problems with loading saved games

[Wizard]

Let me preface this by saying that I have tried running as administrator, reinstalling the game, deleting old saves, blood sacrifices, and bargaining with crossroads demons...none of those have worked.

I am experiencing an issue in chapter 1 where my game will not allow me to load certain save files. No matter how many time I save, whether it is using the F5 quicksave or manually saving through the ESC menu, the game always loads me in from the same save file. Sometimes the save files stick and I can use them, but its impossible to tell when one works and I am tired of replaying the same parts over and over again. I also really do not want to just leave the game running, because there is always the risk of crashing or something.

Does anybody know of a fix for this? again, I have tried running as administrator, I have tried reinstalling the game, I have tried deleting all of the unused old saves (to the point where there were only 1 or 2 save files to choose from).

I have over 300 hours in this game, having been able to complete it at least twice without this issue. Now it is making it very difficult to progress.

Others on this board have had a similar issue, but they either didnt get answered or what worked for them is not working for me.

If there is a fix, or a reliable work-around that anybody knows of that I have not yet listed please help!

[max.strauss]

Weird.

* Try to repair your installation:

https://help.steampowered.com/de/faqs/view/0C48-FCBD-DA71-93EB

* Let's see if it's a Steam related problem:

Deactivate cloud saves for this game. Shut down Steam completely.
Use the Explorer to find witcher.exe
Start the game using the .exe.

Same behaviour?

* If you don't (and didn't) use any cheats, mods, the savegame editor etc. then upload your actual save and post the link. Then we can find out if it's a problem concerning your savegames.

[Wizard]

Ok, I turned off cloud saves last night but did not completely close out of steam and it was still doing it. I am going to verify the game files as per the link you sent me and restart steam, then try that. I will also figure out how to upload my save file if that does not work.

Thank you for your quick reply! I hope that we can figure this out.

Edit: and i did not use any cheats or mods or anything like that. As far as I can remember. Verifying game files, restarting steam, and running from the .exe did not solve the issue.

Edit 2:
https://www.mediafire.c*om/file/gqfyi8gbjh5qg4w/000016+-+The+Outskirts+of+Vizima-016.TheWitcherSave/file
Here is the save file, let me know if I did it wrong, it was my first time attempting. Also some clarification. All of my previous saves seem to work without issue, it is any save I make after the uploaded save file that wont seem to load. Be it autosave, menu saving, or quicksaving, i always load back at this save file. I added the "*" on .com in the link because I read that steam deletes links like that unless you add the "*".

hope this helps!

[Wizard]

https://www.mediafire.c*om/file/i9y0i8jgjpy10bk/000017_-_Abandoned_hut-014.TheWitcherSave/file

Here is a save that I made in a nearby abandoned hut. When trying to load this save it sends me back to the save that I uploaded in the previous comment. This is to see if the save works for anybody else who wants to check.

[max.strauss]

I could start both saves without any problems. I used the second save now, had to kill a Barghest and saved manually.

Try out now:

• Steam cloud disabled. Steam closed. (Use the taskmanager to verify if it's really closed.)
  
• Seek for saves using the explorer (*.thewitchersave). Remove any save from this folder. Don't delete the saves, but copy them to another drive. You never know ...
  
• The savefolder is empty now. Download my new save and copy it to this folder:
  
  https://www.mediafire.c*om/file/wsk71jrek90l322/000018_-_The_Outskirts_of_Vizima-018.TheWitcherSave/file
  
  Copy the link to your browser and remove the star in .c*om.
  
• Start the game now using witcher.exe.

What happens?

[Wizard]

moved all saves out of the save folder, downloaded your save and put that into the save folder. exited steam, confirmed with task manager. ran using witcher.exe

your save (abandoned hut) was the only one available when in the "load game" screen. It is Still loading me into the "outskirts of Vizema" save (the first of the two that I sent you, that i sent you)

and just to make sure that I am doing everything right, turning off steam cloud is as simple as going to "steam" (top right corner), then settings, then cloud, then making sure the box is *not* checked, right?

[max.strauss]

Surprise, surprise. I have no idea how it's possible that the game loads a savegame that has been deleted - when cloudsaving has been disabled. Use the explorer and seek for the save in your post #2 explicitely to find out if there's another place where it has been stored.

Local time: 00:46. My last post for today. More tomorrow. Good night!

[Wizard]

As far as I can tell, there are no other areas that contain save files for the game. have deleted all of the saves (except for the one I downloaded from you) from my computer entirely and will restart my computer. from this point I will assume that starting from the witcher.exe is the way to go. I will update you on the results. Thank you for your help! this is baffling.

Edit: So erasing all files from my computer, uninstalling the game, then reinstalling still did not work. attempting to load the game from the save file that you sent me (in the abandoned hut) still brings me to "outskirts of Vizema". I even tried going back into the hut, saving, and loading that new save after everything and it still brings me to the outskirts.

The only other thing I can think to do is to just try again with a new game, I do not know how my computer is loading a save file that has been deleted from my computer. It has to be somewhere else on my rig, but the cloud saves are off and I cannot find any other save files using the file search. I even emptied my recycle bin in the off chance it was reading something from there.

