save file randomly vanished?

[Sigz]

so my save file got overwritten apparently when I attempted to play the game on a different OS. my primary save was on windows, had 20 hours into it, wanted to try it on my linux os and it didnt move my save from the cloud over. furthermore when i went back to windows. now that one has no save and only just has new game. :c guess there's no way to recover from that huh.?

[tenchu400]

Check the backup folder on the main PC.
SteamLibrary/steamapps/compatdata/1903340/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Sandfall/Saved/SaveGames/76561197995254970/Backup/

Check the cloud to see if there is still any of the older files:
https://store.steampowered.com/account/remotestorage

[tenchu400]

Also you may need to rename one of the files to EXPEDITION_0.sav to remove the date time stamp from the file. The SavesContainer.sav needs to come along with it.

[Ska]

A very similar thing happened to me. I had played for a couple hours on my Windows PC. I tried playing the game on my linux PC and found that the save hadn't transferred. I clicked "new game" to see what the performance was, but then shut down the game without doing anything. When I went back to my Windows PC my save was gone, replaced by the save from the linux box that had saved at the starting location.

The save in the "Backup" folder is identical. They both are at the start location now.

This is obviously very frustrating. I did NOT get asked if I wanted to resolve the conflicting files one way or the other. The file just got overwritten silently. It's really bad that even the backup saves are gone.

I also checked the files in the Steam Cloud (https://store.steampowered.com/account/remotestorageapp/?appid=1903340), and it looks like there are no older files there.

[Ska]

OK I made some progress. I located the deleted save files on my Linux machine. They're at

~/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/1903340/corrupted_pfx-1746412465.5619159.bak/drive_c/users/steamuser/Local Settings/Application Data/Sandfall/Saved/SaveGames/76561197982665516/

(or a similar path, replace some of the random-looking numbers)

Unfortunately I don't have time to verify that they work. Will try to do that later today.

[tenchu400]

Originally posted by Ska:

OK I made some progress. I located the deleted save files on my Linux machine. They're at

~/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/1903340/corrupted_pfx-1746412465.5619159.bak/drive_c/users/steamuser/Local Settings/Application Data/Sandfall/Saved/SaveGames/76561197982665516/

(or a similar path, replace some of the random-looking numbers)

Unfortunately I don't have time to verify that they work. Will try to do that later today.

Yes on Lunix the pathing will differ based on how your file system is mounted. But the main file structure will be the same.

Inside the numbered folder should be a "backup" folder. You can take one of this files and rename them and you just need to make sure the SavesContainer.sav inside comes along with it. Place them in the "76561197982665516" folder. The files in the backup folder are dated and have a timestamped in the file name. You would have to try to find one timestamped before the incident.

EXPEDITION_0_(some time stamp).sav (rename to)---> EXPEDITION_0.sav

In you case if your main game was on windows. I would check the backup folder there and try to transfer it to the Lunix system.

[IceTeaz]

Mine vanished too..

Originally posted by tenchu400:

Originally posted by Ska:

OK I made some progress. I located the deleted save files on my Linux machine. They're at

~/.steam/debian-installation/steamapps/compatdata/1903340/corrupted_pfx-1746412465.5619159.bak/drive_c/users/steamuser/Local Settings/Application Data/Sandfall/Saved/SaveGames/76561197982665516/

(or a similar path, replace some of the random-looking numbers)

Unfortunately I don't have time to verify that they work. Will try to do that later today.

Yes on Lunix the pathing will differ based on how your file system is mounted. But the main file structure will be the same.

Inside the numbered folder should be a "backup" folder. You can take one of this files and rename them and you just need to make sure the SavesContainer.sav inside comes along with it. Place them in the "76561197982665516" folder. The files in the backup folder are dated and have a timestamped in the file name. You would have to try to find one timestamped before the incident.

EXPEDITION_0_(some time stamp).sav (rename to)---> EXPEDITION_0.sav

In you case if your main game was on windows. I would check the backup folder there and try to transfer it to the Lunix system.

I'm on windows and I've followed all the steps you mentioned but it doesn't work :/ I can see my backup saves, I tried with one, renamed it and put the SavesContainer.sav with it but when I launch the game I can only start a new game. Don't want to lose ~20h of progression.. I love the game so far but It's been a long time since I haven't seen a "lost save" problem out of nowhere

[tenchu400]

Originally posted by IceTeaz:

Mine vanished too..

