Settings are resetting, help :(

[Lozzie]

Hi all, I'm hoping one of you lovely folks can help me. I sent my PC off for repair and when I got it back all my FO4 settings had been reverted to default, and I can't get them back again. I run in 1280x1024 non-windowed, but it keeps launching in windowed 800x500. I read some posts elsewhere online about editing the .ini files to uncheck Read-Only, I've tried that and no joy, they just keep reverting back to Read-Only. I'm not sure what else I can try.

If it helps, all my gave saves were wiped too due to the game being moved to a different hard drive, not sure if that makes a difference or not.

I'm getting withdrawals from killing Gunners, please can anyone help?

<3

EDIT: I'm having the same problem with Fallout 3, also through Steam. So it seems to be either a Steam issue or a PC issue.

[cheshirm]

you might have vanilla windows reinstalled.

neither steam nor the game installer nor the game make any changes to windows security.

check antivirus log? might be blocking game/game launcher.

check windows security/controlled folder access.
if on add exceptions for game launcher/game.

game launcher needs to create folder
Documents\My Games\Fallout4
folder should contain files Fallout4.ini Fallout4Custom.ini Fallou4Prefs.ini
and after game starts your saves folder.

if these files are missing also besides no saves
running Windows One Drive? One Drive moves the ini/preference files to the one drive.
modify one drive to exclude the game folder.

if the files are there, do they contain the correct settings after you run the launcher and set graphics?

above will tell you if the game launcher is writing the correct settings
and/or the game itself is not reading them

you may also need to uninstall then clean install your graphics card driver

[Lozzie]

There are no saves on the OneDrive for FO4, and I've edited the Fallout4Prefs.ini file for the display I want, and those changes have saved, but the game settings are still reverting.

[cheshirm]

can you change settings in the game launcher?

[Zes]

make your changes and make your inis readonly. i dont think game has that priviledges to break into your readonly files..

or stop using launcher, make your settings once and start your game with f4se..

well, it is not a normal behaviour, something looks interfering, an antivirus maybe? as it was mentioned above. that said, i cant imagine a scenario with that outcome..

[cheshirm]

are you using the same account or a new one? perhaps all your saves are still there in the old account?

[Lozzie]

Originally posted by cheshirm:

are you using the same account or a new one? perhaps all your saves are still there in the old account?

Same account

Originally posted by cheshirm:

can you change settings in the game launcher?

That's where I'm having the problem of it reverting my changes

Originally posted by Zes:

make your changes and make your inis readonly. i dont think game has that priviledges to break into your readonly files..

or stop using launcher, make your settings once and start your game with f4se..

well, it is not a normal behaviour, something looks interfering, an antivirus maybe? as it was mentioned above. that said, i cant imagine a scenario with that outcome..

It still keeps reverting as soon as I make the changes, even after making the file ReadOnly again once I've made the changes.

[Zes]

If files keeps reverting changes as soon as you do, then it is not game related.

not sure but Microsoft One Drive.. it shadows your Documents folder on the Cloud. It may be interfering.

[Lozzie]

Originally posted by Zes:

If files keeps reverting changes as soon as you do, then it is not game related.

not sure but Microsoft One Drive.. it shadows your Documents folder on the Cloud. It may be interfering.

Both Steam and the games are on a separate HDD.

[=EGC= kansasterry]

Windows keeps messing around with its security for the documents folder causing issues that is why a lot of people have relocated the folder using this method.

Originally posted by mx2k:

Why would one move the whole My Documents folder, just to change the FO4 savegame location

1. Copy or move the savegames from My Documents/Fallout4/Saves to the location desired, eg. G:\FO4Saves
2. Delete or rename the original Saves folder at My Documents/Fallout4/Saves to something else, eg. Saves.backup
3. Open cmd with admin rights and navigate to My Documents/Fallout4
4. Create a symlink to the new location with mklink

Basic Syntax:
mklink /D [linkname] [linktarget]

To follow my example:
mklink /D Saves G:\FO4Saves

This will create a directory symlink named "Saves" in the My Documents/Fallout4/ folder, which points to the new savegame location. Windows treats the directory symlink as a folder, and so does Fallout. Works completely flawless for me since 200+ hrs of gameplay.

There was also something mentioned in another thread about an ini setting that could be done to change the location of the fallout 4 my documents folder to another location.

[cheshirm]

yes but WHY? been playing since 2016 on win 10 and 11. never had to move anything out of the Documents folder or make any links. some security permission needs tweaking

make a new local windows account. logout. login with the new account.
start steam then the game. see if settings are ok and stick. the fact that all your saves are gone would seem to indicate your current Documents folder is not the same as before the repair

[=EGC= kansasterry]

Originally posted by cheshirm:

yes but WHY? been playing since 2016 on win 10 and 11. never had to move anything out of the Documents folder or make any links. some security permission needs tweaking

make a new local windows account. logout. login with the new account.
start steam then the game. see if settings are ok and stick

They have recently changed (updated) a lot of security stuff in windows they may have reset some of those tweaks or did away with being able to make them.

Personally I think its a design flaw that the my games directory was ever put in the my documents folder its not like its going to have sensitive financial info and anything lost can be restored if we keep backups of the folder.

basically we can blame the criminals that hacked businesses and tampered with their my documents folders holding them for ransom that is why Microsoft increased its security on the my documents and my programs folders.

[cheshirm]

what is on the pc now sounds to be a different windows (at least a version with different security settings) and a recreated account (save files are missing).

search your drives for files ending in .fos (your fallout 4 save files). maybe the repair shop tech saved everything somewhere else and forgot to restore it. moving the game files to another drive does NOT move your save files. the only place the game puts them is
c:\users\yourWindowsLogin\Documents\My Games\Fallout4\Saves

and try that new local account mentioned above. might just be that account the repair shop created has some setting/permission you did not have before. if the new account also has the issue, might check what is running on your pc. you edit the ini file or you enter the graphic settings via the launcher but something else is replacing them.

[Iron Knights]

Go back to the shop and tell them to fix Permissions & junction box problems on your drive(s).

[Kong]

I have a similair issue but when i boot fallout 4 through F4SE it keeps resetting my read only fallout 4 custom ini files back to stock, causing issues with mods, this is horrible i really wonder what is causing this as i have around 520 mods installed