Grim Dawn + Mods = completely unstable

[H0RSE]

As the title suggests, using mods with this game, is a complete ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I only installed the smash n grab mod. I looked up how to transfer saves from main game to custom games. Move my lvl 44 to custom game. Play him up to lvl 70. Exit to main menu. See that the character is still at lvl 70. Exit game. Come back into game later, character is back at lvl 44. Play him again upto lvl 60. Do the same thing, and get the same results - game shows him at lvl 60, when I exit and come back, he's lvl 44 again.

So I think, "maybe I'll start a completely new character within the custom game." So I do that - get him to lvl 35. Exit to menu, shows the character is there. Exit game and come back later. Character is back at lvl 1. Now maybe I'm just being a fussy freddy here, but it seems like to me that this is a gamebreaking problem, even to the point to making the game unplayable. Maybe it has nothing to do with mods. Maybe Crate just needs to get their ♥♥♥♥ together and have a manual save option, which for a game in 2020, should be a standard feature anyway. How the hell you gonna release a game and offer mod support, when it doesn't even save the characters correctly or at all? And just for clarity, I play with cloud saves off.

Well, it only took me like 10 hours to learn my lesson. Shame on me for expecting one of the simplest features of a game to work properly... Looks like it's nothing but vanilla game for me. Way to go , devs! I don't know what your plans are for the next patch/update, but I would suggest you scrap the entire thing, and just add a manual save option...

[KG]

Sounds like something is preventing Grim Dawn from updating your saves. Might want to look at folder permissions, antivirus, cloud garbage (Onedrive or similar), an out-of-date mod messing things up... pretty much anything except blaming Crate for this because it sounds 100% like things that have in the past turned out to be non-Crate issues and 0% like things that have in the past turned out to be Crate issues. I get you're frustrated but you are pointing it in the wrong direction.

[H0RSE]

As stated, I was using a lvl 44 character that I already had played a long time ago, meaning that up to that point, the character was saving fine. Things went ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ when I tried the mod, and it is one of the most popular mods and it is up to date. Nothing else on my machine has been changed.

And no, I'm not "pointing it in the wrong direction," because the game still lacks a manual save option, which should be a standard feature, especially in a game like this and the fact that something like this is even able to happen (I've read other cases with people having problems with chars not saving) is completely unacceptable, from a development standpoint.

But whatever, I'm not gonna play McGruff Crime Dog, and waste my time with trial and error, trying to get to the bottom of a problem that shouldn't even exist in the first place. I'm just not going to use mods anymore - problem solved... I wish I haven't put so many hours into this game, so I could attempt to get some type of refund back. I just bought the 2 expansions yesterday. Clearly, they should be working on making a more stable, feature-ready game, than worrying about releasing DLC...

[SchnitzelTruck]

Originally posted by H0RSE:

But whatever, I'm not gonna play McGruff Crime Dog, and waste my time with trial and error, trying to get to the bottom of a problem that shouldn't even exist in the first place. I'm just not going to use mods anymore - problem solved... I wish I haven't put so many hours into this game, so I could attempt to get some type of refund back. I just bought the 2 expansions yesterday. Clearly, they should be working on making a more stable, feature-ready game, than worrying about releasing DLC...

Nice logic. A mod ruined my experience therefore its crate's fault. Get the hell out.

[H0RSE]

Originally posted by SchnitzelTruck:

Nice logic. A mod ruined my experience therefore its crate's fault. Get the hell out.

It's not just "a mod." It's an extremely popular, up-to-date mod, installed properly, in a game that supposedly has mod support. It's not the case of trying to install some shady mod in a game without mod support. And besides, your response doesn't really apply to what you quoted. That quote is less about "it's Crate's fault," and more about "why waste my time trying to fix something, when I can just go back to when it seemed to be working fine and alleviate any potential headaches?"

This isn't my first rodeo. I've been using mods in games for about 20 yrs. The savegame issue that I'm having, isn't solely due to "a mod ruing my experience."

I looked up save game issues before coming here, and as I said in my last reply, I read cases of other people having the same/similar issue with their game, and they weren't even using mods, so you can stop white-kniting for Crate...

And why does everyone keep dismissing the issue I brought up, of them not having a manual save option? Everyone's cool with not being able to save their game and just hope that whatever automatic, in-the-background method they are using, works?

I know the game supposedly saves after pretty much any action - picking up an item, completing a quest, finding a rift, I heard it even saves if you alt+tab, but all this is still just a poor mans version to being able to manually save the game, or even quicksave, especially since just in my google searches prior to coming here, I found a bunch of people that would also like to have this option, which is a standards feature and not asking for much.

[ZiFFA]

I never had this issue with any mods, even the newest one.
Turn off Cloud Saves and make sure that the games has folder rights to make changes within the system.

[MedeaFleecestealer]

Moving characters from main to custom isn't the best idea, though it can be done.

Sounds like a cloud saving problem to me. Move your saves from the cloud to local saves.

https://forums.crateentertainment.com/t/how-to-move-your-saves-from-steam-cloud-to-grim-dawns-default-location/28921

Then turn off cloud saving in both Steam settings and the ingame Options menu.

[Walking Spoiler]

Crate aren't gods that can know every single possible user configuration that might affect the way the game runs mods. It seems like you have little idea about how to config your PC but don't want to admit it so you recurred to blame the devs for your incompetence. Well, you ain't impressing nobody with your "I WOULD TOTALLY REFUND THIS GAME IF I COULD" attitude, Mister 20-years-experience-using-mods. Your post is "I demand to speak to the manager" tier crap.