Originally posted by tenchu400:

Yes on Lunix the pathing will differ based on how your file system is mounted. But the main file structure will be the same.

Inside the numbered folder should be a "backup" folder. You can take one of this files and rename them and you just need to make sure the SavesContainer.sav inside comes along with it. Place them in the "76561197982665516" folder. The files in the backup folder are dated and have a timestamped in the file name. You would have to try to find one timestamped before the incident.

EXPEDITION_0_(some time stamp).sav (rename to)---> EXPEDITION_0.sav

In you case if your main game was on windows. I would check the backup folder there and try to transfer it to the Lunix system.

I'm on windows and I've followed all the steps you mentioned but it doesn't work :/ I can see my backup saves, I tried with one, renamed it and put the SavesContainer.sav with it but when I launch the game I can only start a new game. Don't want to lose ~20h of progression.. I love the game so far but It's been a long time since I haven't seen a "save lost" problem out of nowhere

Try one without renaming perhaps from the backup and see if the game picks it up and restarting the game. Some people have said it doesn't pick up the save at first.

[IceTeaz]

Originally posted by tenchu400:

Originally posted by IceTeaz:

Mine vanished too..





I'm on windows and I've followed all the steps you mentioned but it doesn't work :/ I can see my backup saves, I tried with one, renamed it and put the SavesContainer.sav with it but when I launch the game I can only start a new game. Don't want to lose ~20h of progression.. I love the game so far but It's been a long time since I haven't seen a "save lost" problem out of nowhere

Try one without renaming perhaps from the backup and see if the game picks it up and restarting the game. Some people have said it doesn't pick up the save at first.

I managed to get a save to work! So I took the save from my last session before today and renamed it again like you told me. I moved it from the Backup folder to my save folder, and I even went as far as copy-pasting the entire Backup folder into it haha (which I think is probably completely useless, especially since in-game it’s impossible to load a save from the Backup folder anyway for me right now). However, the one I renamed 'Expedition_0.sav' worked perfectly. The only difference from my first attempt was mainly that I started a new game before doing all that. I got a new fresh save I could load from the menu, which unlocked the 'Continue' button. After I did my manipulations, I thought it hadn’t worked because the save shown on the game menu after pressing 'Continue' was the one I had just created a few minutes earlier. But when I loaded it, it actually loaded my old save, and now even in the menu I can see the save I had completely lost showing up normally! I hope I was clear enough, and thanks again for all the informations you have sent here, it really helped me to recover my save.

[iRSS]

Paintress fault. Your save file was number 34.

[tenchu400]

Originally posted by IceTeaz:

Originally posted by tenchu400:

Try one without renaming perhaps from the backup and see if the game picks it up and restarting the game. Some people have said it doesn't pick up the save at first.

I managed to get a save to work! So I took the save from my last session before today and renamed it again like you told me. I moved it from the Backup folder to my save folder, and I even went as far as copy-pasting the entire Backup folder into it haha (which I think is probably completely useless, especially since in-game it’s impossible to load a save from the Backup folder anyway for me right now). However, the one I renamed 'Expedition_0.sav' worked perfectly. The only difference from my first attempt was mainly that I started a new game before doing all that. I got a new fresh save I could load from the menu, which unlocked the 'Continue' button. After I did my manipulations, I thought it hadn’t worked because the save shown on the game menu after pressing 'Continue' was the one I had just created a few minutes earlier. But when I loaded it, it actually loaded my old save, and now even in the menu I can see the save I had completely lost showing up normally! I hope I was clear enough, and thanks again for all the informations you have sent here, it really helped me to recover my save.

Ah yes, people have been saying it's a bit janky using a backup save at first and because I never experienced it myself I can't explain that part. My best guess is that the game is still reading the image and time stamps of the most recent save it knew but when you load it it's using the back up. Afterwards once you save from the backup it then updates the information seen on the loading screen. This is really good information you posted for anyone who stumbles upon these posts or runs into the same issue.

[tenchu400]

I have put together a guide with as much detail as I could think of. For anyone who finds this post or have similar issues in the future. If anything needs to be added or adjusted let me know.
Guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3476860704

[benmora]

Just wanted to say this post saved me 40 hours.
Loaded catchyOS and it ended up wiping my save from windows.