Achievements not Unlocking

[Gentle Dementia]

I was just looking through the achievements for this game the other day, and I noticed several I definitely should have. For example, I don't have 'Speak Friend and Enter', for opening an Ithildin door. However, I've opened plenty of Ithilidin doors across about four playthroughs.

Same with plenty of the other simpler ones, like encountering an enemy who's cheated death. I just did that yesterday, no achievement.

If this only happened one time, I wouldn't be too worried, but the fact that I still don't have these achievements after meeting their criteria several times over several save files makes me worry I won't be able to unlock them at all. I really like this game, and had been considering trying to 100% it at some point, so that's really irritating.

Does anyone have any suggestions for getting these achievements to credit correctly?

[profile name]

Achievements that had their conditions met in the time right after launch are permanently locked, just because they didn't unlock then. The unlock condition is gone (and can NOT be recreated), but wasn't translated into getting an achievement. That's sadly it. Personally I have given up finding a solution, been spending way too much time on this.
If you started playing later, then there might be a chance (try the standard: delete your save, then uninstall your game, then restart your pc, then reinstall the game, then restart steam and at the end start a new game, in this order, don't open the game in between), but players who pre-ordered and started at launch (I suspect an issue with preloading before release) are utterly and permanently ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Found your thread because I searched for solutions one last time today, but I can safely say there is nothing left on the internet that I didn't try.

Sorry for abusing your post like this, but I'm still bitter about it. Not because of Monolith. Bugs happen, this one isn't even that nasty, but to fix it, you would probably have to reset this game's achievements in Steam database altogether, so they count as "new", and that would happen for every player. Not feasible.

The tragic part is, this was the first game (and only ever since) that motivated me enough to try and get all achievements. Never been as disappointed. Still sank over 200 hours in it.

[Gentle Dementia]

Originally posted by oermin:

Achievements that had their conditions met in the time right after launch are permanently locked, just because they didn't unlock then. The unlock condition is gone (and can NOT be recreated), but wasn't translated into getting an achievement. That's sadly it. Personally I have given up finding a solution, been spending way too much time on this.
If you started playing later, then there might be a chance (try the standard: delete your save, then uninstall your game, then restart your pc, then reinstall the game, then restart steam and at the end start a new game, in this order, don't open the game in between), but players who pre-ordered and started at launch (I suspect an issue with preloading before release) are utterly and permanently ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Found your thread because I searched for solutions one last time today, but I can safely say there is nothing left on the internet that I didn't try.

Sorry for abusing your post like this, but I'm still bitter about it. Not because of Monolith. Bugs happen, this one isn't even that nasty, but to fix it, you would probably have to reset this game's achievements in Steam database altogether, so they count as "new", and that would happen for every player. Not feasible.

The tragic part is, this was the first game (and only ever since) that motivated me enough to try and get all achievements. Never been as disappointed. Still sank over 200 hours in it.

Damn, that's just... a huge shame. I really appreciate the detailed answer, and that matches up with what I'm seeing, I just double-checked my profile, I pre-loaded the game and started playing at launch because I was so excited for it, on october 9th, but I don't have a single achievement unlocked earlier than october 11th.

[Mythos]

Hi Folks, I recently started achieve hunting in a few of my favourite games and came across this same bug in my Shadow of War game - easy achieves that bugged when I played the game at release that now seemed impossible to get credit for. I asked Steam Support and WB Games for help but the problem wasn't resolved, so I started tinkering and found a fix myself.

I tried deleting all my save data from my users/xxxxx/appdata/local/WB Games folder and steam/userdata/xxxxxxx/356190 folders but noticed it kept resyncing all my saved data even when cloud syncing in Steam Settings and Shadow of War properties (updates tab) were disabled.

What I did was boot Shadow of War, then deleted the save data that immediately synced in the WB Games folder before Shadow of War had time to get to its main title screen. When the game loaded, it behaved like a first-time install, asking me to accept the user agreement, and all my unlockables (skins, etc.) were gone. I started the campaign and rushed to the first of my bugged achievements (Forger - combine three gems), and it worked, properly crediting me on steam.