[FlamingX21]

Originally posted by Walking Spoiler:

Crate aren't gods that can know every single possible user configuration that might affect the way the game runs mods. It seems like you have little idea about how to config your PC but don't want to admit it so you recurred to blame the devs for your incompetence. Well, you ain't impressing nobody with your "I WOULD TOTALLY REFUND THIS GAME IF I COULD" attitude, Mister 20-years-experience-using-mods. Your post is "I demand to speak to the manager" tier crap.

I demand to speak to your manager! I want all the goodies.

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

dude, why do you think the first suggestion you got was to check your folder permission, antivirus or cloud settings??
because eeeevery fn time this stuff happens one of those have always been the culprit.
Windows is "known" for seemingly random issues where a folder's permission settings change, making "you" unable to alter/rewrite data to said folder you could before. (i've no idea how this sht happens)
Or, very freaking common, antivirus protection suddenly decides "now this game aint kosher", blocking people from launching it, or locking it down/the folder where it saves to, so files don't get updated. -this happens sometimes either with an AV update, or if a game gets an update and the AV doesn't agree with the game now being "different".
Or ofc, fcn cloud, like Onedrive, that will keep "updating" you folder, turning them back to the old files it had synced instead of syncing the new change in files...

don't dismiss advice on first hand just because it either wasn't what you liked, not as easy as you hoped, or because it requires a little bit of effort on your part to fix.

[powbam]

Originally posted by H0RSE:

I play with cloud saves off.

If OneDrive is running, disable it and never have this problem again. Alot of words were said.. next time just stick to the basics and summarize your issue and skip the philosophical ranting. Your above quoted sentence was all I needed to see to know what the issue is.

[ಠ_ಠ]

Is a manual save file necessary in a game like this? I don't really want manual saves (and that's even having been burned from crashes in the past). I can still mess with the saves if I want, and they can be manually backed up.

If anything, manual saves are far more common in older games, rather than newer games, so the logic of "in 2020" is extraordinarily faulty. At least it isn't a checkpoint system.

[DarkestLight]

Originally posted by Slinky:

Is a manual save file necessary in a game like this? I don't really want manual saves (and that's even having been burned from crashes in the past). I can still mess with the saves if I want, and they can be manually backed up.

If anything, manual saves are far more common in older games, rather than newer games, so the logic of "in 2020" is extraordinarily faulty. At least it isn't a checkpoint system. :conwayshrug:

Manual saves wouldn't help the OP, or anyone else. The game IS saving, but in the OPs case something is either preventing the saves from being overridden (anti virus or permission problem) or is overriding the save (cloud things like one drive). With a manual save the same problem would still happen, whatever the problem turns out to be.

[MedeaFleecestealer]

Originally posted by Slinky:

Is a manual save file necessary in a game like this? I don't really want manual saves (and that's even having been burned from crashes in the past). I can still mess with the saves if I want, and they can be manually backed up.

If anything, manual saves are far more common in older games, rather than newer games, so the logic of "in 2020" is extraordinarily faulty. At least it isn't a checkpoint system. :conwayshrug:

Iirc - and I couldn't find the quote/thread - Medierra asked about manual saving way back in the very early development of the game and the player base then was overwhelming in favour of dropping the save button. I think he said at the time that TQ had it, although it didn't need it as it also saves automatically, just to make players feel happier by having something to visibly press before exiting the game. .

[H0RSE]

Originally posted by FlamingX21:

Crate aren't gods that can know every single possible user configuration that might affect the way the game runs mods. It seems like you have little idea about how to config your PC but don't want to admit it so you recurred to blame the devs for your incompetence.

- wow, that's a hell of an assumption on your part.... No, my machine is configured fine, thanks... I did however find it humorous how like at least 3 separate people told me turn off cloud saves, with one person claiming I was being "dismissive" of advice, even though I specifically mentioned that I play with cloud saves off in my OP... the reason I "ignored" the advice, is because I either had already done anything being suggested or said advice didn't apply to me. As much as you are convinced of my apparent ineptness of the situation, this is not a problem on my end, and I don't know what else to tell you. Believe what you want, I really don't care...

Well, you ain't impressing nobody with your "I WOULD TOTALLY REFUND THIS GAME IF I COULD" attitude, Mister 20-years-experience-using-mods.

- I never said I would get a refund for the game. I said I wish I could get *some kind* of refund back, because I just purchased the 2 expansions. I was talking about the expansions I just bought, not the game in it's entirety. I wouldn't even want a refund for the entire game, since 1.) I still want to play it and 2.) part of the reason I bought it was to support the small indie developer - a refund would completely negate that. If you're going to insult me and speak condescendingly, at least be accurate as to wtf you're attempting to complain about...

Your post is "I demand to speak to the manager" tier crap.

In all honesty, I'd rather not speak to any devs. More often than not, whenever a dev chimes in, it's either a whole lot of troubleshooting advice which I have likely already done or "send me this file or send me that," which I really don't feel like doing.

The last time I posted, I thought this discussion was over. I mean, I said my piece, and even decided that I won't use mods anymore and the problem will be solved, yet since then, like 9 people chimed in, a few offering actual advice, (thank you to those people) while the others (like yourself) apparently felt compelled to let me know what they think about me as a person, as if this is some type of intervention and/or I'm going to learn a valuable, life lesson...

[MedeaFleecestealer]

I think the "attitude" is because you yourself came on strong with your OP. And to be honest I can't see that having a manual save button would solve your problem. Something somewhere is causing the game not to sync saves properly, you need to find out what that is. What have you done so far? Where are your save files? If you're on local saving then they should be in My Documents\My Games\Grim Dawn\save