Steamdeck corrupted save

[Kavasi]

Greetings fellow tarnished. I've been enjoying my pilgrimage towards the golden grace of the tree, yet while assisting others in jolly cooperation I ended up hardcrashing into a forced reboot. Sadly i came to learn my save of 85h had become corrupted and refused to load. My ER is completely vanilla without any mods. Are there any known ways of mending the save or is this just rotten luck? Open to advice from linux or otherwise. any help is appreciated, praise the ring!

[JellyPuff]

With Steam Cloud enabled, the game should've created backups saves. If it didn't do that of the corrupted one, you may still get it back. Re-boot into Desktop Mode, open Dolphin (Blue Folder-icon, the default file explorer of the desktop environment) and navigate to

/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1245620/pfx

This is the game's prefix folder made by Proton. Sort of like a micro Windows-install. From there, it's just like how it would be on Windows.

drive-C:\Users\deckuser\AppData\Roaming\EldenRing\<YourSteamAccountID>

There should be a file called ER0000.sl2 and ER0000.sl2.bak. Copy both someplace else just in case as a backup. Then delete ER0000.sl2 and just remove the .bak-appendix from the backup file.

Good luck.

[Jardon]

This started happening to me consistently. I had to use a save from a week ago and lost a good bit of progress.

It's a huge pain to keep trying to recover my save.

[Kavasi]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

With Steam Cloud enabled, the game should've created backups saves. If it didn't do that of the corrupted one, you may still get it back. Re-boot into Desktop Mode, open Dolphin (Blue Folder-icon, the default file explorer of the desktop environment) and navigate to

/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1245620/pfx

This is the game's prefix folder made by Proton. Sort of like a micro Windows-install. From there, it's just like how it would be on Windows.

drive-C:\Users\deckuser\AppData\Roaming\EldenRing\<YourSteamAccountID>

There should be a file called ER0000.sl2 and ER0000.sl2.bak. Copy both someplace else just in case as a backup. Then delete ER0000.sl2 and just remove the .bak-appendix from the backup file.

Good luck.

Hello and thank you! I gave this a try and sadly it worked to no avail. The file is still considered corrupted for some reason, I don't know if cloud made a copy of the bad data when it crashed. Thank you for the attempt however, I wonder if I will have to try more unconventional means

[Kavasi]

Originally posted by Jardon:

This started happening to me consistently. I had to use a save from a week ago and lost a good bit of progress.

It's a huge pain to keep trying to recover my save.

Are you also on steamdeck with this issue? As I'm curious as to how you managed to fix yours on more than one occasion by the sounds- was it with the method above that Jelly suggested?

Furthermore could it be due to DLC issues do you think? Is ER considered somewhat unplayable for deck for the time being?

[JellyPuff]

There's a way to possibly fix corrupted saves for DS2. Not sure if this will work in Elden Ring, but since they have the same save-file structure, it's worth giving a try. And it's not like you have anything to lose, except a bit of time.

It's recommended, you do this on your Windows desktop, if possible.

- Back up your borked save files just in case and remove the savefiles from their original folder
- Disable Steam Cloud
- Start the game in offline mode
- Make a fresh, new savefile and create a character
- Quit out into the main menu. Do not close the game.
- Go into the character select screen and then ALT+TAB out of the game
- Put your corrupted save file back into the original save directory and overwrite your freshly made save with it all while the game is still running
- Go back into the game and try loading your new created character; This should throw an error. Go back and create a new character again

If that worked, there should be your old characters alongside the one you've just made, if you quit out again. This method is mainly used, to load in saves from other accounts, like mules-saves for PvP, which usually have several LV1 characters with a bunch of runes and all items, but this can also help with fixing corrupted saves. Again, i don't know if it also works on Elden Ring. If it does not work, you can try look for ways people load mule saves in this game and try those methods, since they might work in a similar way.
I've found an "ER Save Repair" tool on the Nexus-mod page for Elden Ring, but it might just do the above thing more conveniently. It also may not be compatible anymore or safe to use at all, given some user report of that save repait tool uploading it to Virustotal and getting some positives, so use this at your own risk.

Edit:

Originally posted by Kavasi:

Furthermore could it be due to DLC issues do you think? Is ER considered somewhat unplayable for deck for the time being?

Definitely not recommended for the worse performance alone. There's also a Steam Deck specific issue, that triggers the anti-cheat, claiming "invalid files" are present, but that may have been fixed. I get 15-20 FPS just fighting Furnace Golems, so in my opinion Elden Ring DLC on the Steam Deck is not worth it atm.
Also, there's a new SteamOS version on the horizon, that brings FSR 3.1 to the Deck and perhaps even bakes framegen into the performance tab. Though at framerates so low, expect heavy screen artifacting.

[Kavasi]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

There's a way to possibly fix corrupted saves for DS2. Not sure if this will work in Elden Ring, but since they have the same save-file structure, it's worth giving a try. And it's not like you have anything to lose, except a bit of time.

It's recommended, you do this on your Windows desktop, if possible.

