Game hangs at saving

[Kovatch]

Hi,

When I start a new game and says yes to tutorial on first day, the game saves and it just stays at saving and nothing happens, i press esc and it goes into menu and I go back out of menu but it still saves saving, and while I can now move no i cant do anything and no tutorial comes up

[Duke Dudeston]

Yup, this is a known issue and to confirm the beta build they have released with the next patch does not fix this either so.... I don't know if this is even a problem for them, as it seems to only be a small amount of people who have this issue?

maybe we are just destined to not actually play this game.

[AJAvalanche]

We are able to reproduce this issue now and are looking for permanent solution. In the mean time you might be able to fix this yourself.

You either don't have the read/write permissions for the documents folder where the game stores saved games. In that case you need to run the game with administrator privileges and see if that helps.

The other option is that Windows Defender is blocking the game from accessing the save folder. In that case you need to lower or disable windows defender while playing the game.

A third possibility, that we haven't yet reproduced is an Antivirus program blocking the game from the save directory. In that case you'd need to disable that program.

Let us know if this helps. As I've mentioned we're working on a more permanent solution.

[AJAvalanche]

Originally posted by SonicSNES:

I feel that my issue may be different, as the Documents\Wastelands-Interactive\CookingSim\Saves folder is present, and manually saving within the game adds new cssave files to that location. Running cs as administrator doesn't seem to help.

Could you describe your issue in detail?

[Arnstein86]

Same issue here as well. I have checked my folder priveleges and should have access. I'm not willing to either turn off or reduce security, but can not see why either defender or antivirus should block the game from rights to access the folder.

And you can see this video as well (uploaded to my dropbox) and you can see that the game reaches the folder and makes a savegame.

Dropbox Video File[www.dropbox.com]

[RKumono]

Originally posted by aleksander.lusina:

We are able to reproduce this issue now and are looking for permanent solution. In the mean time you might be able to fix this yourself.

You either don't have the read/write permissions for the documents folder where the game stores saved games. In that case you need to run the game with administrator privileges and see if that helps.

The other option is that Windows Defender is blocking the game from accessing the save folder. In that case you need to lower or disable windows defender while playing the game.

A third possibility, that we haven't yet reproduced is an Antivirus program blocking the game from the save directory. In that case you'd need to disable that program.

Let us know if this helps. As I've mentioned we're working on a more permanent solution.

Quick Onceover with these.


1: Read/Write Permissions: I have verified that UserFolder, Documents, Wastelands-Interactive, and Saves all have Full Control by my User Account and by Administrator account. Furthermore, going to game folder and direct "Run as Administrator" was tried. This did not solve the issue.

2: Windows Defender remains disabled on my system.

3: I run Norton Security. I disabled the security temporarily and ran the program again. The problem persists.

Currently unplayable due to this issue.

[Duke Dudeston]

Originally posted by aleksander.lusina:

We are able to reproduce this issue now and are looking for permanent solution. In the mean time you might be able to fix this yourself.

You either don't have the read/write permissions for the documents folder where the game stores saved games. In that case you need to run the game with administrator privileges and see if that helps.

The other option is that Windows Defender is blocking the game from accessing the save folder. In that case you need to lower or disable windows defender while playing the game.

A third possibility, that we haven't yet reproduced is an Antivirus program blocking the game from the save directory. In that case you'd need to disable that program.

Let us know if this helps. As I've mentioned we're working on a more permanent solution.

So I have a couple of choices:

1. Turn off all security protecting me and my data from un-authorised access to play this game..
2. Wait for you to fix this via a patch when you can.
3. Get a refund and call it quits...

Hmmm tough choice there.

edit:

Giving admin permissions did naff all for me, and I am not turning off security for any game.

[AJAvalanche]

Originally posted by Duke Dudeston:

Originally posted by aleksander.lusina:

We are able to reproduce this issue now and are looking for permanent solution. In the mean time you might be able to fix this yourself.

You either don't have the read/write permissions for the documents folder where the game stores saved games. In that case you need to run the game with administrator privileges and see if that helps.

The other option is that Windows Defender is blocking the game from accessing the save folder. In that case you need to lower or disable windows defender while playing the game.

A third possibility, that we haven't yet reproduced is an Antivirus program blocking the game from the save directory. In that case you'd need to disable that program.

Let us know if this helps. As I've mentioned we're working on a more permanent solution.

So I have a couple of choices:

1. Turn off all security protecting me and my data from un-authorised access to play this game..
2. Wait for you to fix this via a patch when you can.
3. Get a refund and call it quits...

Hmmm tough choice there.

edit:

Giving admin permissions did naff all for me, and I am not turning off security for any game.

You need to make an exception for the save folder, not turn off all your security.

[Kovatch]

Originally posted by aleksander.lusina:

We are able to reproduce this issue now and are looking for permanent solution. In the mean time you might be able to fix this yourself.

You either don't have the read/write permissions for the documents folder where the game stores saved games. In that case you need to run the game with administrator privileges and see if that helps.

The other option is that Windows Defender is blocking the game from accessing the save folder. In that case you need to lower or disable windows defender while playing the game.

