Save File is... Blank?

[Nym]

Hello! I know others have had issues with their save files mysteriously disappearing when they try to load up their game. Here are the details for my case:

I was in my second year, summer 11, and I'd just finished up the Luau. I went home, crawled into bed, and as usual, the game asked if I'd like to go to sleep. I said yes, and the screen just went black and stayed that way. Nothing happened - it didn't total my earnings for the day, note the new date, mention that it was saving, nothing. I figured it was just a strange bug, but could not manage to close or exit the game so I could restart, no matter what I did. Lacking any other options, I finally had to power down my computer. When I turned it back on, there was no game file at all - no save, nothing.

I was able to find the files on my computer, but when I opened them they were blank. Strangely, the same thing was true for the files on the Steam Cloud - they appear to be just blank.

I'm assuming there's nothing I can do, which is pretty rough considering I had 60 hours into my game, had just gotten the quarry a week before, was getting ready to marry Elliott, and had a really robust farm. So my questions:

1. Is there anything I can do at all to find my save file? Anything at all?
2. What can I do to avoid such tragedy in the future? This is assuming I find the heart to start a new save file...

Thanks very much for any help!

[Thelightingking9000]

First go to your virus protection it sometimes thinks this game is a virus and erases the save files and sends the save files to the virus chest. Yes this happened to me and I was confused then someone told me to check there and there it was.

[K-Driver]

If your save file gets corrupted you can replace it with the _old file and go back a day.

From wiki:
Undo the last save
If something went wrong, you can undo the last save.

For a save from Linux/Mac/Windows/Android:

Find your save files.
You should see two files with an _old suffix in the name; if not, ask for help instead!
Back up your save folder just in case.
Delete SaveGameInfo and the file that looks like YourName_123456789.
Remove the _old suffix from SaveGameInfo_old and the file that looks like YourName_123456789_old.

[Nym]

Originally posted by Doomedrpg:

First go to your virus protection it sometimes thinks this game is a virus and erases the save files and sends the save files to the virus chest. Yes this happened to me and I was confused then someone told me to check there and there it was.

Thanks for the suggestion; unfortunately that didn't help me.

[Nym]

Originally posted by Doomedrpg:

First go to your virus protection it sometimes thinks this game is a virus and erases the save files and sends the save files to the virus chest. Yes this happened to me and I was confused then someone told me to check there and there it was.

Thanks for the suggestion - unfortunately, it looks like that wasn't the case with mine.

[szbnahl]

Originally posted by Nym:

1. Is there anything I can do at all to find my save file? Anything at all?
2. What can I do to avoid such tragedy in the future? This is assuming I find the heart to start a new save file...

I'm afraid that if the _old save's gone too, there's nothing you can do, at least not that I know of. As for the second question, though, just make a copy of the save files elsewhere on your computer every so often (or better yet, an external flash drive or cloud backup). Then if this ever happens again, just delete the corrupted files and replace them with your latest copies.

[WildKhaine]

If your save is completely blank, might be lost. But can try reading through these just in case to see if anything might help I guess:

https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Saves
https://www.stardewvalley.net/missing-corrupt-save-file-troubleshooting-guide/

[Solar]

That happens when you cheat :/

[Nym]

Originally posted by The Katzer:

That happens when you cheat :/

The weird thing is that I wasn't cheating. I've restarted my file and this time I did install a cheat mod, just to get back to the point I was at in the mines and to regain my orchard. So far, no save file crashes on this one.

[Nym]

Originally posted by szbnahl:

Originally posted by Nym:

1. Is there anything I can do at all to find my save file? Anything at all?
2. What can I do to avoid such tragedy in the future? This is assuming I find the heart to start a new save file...

I'm afraid that if the _old save's gone too, there's nothing you can do, at least not that I know of. As for the second question, though, just make a copy of the save files elsewhere on your computer every so often (or better yet, an external flash drive or cloud backup). Then if this ever happens again, just delete the corrupted files and replace them with your latest copies.

I will do that this time! I've started a backup folder and am trying to save my game file to it after every session. Thanks for the tip!

[Nym]

Originally posted by WildKhaine:

If your save is completely blank, might be lost. But can try reading through these just in case to see if anything might help I guess:

https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Saves
https://www.stardewvalley.net/missing-corrupt-save-file-troubleshooting-guide/

Yeah, those were my first points of reference. Thanks for linking, though!

[Fury Fairy]

Originally posted by Nym:

2. What can I do to avoid such tragedy in the future? This is assuming I find the heart to start a new save file...

Well, I bet that's the definition of learning that "backups are essential" truly HARD way. Great thing you've just lost 60 hrs progress of video game, not something much more valuable or substantial. And, considering the fact that really BEST lessons in life are those that cost us ALOT - you should treat the whole thing as something great, and the big fat part of this "great" will be another game start, since first season of every new game is the most exciting part EVER!..
On a constructive note, SMAPI (modding tool for SDV) has built-in auto-backup mod, as well as plenty of 3rd party created mods for the purpose. Good luck!..