Failed to load save data. Select "OK" to try again.

[Davidian]

There was some sort of network issue, the game complained about losing connection to the elden ring game servers and said it was returning to the main title menu. I hit ok to let that happen. Then, and I'm not sure exactly when, the game crashed. Just totally closed back to the desktop. Now when i load it I get this error about my save data failing to be able to be loaded.

Tried alot of stuff I've found online, but nothing seems to be able to get my save file working again. I have a backup of it, but anytime I try to run the game with that file i get this error again.

I'm seeing alot of people online making similar complaints. Sounds like there are a variety of root causes.

This was my first foray into playing a "Souls" game. I was over 160 hours in. Had only just reached the fire giant. Rather invested in this character at this point.

Does anyone know what the status is with this? Sounds like Bandai/Namco knows about it. I'm really surprised at how common this seems to be.

[nfinite.recursion]

Common? More like S-tier rarity.

[dark-breed]

Publicado originalmente por Davidian:

There was some sort of network issue, the game complained about losing connection to the elden ring game servers and said it was returning to the main title menu. I hit ok to let that happen. Then, and I'm not sure exactly when, the game crashed. Just totally closed back to the desktop. Now when i load it I get this error about my save data failing to be able to be loaded.

Tried alot of stuff I've found online, but nothing seems to be able to get my save file working again. I have a backup of it, but anytime I try to run the game with that file i get this error again.

I'm seeing alot of people online making similar complaints. Sounds like there are a variety of root causes.

This was my first foray into playing a "Souls" game. I was over 160 hours in. Had only just reached the fire giant. Rather invested in this character at this point.

Does anyone know what the status is with this? Sounds like Bandai/Namco knows about it. I'm really surprised at how common this seems to be.

assuming your backup is from before the problem appeared:

restart your computer

deactivate steam cloud saves, delete the elden ring folder in %Appdata%, start the game once, close the game restore your backup

[Davidian]

Publicado originalmente por nfinite.recursion:

Common? More like S-tier rarity.

Oh, yeah it's definitely common. There's at least 2 community developed tools intended to address it, not to mention the droves of people searching for help.

[nfinite.recursion]

Search engines collect and aggregate data. Of course it looks common if you use that as the baseline.

[Davidian]

Publicado originalmente por dark-breed:

...assuming your backup is from before the problem appeared...

Nope 😔

[Darth Invader]

I wonder if the boot from server and/or crash happened during an auto save and corrupted it. You know how games say don't exit the game or turn off your computer during an auto save? I don't know if ER says that explicitly, but I'm sure it holds true regardless.

Not sure what to tell you if the back-up save doesn't work either. That fixes like 95% of these problems.

[Sparhawk 59]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2797241037
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o15fNMACXoU

[Davidian]

Publicado originalmente por Darth Invader:

I wonder if the boot from server and/or crash happened during an auto save and corrupted it. You know how games say don't exit the game or turn off your computer during an auto save? I don't know if ER says that explicitly, but I'm sure it holds true regardless.

Yeah, I mean anytime a crash occurs data corruption/loss can result.

Publicado originalmente por Darth Invader:

Not sure what to tell you if the back-up save doesn't work either. That fixes like 95% of these problems.

I've been through many guides/articles/videos online trying to find a solution for my specific scenario. I've become very familiar with the contents of how Elden Ring is storing it's save games. So, this is where I'm really surprised. Why doesn't the game just keep at least 1 copy of a previous save game file. I see that there are two files, and one ends in .bak. But these two files are always the same whenever I've looked at them. I'm using md5sum to verify this. So, this .bak duplicate serves some other purpose. It's just highly frustrating when I've seen so many other games keep at least one previous save file. If it did that, the user would at least be able to go back to a save that's maybe a few hours old. As opposed to having to start over from scratch.

[Davidian]

Publicado originalmente por Sparhawk 57:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2797241037
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o15fNMACXoU

Thanks for these. I'd been through the "every workaround possible" guide. I'd even tried to fix the file manually myself. It looks like these fixes mostly involve correcting the checksums within the save file. Unfortunately, all my checksums match their corresponding data blocks within the file. So, my issue isn't a simple checksum issue.

That video you shared however has possibly shed some light on my issue. I had already tried some other guides that mention using that tool, and none of those worked. This video did make one thing pretty clear though. My SteamID seems to have been lost within the file. I think along with other data. I tried following that process and just patching my SteamID back in, but the program throws an error saying it can't even find my SteamID within the file. I think a good chunk of my save file may have been simply lost.

On a positive note, with that tool, I can see that my character's details are still in there. Which gives me some hope.

[dark-breed]

Publicado originalmente por Davidian:

Publicado originalmente por Sparhawk 57:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2797241037
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o15fNMACXoU

Thanks for these. I'd been through the "every workaround possible" guide. I'd even tried to fix the file manually myself. It looks like these fixes mostly involve correcting the checksums within the save file. Unfortunately, all my checksums match their corresponding data blocks within the file. So, my issue isn't a simple checksum issue.

