CORRUPT SAVE / INFINITE LOADING LOOP **FIX**

[Invictus]

EDIT: This post is old as hell but still gets regular replies. So I am condensing it.

SYMPTOM: Running into issue getting hung on loading screen with infinite loading animation.

TROUBLESHOOTING: Tried verifying integrity, loading old saves, and all other suggestions found online with no luck.

SOLUTION: Start a new game and then load your old save. Good luck.

[723rd C.A.T.]

Bethesda has known about the buggy saves for years now and they never have bothered to fix it Skyrim has them to a lesser extent.That is just part of playing a Bethesda RPG I am in no way defending them merely stating that they have a track record with this issue and a track record of not fixing it.

The most easy way to avoid getting corrupt saves in the first place is very simple and this has been posted many times as well.
1.Dont not use autosave or quick save
2.Each time you save manually save as a new save every time (do not over write saves)
3.Save manually often at least once per hour of play and before you do anything major.
4.Make a save before you begin a quest.
5.Get rid of corrupted saves.

Yeah the piles of saves that you will bulid up is annoying but people have made mods and programs that help you sort them.

The problem with your system is that if a save was corrupted it still will be once a save file corrupts itself you need to git rid of it hense the saving on a regular basis.Just becuase a save file that was corrupt winds up loading at some point does not mean that is suddenly clean you might play for hours and then discover that a quest is broken.

The loading loop alone is not a sign of a corrupt save either.If you get a loop you should exit the game and come back in and try to load the same file again sometimes it will work fine.If you come back in and you still get the loading loop again and you have verified cache and such then the save file is likely corrupted.

[Invictus]

Początkowo opublikowane przez 723rd C.A.T.:

Bethesda has known about the buggy saves for years now and they never have bothered to fix it Skyrim has them to a lesser extent.That is just part of playing a Bethesda RPG I am in no way defending them merely stating that they have a track record with this issue and a track record of not fixing it.

The most easy way to avoid getting corrupt saves in the first place is very simple and this has been posted many times as well.
1.Dont not use autosave or quick save
2.Each time you save manually save as a new save every time (do not over write saves)
3.Save manually often at least once per hour of play and before you do anything major.
4.Make a save before you begin a quest.
5.Get rid of corrupted saves.

Yeah the piles of saves that you will bulid up is annoying but people have made mods and programs that help you sort them.

The problem with your system is that if a save was corrupted it still will be once a save file corrupts itself you need to git rid of it hense the saving on a regular basis.Just becuase a save file that was corrupt winds up loading at some point does not mean that is suddenly clean you might play for hours and then discover that a quest is broken.

The loading loop alone is not a sign of a corrupt save either.If you get a loop you should exit the game and come back in and try to load the same file again sometimes it will work fine.If you come back in and you still get the loading loop again and you have verified cache and such then the save file is likely corrupted.

As I stated earlier in the post, maybe not clearly enough I apologize, that I tried using those methods that people have posted all over the place. Restarting the game, control-escaping out, verifying the integrity, restarting computer, reinstalling the game, etc. I have tried every combination of all those fixes to no avail.

From what I have read in many many forums, is that the loading loop causes people to think that their save is permenantly corrupted/unrecoverable (I believed this as well after all my attempts). This method seems to be a useful workaround that avoids having to save every 5 minutes, or making dozens of new saves and having to clean up old ones later. This is a solution that worked for me and I thought I would post and share since it doesn't really take any work at all. It got me playing again in no time, and now I don't feel I wasted my money.

Now for those who still want to avoid getting screwed by a real unrecoverable corrupt save, then they may do what I have and adopt some of the saving strategies you mentioned to a degree. My post was intended to simply potentially help those with the infinite loading loop problem which has discouraged many paying customers from playing at all.

[723rd C.A.T.]

Why not just follow the no auto save no writting over saves method? That pretty much ensures that you woont get a corrupted save and if by the off chance that you do you have a back up save 30 min to 1 hour from the point you lost?

To me it is like wearing a seat belt or a cop or solider not wearing body armor or not having any arounds in his weapon it just seems like common sense.Seeing as the auto save feature and the quick save feature and writting over saves all have a fairly good chance of corrupting a save.That is why people follow the steps I listed.

You cant possiably have used the no auto no quick save no over writting saves method I find that hard to belive becuase people that do follow this system alomst never get corrupted save files.And when they do they have the instant cure of having the next clean save to fall back on.

[Invictus]

I didn't realize this forum was for shooting people down. I ended up with a pseudo-corrupt save following the "no auto-save" method. It happened. Why would I lie about this? You even said yourself it "almost never" happens. Well it DID. And my post is not about prevention methods, that stuff has been covered, obviously. It is for people that already have the problem, maybe those in my situation or those who don't use any counter-measure precautions.

For someone who seeems to know every trick for prevention and DOESN'T HAVE these problems, I don't see why you're so interested in this.

[NassNass]

have u guys tried turning off the radios before saving. That helped my problems :P

[Zed]

I agree with RandomCivilian, why hassle him if he's found a fix. Besides this shouldn't even be a problem. Bethesda should take responsibility. If you release a game with a quicksave and autosave funtion the consumer/player should be able to trust those functions, why else integrate them into the game?

Also, thank you, RandomCivilian. This helps me out. I, as you, thought the saves were indeed corrupted. (Heck they might still be, but I am not going to delete them right now. I am too far into this run.)

[Invictus]

Glad it helped you man. If there is anything I've learned in my years of gaming, it's to never delete a save when you initially think it's unsalvagable. Someone usually finds some kind of fix or trick eventually. Or when we gamers are truley lucky on a full moon, and the planets are aligned JUUUUST right, there is the miracle of a permenant patch. (*Oooohs and ahhhhs*)

[Starship Trooper]

So I should start a new game and then load the corrupted save while I'm in the new game. Do I have to do this every time or just once?

[Invictus]

Shouldn't be every time. Just use the fix any time your game loops when starting up. It would happen once every few times I started the game up and I would do this and BAM I'm right back where I left off.

[Starship Trooper]

Thank you so much!: you just saved the life of a poor level 20 legionnaire :D

[Starship Trooper]

I just found out that I have to do this every time I start up NV. Is there a way to fix the issue permanentlu? Would deleting fallout new vegas help?

[Chicanery]

It kind of makes you think...what if theres a corruption issue with ESO? That would be horrible......

[Invictus]

Haven't found anything permenenant. They dropped support for the game so there doesn't seem to be anyone working on a patch. Sorry to hear it happens every time. That blows. But hey, at least you can play. Also remember that having tons of saves can make this isue more frequent. Try to make sure you only have a handful of saves.

[Starship Trooper]

Alright, thank you anyway. I tried loading a very old save and it worked. Then I loaded my most recent save and I could play, but as soon as I died the game crashed :/. If I start a new game, will this bug affect the new game too?

[Shelgeyr]

I know this is a really old thread, but I just wanted to say thank you to Invictus.
I woke up this morning to a saved game that wouldn't load from the menu (infinitely looping load screen) and your post saved it. Much appreciated.