. Copy that...
3. ...and paste in into the search box of the Temporary Internet Files window.
4. Click at the result, and send it to oblivion by right-clicking > Delete (or just hitting the Delete key).

If Your Target is an Enemy Ship(girl)...

...you can try this, which like the above, but for enemy ships. Usage is the same.