- Back up your borked save files just in case and remove the savefiles from their original folder
- Disable Steam Cloud
- Start the game in offline mode
- Make a fresh, new savefile and create a character
- Quit out into the main menu. Do not close the game.
- Go into the character select screen and then ALT+TAB out of the game
- Put your corrupted save file back into the original save directory and overwrite your freshly made save with it all while the game is still running
- Go back into the game and try loading your new created character; This should throw an error. Go back and create a new character again

If that worked, there should be your old characters alongside the one you've just made, if you quit out again. This method is mainly used, to load in saves from other accounts, like mules-saves for PvP, which usually have several LV1 characters with a bunch of runes and all items, but this can also help with fixing corrupted saves. Again, i don't know if it also works on Elden Ring. If it does not work, you can try look for ways people load mule saves in this game and try those methods, since they might work in a similar way.
I've found an "ER Save Repair" tool on the Nexus-mod page for Elden Ring, but it might just do the above thing more conveniently. It also may not be compatible anymore or safe to use at all, given some user report of that save repait tool uploading it to Virustotal and getting some positives, so use this at your own risk.

Do you think this'll work on the steamdeck's desktop mode? As I don't have a windows platform computer myself. Though I suppose I can ask a friend if they'll help me out with it.

But I agree with the latter being risky, I know fromsoft games are a bit harsh to any form of altering software and just calling it cheating. So I don't think I'm brave enough for that sort of tinkering.

Worst case I'll just leave the save for another time or attempt a new build.

Thank you either way for all your support!

[JellyPuff]

It will probably work in desktop mode on the Deck, but it's just a recommendation to avoid Linux shenanigans. I've also just done editing my previous post to give my 2 cents on ER on the Deck at the moment.

[Osas]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

It will probably work in desktop mode on the Deck, but it's just a recommendation to avoid Linux shenanigans. I've also just done editing my previous post to give my 2 cents on ER on the Deck at the moment.

what linux shenanigans? elden ring works flawlessly on my linux machine, despite i did unspeakable things to it. i use arch btw

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by le bomjue:

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

It will probably work in desktop mode on the Deck, but it's just a recommendation to avoid Linux shenanigans. I've also just done editing my previous post to give my 2 cents on ER on the Deck at the moment.

what linux shenanigans? elden ring works flawlessly on my linux machine, despite i did unspeakable things to it. i use arch btw

Alt-Tabbing is a bit wonky and crash prone for me on the Deck (which also uses "Arch btw"). I'm also not sure how well Proton responds to other applications messing with prefixes while a game is running. Again, it will probably be okay, it was just a recommendation.

Though to be fair, for Elden Ring specifically, Alt-Tabbing can also cause a few issues with Windows, like my controller randomly dropping out when getting back into the game.

[Jardon]

You can also just turn off cloud saves, clear your proton files in the menu, and then turn back on cloud saves. That should pull your most recent cloud save. Anyone having this issue I highly recommend downloading your most recent cloud save to your computer via the steam cloud web portal before doing anything.

[down bad mickey]

Hey, I have the same issue with you. After the DLC, my save files have been bricking. I even succumbed to the prompt and created a fresh new file. Even that one got corrupted.

I do have a question that I thought of just now due to a different issue that it was causing.

Is your Steam client in Beta mode? Apparently, if you're in beta client, maxing out a weapon crashes the game (happened to me twice just now) and reverting the steam client to its standard version fixes the issue (which I tried maxing the weapon and the game didn't crash).

I am wondering if the Beta client is also what is causing these corruptions.

[JellyPuff]

Originally posted by down bad mickey:

I am wondering if the Beta client is also what is causing these corruptions.

It could be, that the crash caused by maxing your weapon's levels is what's causing the savegame corruptions. Upgrading/maxing out your weapon seems like a prime situation for the game to autosave and if the game crashes, while in the midst of writing a savefile, you may get corrupted data.
This is also, why you get a warning message when loading your save, if you have forcefully closed the game (ALT+F4).

Making regular backups is the only way, to prevent data loss. This is really the lesson of the day here and unfortunately one, which is always taught the hard way.

[down bad mickey]

Originally posted by JellyPuff:

Originally posted by down bad mickey:

I am wondering if the Beta client is also what is causing these corruptions.

It could be, that the crash caused by maxing your weapon's levels is what's causing the savegame corruptions. Upgrading/maxing out your weapon seems like a prime situation for the game to autosave and if the game crashes, while in the midst of writing a savefile, you may get corrupted data.
This is also, why you get a warning message when loading your save, if you have forcefully closed the game (ALT+F4).

Making regular backups is the only way, to prevent data loss. This is really the lesson of the day here and unfortunately one, which is always taught the hard way.

Yes but, I instinctively made a backup of my save files from before the DLC dropped and they were perfectly fine at the time, and throughout my first DLC playthrough. But when I tried loading them again recently, they immediately corrupted. I am thinking of testing out my theory (tomorrow potentially as I don't have time right now), of loading them again in the Stable/Standard Steam client and see if they run or get corrupted all the same.

[HighLordBongWater]

Hi I’ve encountered the same problem and was able to save my saves. You need to download Elden ring character manager from nexus mods, locate your save, create an archive of your characters, then delete the save data from inside the game like it asks you when you start Elden ring. Then use the character manager to put back in the characters you created an archive for. With this method it always fixes my characters and saves from this error. I’m currently running beta on steam deck and this error happens randomly when the controller stops working

[Old Captain Yon]

REMEMBER NEVER USE STEAM CLOUD BACKUPS, ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR SAVES MANUALLY! It is an old bug with From games and the main reason for doing manual backups