Multiple Saves and Consistent Backup Recovery

[sears.exe]

While I was in time out I got multiple saves working without any data loss. I'm sure others might have intuited it already since it's pretty simple, but I've still seen people complaining there's only one save file so I figured I'd report back. I've explained it step by step for troubleshooting purposes but included a TLDR at the end for those who don't need it explained.


The game does not keep its default save in user/appdata like a lot of games, it seems to strictly read from the cloud save which is stored here:

\Steam\userdata\[Your ID]\2993780

There is both a folder called 'remote' and a file called remotecache.vdf. To make a proper backup you want to make a new folder - something like FantasyLifeSaveBackup\Character Name - somewhere outside the remote folder (desktop is fine) and then copy/paste both of these into the new folder. Note do not just rename the /remote folder to 'remotebackup' or w/e this WILL cause issues. You should be able to paste these back into the '\2993780' folder any time to restore your save without losing any data.

If you can't access a save file for any reason or can't get a backup to load, check to make sure you have the remotecache.vdf in the '\2993780' folder alongside the remote folder. If you don't you can still restore a save - even if the game no longer recognizes it so long as you still have a copy of the 002DAE74-00-gamedata.bin file backed up for the save you want to load.

Assuming that your game is not detecting your save, but the files are still in the correct folder: Back up the 002DAE74-00-gamedata.bin file - the one currently inside the '\remote' folder - and then start a new game. Play until you can save and quit, this should regenerate the remotecache.vdf and a new 002DAE74-00-gamedata.bin. Now you can overwrite the new .bin with the old one and restore your original save.

You can also optionally backup this second .bin as well and use it for a second play through without permanently overwriting your original save. You do however need to overwrite the .bin file in the remote folder each time you want to switch saves and not just drag/drop saves out if you want to avoid causing issues with the cache file sometimes randomly disappearing or deciding your save is no longer valid - I don't know why it does this it's just what happened to me. So always make sure you're backing up whenever you're done playing - so you don't carelessly overwrite a save you didn't back up yet!

If you want another new file you can just remove the cache file and repeat the process to generate another character while still being able to recover previous ones. As long as you keep a copy of the remotecache.vdf and a copy of the 002DAE74-00-gamedata.bin diligently backed up, you can have as many new characters as you want - you just can only access them one at a time and need to manually overwrite the contents of the folder each time.

I included this info in the previous guide too for easy refrence, since save loss is a related issue to both playing with and bypassing EAC:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3485522937

It seems like a lot of things can cause the game to hiccup and 'forget' where the save is located properly due to the way it's stored. A lot of people are probably starting over not realizing that it's likely still possible to recover their 'lost' saves - so hope this helps some people not have to go through that pain. Cheers,

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TL;DR - how to get back ups working right

Copy/Paste the contents of '\Steam\userdata\[Your ID]\2993780' folder including remotecache.vdf and remote/002DAE74-00-gamedata.bin to a new folder - do NOT drag or rename the folder this can screw up the cache for some reason

If your save goes missing or the game doesn't recognize your backup, check to make sure those files are in the correct place ('\2993780' folder)

If the cache is missing or your game stops recognizing your save, back up the .bin in your '/remote' folder and start a new game to regenerate the cache file, then overwrite the new .bin with the back up. That should fix it.

Alternatively you can delete the cache to prompt it to start a new game on purpose and use backups to maintain multiple save files. You need to overwrite the .bin file every time though so keep your backups regularly backed up to avoid accidents.

[sears.exe]

Also you shouldn't need to bypass EAC for any of this to work either, but since I'm not using cross saves obviously I can't test how it interacts with them. It's possible that's what the other save file the game 'doesn't use' is for - since I'm not using the feature it makes sense it's an empty data file for me. Theoretically though if you use the right order of operations you should still be able to transfer your data and then make a local save you can backup.

[Shy]

Do you need to have Cloud Save turned OFF for this to work?
In my head, Cloud Save will automatically grab what it has save and insert that.