After re-enabling Steam Cloud and Shadow of War syncing (properties -> updates), it asked if I wanted to use my cloud saves or upload my local saves - choose to upload your local saves. That's it - your bugged achieves should now be obtainable. ***Please note that this does delete all your prior save data, but if you're hunting achieves then it's worth it.***

[Gentle Dementia]

Originally posted by Mythos:

Hi Folks, I recently started achieve hunting in a few of my favourite games and came across this same bug in my Shadow of War game - easy achieves that bugged when I played the game at release that now seemed impossible to get credit for. I asked Steam Support and WB Games for help but the problem wasn't resolved, so I started tinkering and found a fix myself.

I tried deleting all my save data from my users/xxxxx/appdata/local/WB Games folder and steam/userdata/xxxxxxx/356190 folders but noticed it kept resyncing all my saved data even when cloud syncing in Steam Settings and Shadow of War properties (updates tab) were disabled.

What I did was boot Shadow of War, then deleted the save data that immediately synced in the WB Games folder before Shadow of War had time to get to its main title screen. When the game loaded, it behaved like a first-time install, asking me to accept the user agreement, and all my unlockables (skins, etc.) were gone. I started the campaign and rushed to the first of my bugged achievements (Forger - combine three gems), and it worked, properly crediting me on steam.

After re-enabling Steam Cloud and Shadow of War syncing (properties -> updates), it asked if I wanted to use my cloud saves or upload my local saves - choose to upload your local saves. That's it - your bugged achieves should now be obtainable. ***Please note that this does delete all your prior save data, but if you're hunting achieves then it's worth it.***

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ it worked!

I really can't thank you enough! I'd tried so many different things to fix the issue over the years that I just assumed it would never get fixed and I'd never have those achievements. But I just tried what you suggested, deleting the WB Games folder and the Steam Userdata 356190 folder after the game launched but before the main menu loaded, and I was able to get the 'Speak Friend and Enter' achievment after 3 years of trying!

[profile name]

This sounds just hacky enough that it might work and it's something I have yet to try. We'll see :D

[vmred]

any straight forward approach without loosing current progress ?

[Mythos]

Got my 100% completion in Shadow of War today so I can confirm it works :D

I don't think there's a way to do it without losing your current progress. My best suggestion would be to back up your save data, do the save data purge, set your new campaign to Easy and farm the achieves you need, then put your backed up data back in the save folder. It'll get rid of the progress in your achieve farm campaign, but you'll end up with your achieves unlocked and the save data that you started with.

Quick Sidenote: Just found out that Heroes of Might and Magic 7 had this exact same bug, and I could also fix it by purging old saves and disabling cloud sync to get a "fresh" campaign. It seems achievement progress is tied to save files in some way, and bugged achieves can get stored in cloud services that continuously re-upload bugged save data to your games. Something to note for the future.

[SkullFunn]

Does this workaround affect what's in the Garrison or the Nemesis/Follower orc that was imported from Shadow of Mordor? Just wondering because you mentioned the game seems to think it's a first-time install and you have to accept the user agreement and whatnot.

I wouldn't really care about having to unlock the skins again or even losing the orcs in my Garrison, but I don't want to lose the Nemesis I imported when the Nemesis Forge was still around.

[Shuriko]

Originally posted by Mythos:

Hi Folks, I recently started achieve hunting in a few of my favourite games and came across this same bug in my Shadow of War game - easy achieves that bugged when I played the game at release that now seemed impossible to get credit for. I asked Steam Support and WB Games for help but the problem wasn't resolved, so I started tinkering and found a fix myself.

I tried deleting all my save data from my users/xxxxx/appdata/local/WB Games folder and steam/userdata/xxxxxxx/356190 folders but noticed it kept resyncing all my saved data even when cloud syncing in Steam Settings and Shadow of War properties (updates tab) were disabled.

