Save file not appearing?

[FrostyBorealis]

So my last save file isn't appearing it was an auto save and the time between it and the other one was about a month. I've found the autosave file locally on my computer but can't seem to get it recognised by the game whenever I launch. Any suggestions?

[Chaoslink]

A sort of general suggestion rather than situation specific one would be to avoid relying on autosaves, instead always making a manual save upon exiting the game.

That said, it could potentially be possible there’s a corruption or something that has ruined the save.

Try running the game and creating a new in-game profile, then copying the save and transferring it to that profile to isolate it such that it is the only save on that profile. Then try loading it there. This way you know you’re not missing it amongst the other saves on the usual profile and confirm that the game isn’t recognizing it or copied versions of it.

Can’t think of anything else beyond waiting for Raze to come by and offer insight from a more official perspective.

[Qwesar]

Disable Windows Defender. I say this on Skyrim and Divinity forums and works everytime. Windows Defender locks the documents folder, exactly where many games have their saves/profiles. Also this is step 1 in Troubleshooting and step 2 is verify cache. Other than that you need to search for more specific issues but I believe your issue would be resolved because of my understanding of how Windows Defender affects many steam games.

[Raze_Larian]

If you zip the lsv file in the save folder, does the size decrease significantly? It is already compressed, so if zipping it reduces the size by very much it would imply that it is corrupt and there is missing data in the file (one or more sections replaced by zeros, for example).

You can also check the save using an extractor program[larian.com], if you wish (download[s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com]).

After starting the ConverterApp.exe program, switch to the 'PAK / LSV Tools' tab, and at the top under 'Extract Package', in the 'Package path' browse to the save's lsv file, then for the 'Destination path' browse to that or another profile's '..\savegames\Story' folder and enter a new folder for the extracted files (you can copy/paste the path from the path listed above and edit it; ie to be '..\Story\save_extracted') and click the 'Extract Package' button. This will give an error if the file can not be recognized as a save, or if the contents can not be extracted, or the size or checksum value of the data do not match what is listed for the corresponding file in the archive.


Do you have any recent backups of your My Documents folder?
If you are using Windows 10, it may have put My Documents in a OneDrive folder.

Do you have Windows shadow copies[en.wikipedia.org] enabled, if applicable? Try right clicking the save folder, or the 'Story' folder, select Properties and (if available) switch to the Previous Versions tab to see if there are any copies.

If applicable, Steam keeps a copy of the profile in its install folder, to use when syncing, so you could try searching there, as well (Steam usually syncs automatically when exiting the game, and restarting should always trigger a sync, if required).

You can try a file recovery program such as Recuva[www.piriform.com], but it is unlikely you would be able to completely restore previous versions of overwritten/corrupt files. In general, the more you use the computer after files are deleted or overwritten, the less likely they will be recoverable.

If you have cloud support and the save is still online (Steam did not sync, or the save became corrupt after syncing), you should be able to download it using the program Steam Cloud File Manager Lite[github.com] (download[github.com]). You need to be logged in to the Steam client and have the game's AppID (435150).