That video you shared however has possibly shed some light on my issue. I had already tried some other guides that mention using that tool, and none of those worked. This video did make one thing pretty clear though. My SteamID seems to have been lost within the file. I think along with other data. I tried following that process and just patching my SteamID back in, but the program throws an error saying it can't even find my SteamID within the file. I think a good chunk of my save file may have been simply lost.

On a positive note, with that tool, I can see that my character's details are still in there. Which gives me some hope.

you could try these things:

go completely offline (important)

delete or rename the elden ring folder in %appdata%

start the game and create a new char to create a new savefile
use a tool to copy the chars from the broken savefile into the new savefile
check offline if the chars now able to load correctly
if so remove all runes you have in this chars and with a little luck you will be able to start them after this without getting banned in online mode.

[Darth Invader]

Off the top of my head, before I did anything major to files, I'd move (make sure to move, not copy or delete) the save you have now to a new folder on your desktop.

That way, you always have it on hand. Sometimes, if you contact Bamco customer service, they will ask for this.

Then, start a brand new game, accepting the EULA/TOS, just like the first time you played.

It should start up normally, like nothing ever happened.

Also, play for a while, kill a few enemies, maybe unlock a grace or 2, and make sure you're not getting the same error message.

If it doesn't play normally, and you get the same error message, then it's server side, and you'll have to contact Bamco to resolve it.

Also, I just have to mention this, make sure you're playing the game totally vanilla, as in no "innocent" mods, like graphical, ultra widescreen, FPS unlocker, etc.

Please keep this thread updated if you can, even if it's months from now when you find a resolution. I actually study these types of events, and any extra help is greatly appreciated.

GL and have a great day!

[Davidian]

Publicado originalmente por dark-breed:

you could try these things:

go completely offline (important)

delete or rename the elden ring folder in %appdata%

start the game and create a new char to create a new savefile
use a tool to copy the chars from the broken savefile into the new savefile
check offline if the chars now able to load correctly
if so remove all runes you have in this chars and with a little luck you will be able to start them after this without getting banned in online mode.

So, I had essentially tried these steps already. Not the exact sequence you've described here, but essentially the same thing.
I went ahead and gave it another try just now. Same result as before. When I go to load a game I can see my old character's name instead of the new starting character's name, but all the other details are from the new character I just started. Then when I go to actually start a game I get a failed to load data is corrupted error.
Sound like at least some of the data in slot 1 is corrupt.
And yet seeing details about my character still coming up has me wondering if there's some way to repair the parts that were corrupted.
But then I can't help but wonder why the checksum for the slot is fine.

[Darth Invader]

Publicado originalmente por Davidian:

Publicado originalmente por dark-breed:

you could try these things:

go completely offline (important)

delete or rename the elden ring folder in %appdata%

start the game and create a new char to create a new savefile
use a tool to copy the chars from the broken savefile into the new savefile
check offline if the chars now able to load correctly
if so remove all runes you have in this chars and with a little luck you will be able to start them after this without getting banned in online mode.

So, I had essentially tried these steps already. Not the exact sequence you've described here, but essentially the same thing.
I went ahead and gave it another try just now. Same result as before. When I go to load a game I can see my old character's name instead of the new starting character's name, but all the other details are from the new character I just started. Then when I go to actually start a game I get a failed to load data is corrupted error.
Sound like at least some of the data in slot 1 is corrupt.
And yet seeing details about my character still coming up has me wondering if there's some way to repair the parts that were corrupted.
But then I can't help but wonder why the checksum for the slot is fine.

There's not a "slot 1 character is corrupt" situation.

There is only one save on this game. If it's corrupt, they're all corrupt.

I think your save is borked, and you'll have to start over.

If you start over and still get an error, then it's a server problem, and you'll have to email bamco to resolve it.

No offense to Dark-Breed, he does give good advice.

Again, please keep this thread updated.

[Darth Invader]

Just to clarify, by "start over", I mean physically remove the save from the folder, using the steps I outlined in comment #11, and accept the EULA/TOS again, as if you were starting a new game FROM SCRATCH.

You will still have your old save saved on your desktop, so there's no worries if you ever need it in the future.

There is only one way to know if it's YOU or the SERVER, and that's to do the steps I said in comment 11.

Either way, you have to come to terms with starting the game over, because obviously your save is corrupted.

Your only hope now is that you're not banned.

As always, please update this thread, and good luck.

[Darth Invader]

For reference (for OP and anyone else having this issue), the save is located in:

%appdata% > Roaming > EldenRing > XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

X = a bunch of random numbers

Type %appdata% exactly as you see it into your Windows search bar.

If it doesn't show up, you'll have to enable "Show Hidden Files and Folders" through the control panel, under the "files explorer options" > view

If you're not sure which file to move, just move the entire XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX folder to your desktop.

Remember to move only, don't delete or copy.

The game automatically creates this folder on a new game, meaning accepting the EULA/TOS... not just starting a new character.

I'm very interested if you figure this out.

Good luck.