What I did was boot Shadow of War, then deleted the save data that immediately synced in the WB Games folder before Shadow of War had time to get to its main title screen. When the game loaded, it behaved like a first-time install, asking me to accept the user agreement, and all my unlockables (skins, etc.) were gone. I started the campaign and rushed to the first of my bugged achievements (Forger - combine three gems), and it worked, properly crediting me on steam.

After re-enabling Steam Cloud and Shadow of War syncing (properties -> updates), it asked if I wanted to use my cloud saves or upload my local saves - choose to upload your local saves. That's it - your bugged achieves should now be obtainable. ***Please note that this does delete all your prior save data, but if you're hunting achieves then it's worth it.***

Why havent this post gotten more cred!?

Thanks Alot this fixed my issues I´ve had for the last years!

[Lord Unanan]

Originally posted by Mythos:

Hi Folks, I recently started achieve hunting in a few of my favourite games and came across this same bug in my Shadow of War game - easy achieves that bugged when I played the game at release that now seemed impossible to get credit for. I asked Steam Support and WB Games for help but the problem wasn't resolved, so I started tinkering and found a fix myself.

I tried deleting all my save data from my users/xxxxx/appdata/local/WB Games folder and steam/userdata/xxxxxxx/356190 folders but noticed it kept resyncing all my saved data even when cloud syncing in Steam Settings and Shadow of War properties (updates tab) were disabled.

What I did was boot Shadow of War, then deleted the save data that immediately synced in the WB Games folder before Shadow of War had time to get to its main title screen. When the game loaded, it behaved like a first-time install, asking me to accept the user agreement, and all my unlockables (skins, etc.) were gone. I started the campaign and rushed to the first of my bugged achievements (Forger - combine three gems), and it worked, properly crediting me on steam.

After re-enabling Steam Cloud and Shadow of War syncing (properties -> updates), it asked if I wanted to use my cloud saves or upload my local saves - choose to upload your local saves. That's it - your bugged achieves should now be obtainable. ***Please note that this does delete all your prior save data, but if you're hunting achieves then it's worth it.***

You sir are a god. Solved an issue for me I've had for years. I hope others will be able to find this.

[Mythos]

Maybe the original poster or a moderator can tag this thread as solved. It may help more people discover that there is a working fix for this bug.

[Morkite Man]

Originally posted by Mythos:

Hi Folks, I recently started achieve hunting in a few of my favourite games and came across this same bug in my Shadow of War game - easy achieves that bugged when I played the game at release that now seemed impossible to get credit for. I asked Steam Support and WB Games for help but the problem wasn't resolved, so I started tinkering and found a fix myself.

I tried deleting all my save data from my users/xxxxx/appdata/local/WB Games folder and steam/userdata/xxxxxxx/356190 folders but noticed it kept resyncing all my saved data even when cloud syncing in Steam Settings and Shadow of War properties (updates tab) were disabled.

What I did was boot Shadow of War, then deleted the save data that immediately synced in the WB Games folder before Shadow of War had time to get to its main title screen. When the game loaded, it behaved like a first-time install, asking me to accept the user agreement, and all my unlockables (skins, etc.) were gone. I started the campaign and rushed to the first of my bugged achievements (Forger - combine three gems), and it worked, properly crediting me on steam.

After re-enabling Steam Cloud and Shadow of War syncing (properties -> updates), it asked if I wanted to use my cloud saves or upload my local saves - choose to upload your local saves. That's it - your bugged achieves should now be obtainable. ***Please note that this does delete all your prior save data, but if you're hunting achieves then it's worth it.***

For anyone just now finding this, I can confirm this 100% works. And if you want to restore your old files after temporarily doing this in order to retain all your old progress (and not have to grind back all your levels, powerful Uruks, etc.), it's completely safe to do so. Before you go to delete your files like the solution suggests, copy the contents to a new folder on your desktop or somewhere you'll remember. Go ahead like the solution says, get your achieves, and then replace the newly created files in 356190 and WB Games with the copies of your originals you saved earlier. Boom, you have your achievements and all your old progress back.