I'm at a loss.

Edit 2: last update for the night, I deleted all files, including the downloaded files you uploaded, and uninstalled the game. I restarted my computer, then reinstalled the game again. Then, I re-downloaded the save file and added it back into my save folder. I must have accidentally put one of the files i uploaded into the folder as well because there were two files in there, the one from the hut and the one from the outskirts. The one from the hut wouldnt even let me load it because it was corrupted, but the one from the outskirts worked.

to test it out I loaded the outskirts and ran into the hut and saved the game. I was able to load the game from that save and was in the hut. So somewhere along the process we figured out how to make it work, at least for now. I will play the game more tomorrow, testing the saves every 5-10 minutes to see if it continues to work.

as an added precaution, I will continue to only play the game by using the witcher.exe from the systems subfolder in the local files.

Thanks for all of your help! hopefully whatever was going on is fixed! I will update this thread if the problem presents itself again or if i manage to play for a chapter or two without experiencing it.

[Wizard]

Spoke too soon. I loaded up the game using Witcher.exe from the newly saved file that I had made in the abandoned hut. I played for a little and decided to try to go boxing in the country inn. I saved before in case they were not ready to box again and took my gold. when i attempted to reload the save that I had just made in the country inn, I loaded back into the abandoned hut.

cloud saves off.

having just uninstalled the game and deleted every other save on this computer.

i really feel like we have tried everything at this point. this doesnt make any sense.

i use the search function and my computer cannot find any other witcher files.

i tried verifying the game files again too and that still didnt change anything.

Does anybody know of anything else that I have not tried yet based on my above posts?

[max.strauss]

That's really creepy.

Is it possible that the game overwrites saves - and when you load those saves, you get the old one under a new name?

Let's test: Upload your save in the country inn. When I land in the abandoned hut ...

And read this post and the next completely, especially the "VERY IMPORTANT NOTE".

https://steamcommunity.com/app/20900/discussions/0/1779388024860169268/#c2841165820080187963

[Wizard]

here is a save file that is SUPPOSED to be in the "country inn". For me, it loads up into the "outskirts" at a previous save. let me know where you end up. https://www.mediafire.c*om/file/rr2qaronkd1aflk/000013+-+Country+Inn-013.TheWitcherSave/file

I have also been on Reddit trying to see if they have any ideas. as per their suggestions, I have turned off windows defender (did not work) downloaded the game via GOG client (did not work) and turned off user account control (UAC....did not work).

So we have determined that it is not steam, it is not antivirus, and it is not administrator privileges or user account controls. It is also not just a corrupted save because I have been starting over and completely purging my system of all save files between attempts and it is still happening in chapter 1.

We also know that the GOG client does not make it better, cloud saves are off on steam, no duplicate saves exist anywhere else on my computer, my account is the administrator, all antivirus is off, firewall is off, there are not too many saves as I have them all deleted. I am back to considering blood sacrifices and crossroads demons.

Edit: here is the link to the reddit threat that I started for those curious. I am Suavocado_toast. https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/qfved5/i_am_baffled_and_could_really_use_some_help/

[max.strauss]

Originally posted by Trickshot_Dingo:

here is a save file that is SUPPOSED to be in the "country inn". For me, it loads up into the "outskirts" at a previous save. let me know where you end up.

In front of the inn, almost in the same position as my Geralt in my own save:

https://www.mediafire.c*om/file/6d8u4x3fod0kz4h/000024_-_The_Outskirts_of_Vizima-024.TheWitcherSave/file

Try it out: What happens if you load this save which has never seen one of your saves?

Originally posted by Trickshot_Dingo:

I am back to considering blood sacrifices and crossroads demons.

https://media.giphy.com/media/8IthD50XbV1wQ/giphy.gif

[Wizard]

I loaded your save from right in front of the "Country Inn". It seemed to load up ok, your geralt is lvl 3 and you have red meteorite in your inventory which I never have (always go to lab with triss) so I know it was your file.

anyway, I immediatly went into the "Country Inn" and saved the game. I tried to load the new save that was supposed to be inside the Inn, but it still loaded me at the save you uploaded, right outside the Inn.

thoughts on what to try next?

If its an issue with how my computer is saving (or loading) the files, maybe I could try to play the game on my Macbook air. Thats not ideal, but at this point Ill play it on a smartwatch if thats my only option...

Edit: apparently my macbook cannot run it at all because the OS cannot run 32bit applications. So that's off the table as well. The universe really doesnt want me playing this game.

I just bought a copy of the game on amazon, i am going to run that on an old laptop i have that cannot connect to the internet anymore. Thanks for all the help, hopefully nobody else has this issue, or if they do, they have better luck fixing it than I have had.

[max.strauss]

I'm running out of ideas meanwhile.

Have you activated OneDrive? Take a look to see if the cloud symbol is in the task bar at the bottom of the screen after Windows starts. Unwanted saves have to be placed somewhere, which the game uses when they appear to have been deleted.

[Wizard]

My OneDrive is not activated. I have not even gone through its setup yet.