A third possibility, that we haven't yet reproduced is an Antivirus program blocking the game from the save directory. In that case you'd need to disable that program.

Let us know if this helps. As I've mentioned we're working on a more permanent solution.

THanks I added an exception to my antivirus to allow the game to write to the save folder and it works now

[RKumono]

Still happening even with latest beta update

As a side note, this only seems to affect a "New Game" when you click "Yes" to having first day tutorial...

[RKumono]

I managed to get past this!

Diagnosing using the appdata Output.log, I notice that I was seeing a file not found error.

The file it was looking for was my user avatar, but due to my account settings, it was looking in the wrong place

My account is a Microsoft account, and my name includes a special character. This apparently made the game look for a file named "J.jpg" (J is the first letter in my name for my Microsoft Account), in the exact location of "C:\Users\J.jpg". It was hanging here. So, I copied a JPG file of my forum avatar into the C:\Users folder (not my actual user folder) and renamed it to J.jpg. Then, upon running the game again, it passed the saving screen almost instantly.

Basically, check the folder:
C:\Users\-yourusername-\AppData\LocalLow\Wastelands Interactive\CookingSimulator
for the file Output.log.

Search the file for something similar to:
---
FileNotFoundException: C:\Users\J.jpg does not exist
at System.IO.File.Copy (System.String sourceFileName, System.String destFileName, Boolean overwrite) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at SaveLoadManager.QuickSave () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at FirstPlayTutorial+<SavePhase>c__AnonStorey1.<>m__0 () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at GUISavingInfo+<ShowRoutine>c__Iterator0.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at UnityEngine.SetupCoroutine.InvokeMoveNext (IEnumerator enumerator, IntPtr returnValueAddress) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
---

Not the file not found: FileNotFoundException: C:\Users\J.jpg does not exist

Put a simple JPG image, like an avatar there at that location with that name. This may bypass the issue for someone else too.

[AJAvalanche]

Wow, great investigative work, this will help us a lot. Thanks!

[Drainsow]

Can't play at all

When I start a new game, first "issue" was that i can't get into the tutorial. I click "new game", get into it, game asks me if I want to go through the tutorial first. If i click yes, it just says "saving" on my screen for several minutes without anything else happening. (Tried it several times, never worked)

While that's not TOO bad, i just restarted and startet a new game and didn't go for the tutorial. I could play the first day completely normal, then I got to pick my first perk and skills, dialogue says "we're opening in one hour, use that time to prepare", dialogue disappears and then I'm just stuck at this blurry screenshot of the kitchen. Tried it two times now. It also doesn't save, I have to start over.

Does anyone know a fix for that, or a workaround? Already restarted the game several times, even reinstalled it.

[Duke Dudeston]

this is a known issue, there is a temp work around I am about to try on another thread, hopefully the devs will be able to fix it soon.

Apparently on some windows installs the game is looking for a certain .jpg file associated with your windows profile, that is causing the issue. all you need to do is find what file name it is the copy a jpg file at that location with the name and it should work, I am about to try this and will post my results on the thread I saw it on.

Other discussion thread

[Duke Dudeston]

Originally posted by RKumono:

I managed to get past this!

Diagnosing using the appdata Output.log, I notice that I was seeing a file not found error.

The file it was looking for was my user avatar, but due to my account settings, it was looking in the wrong place

My account is a Microsoft account, and my name includes a special character. This apparently made the game look for a file named "J.jpg" (J is the first letter in my name for my Microsoft Account), in the exact location of "C:\Users\J.jpg". It was hanging here. So, I copied a JPG file of my forum avatar into the C:\Users folder (not my actual user folder) and renamed it to J.jpg. Then, upon running the game again, it passed the saving screen almost instantly.

Basically, check the folder:
C:\Users\-yourusername-\AppData\LocalLow\Wastelands Interactive\CookingSimulator
for the file Output.log.

Search the file for something similar to:
---
FileNotFoundException: C:\Users\J.jpg does not exist
at System.IO.File.Copy (System.String sourceFileName, System.String destFileName, Boolean overwrite) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at SaveLoadManager.QuickSave () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at FirstPlayTutorial+<SavePhase>c__AnonStorey1.<>m__0 () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at GUISavingInfo+<ShowRoutine>c__Iterator0.MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
at UnityEngine.SetupCoroutine.InvokeMoveNext (IEnumerator enumerator, IntPtr returnValueAddress) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
---

Not the file not found: FileNotFoundException: C:\Users\J.jpg does not exist

Put a simple JPG image, like an avatar there at that location with that name. This may bypass the issue for someone else too.

Confirmed this has worked for me, I think the issue lies that the program is indeed trying to either load an image that doesnt exist, or is trying to create an image in a restricted folder "C:/users/"

Bit of a faff work around (hopefully devs can now make a proper one) but at least I can play the game now. Thank you RKumono, you are a legend!

[Dazt]

I am also having this issue, tried all the work arounds in this discussion and both betas. Still get Saving stuck on the screen when starting the game.

Interestingly, i don't have any output entries about the jpg.