So glad that there's a solution to this, I love this game and played it religiously when it came out. Always bothered me that I could never 100% the achievements just because I had preloaded the game before release, but now I can put that to rest.

[LegendaryBot]

Originally posted by War Crime McGrime:

Originally posted by Mythos:

Hi Folks, I recently started achieve hunting in a few of my favourite games and came across this same bug in my Shadow of War game - easy achieves that bugged when I played the game at release that now seemed impossible to get credit for. I asked Steam Support and WB Games for help but the problem wasn't resolved, so I started tinkering and found a fix myself.

I tried deleting all my save data from my users/xxxxx/appdata/local/WB Games folder and steam/userdata/xxxxxxx/356190 folders but noticed it kept resyncing all my saved data even when cloud syncing in Steam Settings and Shadow of War properties (updates tab) were disabled.

What I did was boot Shadow of War, then deleted the save data that immediately synced in the WB Games folder before Shadow of War had time to get to its main title screen. When the game loaded, it behaved like a first-time install, asking me to accept the user agreement, and all my unlockables (skins, etc.) were gone. I started the campaign and rushed to the first of my bugged achievements (Forger - combine three gems), and it worked, properly crediting me on steam.

After re-enabling Steam Cloud and Shadow of War syncing (properties -> updates), it asked if I wanted to use my cloud saves or upload my local saves - choose to upload your local saves. That's it - your bugged achieves should now be obtainable. ***Please note that this does delete all your prior save data, but if you're hunting achieves then it's worth it.***

For anyone just now finding this, I can confirm this 100% works. And if you want to restore your old files after temporarily doing this in order to retain all your old progress (and not have to grind back all your levels, powerful Uruks, etc.), it's completely safe to do so. Before you go to delete your files like the solution suggests, copy the contents to a new folder on your desktop or somewhere you'll remember. Go ahead like the solution says, get your achieves, and then replace the newly created files in 356190 and WB Games with the copies of your originals you saved earlier. Boom, you have your achievements and all your old progress back.

So glad that there's a solution to this, I love this game and played it religiously when it came out. Always bothered me that I could never 100% the achievements just because I had preloaded the game before release, but now I can put that to rest.

1 year later, i am here to confirm that this solution definitely works, but without starting a new game.

1. Back up ur current saves by copy both 356190 and WB Games folders to somewhere, and then delete both folders, go to steam - shadow of war properties - disable cloud sync - start game.

2. When enter main menu it should ask for EULA agreement, it that happen means ur game data is reset, start a new game, alt-tab and enable cloud sync, play the new game until u can ESC to quit to desktop, let steam upload and sync, close steam.

3. Now go back to 356190 that u backed up, go to remote, copy the xxxxx.sav inside, go to steam/userdata/xxxxxxx/356190/remote, and replace the xxxxxx.sav inside, then start game.

4. Now u should see ur old savegame, u can complete any achievement u not done yet now with ur op talion,

P.S - any achievement that require main story progression, sorry but u still need to start new game to do it

[Jayxe]

Originally posted by LegendaryBot:

1 year later, i am here to confirm that this solution definitely works, but without starting a new game.

1. Back up ur current saves by copy both 356190 and WB Games folders to somewhere, and then delete both folders, go to steam - shadow of war properties - disable cloud sync - start game.

2. When enter main menu it should ask for EULA agreement, it that happen means ur game data is reset, start a new game, alt-tab and enable cloud sync, play the new game until u can ESC to quit to desktop, let steam upload and sync, close steam.

3. Now go back to 356190 that u backed up, go to remote, copy the xxxxx.sav inside, go to steam/userdata/xxxxxxx/356190/remote, and replace the xxxxxx.sav inside, then start game.

4. Now u should see ur old savegame, u can complete any achievement u not done yet now with ur op talion,

P.S - any achievement that require main story progression, sorry but u still need to start new game to do it

Unfortunately, this did not work for me. I was able to maintain my original save, but when I tried to combine 3 gems to get a higher quality one, I was not given the achievement for it. Super sad.