What happened to my saves ??

[Fat7i Bonané]

Hello everybody,

I need your help with an issue I caused while trying to install mods. After adding a few more mods, the continue game button was greyed in the main menu. Not the first time we've seen that between alphas but this isn't it.

So here's what happened with a bit more details : I wanted to add e few mods from Nexus for the game. So while I was there, I remembered they had a cool mod manager software called Vortex. I figured it was a good time to start using it so I installed it and on top of the 3 mods I already used I added about 5 or 6 more through Vortex. Vortex didn't recognise either the game or mods I already had and when I activated 7DTD on the platform I had this weird pop up that said that 7DTD's mod folder was being "deprecated" or something. I went to see how mods were installed by Vortex so I went to the mod folder and there was another mod folder in it that linked to some other folder from Vortex that contained the mods I downloaded through Vortex. Now this weird pathing might have been my fault because I had to select a directory when activating 7DTD on Vortex somehow. Sorry I can't be more accurate than this on the whole thing because everything was smooth(ish) up until I launched the game and see that the continue button was greyed.

So I started to freak out and uninstalled both Vortex and the associated mods and extra folders, I verified the game's integrity on steam and even reinstalled it. I tried starting a new game with the exact same map and paste my save files on it.

It is worth mentioning that the saves I have are from after the issue appeared to me so file corruption is on the table. I don't have a clue on how simply starting the game with the new mods and Vortex could damage my files when I didn't even load my save. It just didn't show any more. I tried pasting my save file onto another computer and the continue button shows but the save file wouldn't load from the list, it says that the world doesn't exist any longer or that if the world comes from a mod, the mod should be installed as well.

If anyone could please point me to the right direction on this I would be so grateful.

Thank you

[CatPerson]

I tried starting a new game with the exact same map and paste my save files on it.

I am confused why you are starting a new game and pasting files into that new save's folder. If you backed up your save directory before reinstall, just copy that particular save folder back into the Saves directory. It should show up in the save list when you start the game, no new game created needed.

If you only backed up a few specific individual files from within that save folder, thinking that was all you needed, you may be hosed. Maybe I am misunderstanding tho?

[Fat7i Bonané]

Originally posted by CatPerson:

I am confused why you are starting a new game and pasting files into that new save's folder. If you backed up your save directory before reinstall, just copy that particular save folder back into the Saves directory. It should show up in the save list when you start the game, no new game created needed.

That's the problem, if I just paste my save folder that I backed up, it won't appear at all. I did that so a game would appear available in the load menu. But when I paste my world on top of it, the game is a brand new world still as if nothing happened..

[GinsengSamurai]

I tried to understand your original post, but I'm confused a bit on the last paragraph. Instead, I'll just say this...

You need to copy the Save folder AND the GeneratedWorlds folder over to the new computer. I'll use my game as an example.

I will need to copy: C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\7DaysToDie\GeneratedWorlds\Old Nanupevi Mountains

and then: C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\7DaysToDie\Saves\Old Nanupevi Mountains

...over to the new computer, into the same spots. Unfortunately, the Saves folder is tied to the GeneratedWorlds folder of the same game. So you can't just create a new world, and have the save game from the old map exported to the new one. I mean, you kind of can, but your world will be very screwed up.

Sounds annoying, but I would just remove Vortex completely, and move the mods into the game's installation folder's "Mods" sub-folder. Vortex is such a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of a UI. If only Minion did 7DTD.

[Fat7i Bonané]

Oh no so the save folder by itself isn't enough for backup ?? The actual world is in GeneratedWorlds ?

That being said, my world seems to be there in GeneratedWorlds. There's a grand total of 15 files in it.

[GinsengSamurai]

Originally posted by Moss:

Oh no so the save folder by itself isn't enough for backup ?? The actual world is in GeneratedWorlds ?

That being said, my world seems to be there in GeneratedWorlds. There's a grand total of 15 files in it.

So did it work after you move both folders over?

[Fat7i Bonané]

No. I only backed up Saves, not GeneratedWorlds, thinking naively I just needed that.

But you say that it could work without GeneratedWorld but the world would be messed up. It didn't even appear on the menu for me. How is that possible just by pasting mods or even using Vortex? it's crazy ...

[Ragequit Inc.]

Originally posted by Moss:

No. I only backed up Saves, not GeneratedWorlds, thinking naively I just needed that.

But you say that it could work without GeneratedWorld but the world would be messed up. It didn't even appear on the menu for me. How is that possible just by pasting mods or even using Vortex? it's crazy ...

You might be able to re-generate the same map IF you remember the seed (if you gave one) and all the settings in the world gen options to the tee. Keywords: might and IF.

[Fat7i Bonané]

I already did that. Unfortunately it didn't work. I re-generated the exact same map and pasted my saves folder on top of it. When I continue that game it's like a brand new game. Not a single thing is like my save (well except the map topography)

[CatPerson]

Originally posted by Moss:

I already did that. Unfortunately it didn't work. I re-generated the exact same map and pasted my saves folder on top of it. When I continue that game it's like a brand new game. Not a single thing is like my save (well except the map topography)

I'm still confused re: your use of the term "pasted my saves folder on top of it." To me that implies you're *over-writing* something that already exists in that folder. The saves folder should be empty, so to speak, and you're copying your save folder into the empty folder.

Anyway, I don't have a solution/or if there is even a solution, but in the future one should back up the entire Roaming/7 Days save directory. I seem to recall sometimes I had issues (with older saves) even if missing that profiles.sdf file, maybe because of persistent profiles setting, not sure tho. Don't know if that's still true, I just recall that happening to me so for a long while I now I backup that entire directory just in case. :)

[Fat7i Bonané]

I came to the same conclusion. Sorry I wasn't very clear and yes I meant overwriting pre-existing files.

By the way, how big is one game save folder? I want to do some more testing