Galactic Empire not updating

[Keansor]

I have had massive problems with save files while playing this game. I live in Texas and have thus been having constant power/internet outages over the past week, so I've had to figure out getting the game to store my saves locally (turning off cloud storage in-game, then turning off cloud storage for steam itself). I've lost the files for three planets so far because of all this.

One of them even shows up in the empire menu despite the saves for it straight up not existing. I had it set to save locally and turned off steam cloud partway through so I have no idea where it put them. I was able to load the saves just fine—and actually beat the map—until I closed and reopened the game only to see it listed under "Active planets" with no save files to load.

This last time, I used Windows Explorer to make sure it was actually saving the files as I played—which it did. However, now it's giving me an error saying "could not be loaded because it belongs to a Galactic Empire that is currently not loaded." Currently, my empire menu is displaying... The exact same thing it was before I started the planet. Same planet options (including the one I had actually chosen), same active planet with no saves, same everything.

Does anyone have any ideas on what the hell I'm supposed to do about this?

[Keansor]

I'd also like to note that it's giving me a "Cloud saves are unavailable in offline mode" message every time I go to load save despite being very much logged in and connected.

[Råb!d]

If you disable cloud saves you'll get the "cloud saves unavailable".

Make sure you're using the correct 'playset' also.

Have you changed any of the pathing of the game files? Are you logged in on a 'shared computer'? Are the saves kept on an external drive? They could cause an issue with the pathing to the saved files.

Have you validated the game files? Might help.

[Keansor]

Originally posted by Råb!d:

If you disable cloud saves you'll get the "cloud saves unavailable".

Make sure you're using the correct 'playset' also.

Have you changed any of the pathing of the game files? Are you logged in on a 'shared computer'? Are the saves kept on an external drive? They could cause an issue with the pathing to the saved files.

Have you validated the game files? Might help.

Could you elaborate on playset?

I haven't changed any file pathing, nah. Not using a shared computer either, and my files are all kept on my C drive. Validated my game files already as well.

[Keansor]

At this point, I'm starting to wonder if the issue is because I started the Empire with cloud saves on and it's getting confused because of me turning them off one by one over time. Thankfully I've only conquered three (non-lost) planets so far so it's not a huge loss.

[Råb!d]

When you first open planetfall, the launcher will open. Under Play you'll see Playset. You'll also see a Playsets selection on the left, along with any mods you are using, for each available Playset.

Yeah, I suppose the computer could be confused by undoing the cloud saves.

[Tuidjy]

The Cloud saves are an abomination upon this game.

Seriously, I love Planetfall, and have been playing it exclusively for a month, but the whole integration between cloud and local saves is craptastic.

I lost my Empire outright, and play in constant fear of it happening again. I have done my best to disable all cloud interaction, but I keep finding myself logged in, and I keep finding old versions of my lost Empire in the menu. And yes, they are lost because while the Empire is on the cloud, the saved planets are not.

The system works as long as you are always connected, but if you finish a planet while you are not connected, there is a solid chance your empire will disappear. I have found at least three threads, and none of them has a solution... and by solution, I do not mean recovering the lost files. A solution for me is being able to just turn ALL cloud activity OFF.

[Akazury]

Originally posted by Tuidjy:

A solution for me is being able to just turn ALL cloud activity OFF.

I already told you how to turn off cloud saves. You first disable them in the Games Options (which should be enough), after that you disable Steam Cloud saves in Steam and log out of your Paradox account in the Game & Launcher.

All saves already made with the cloud settings active will remain cloud saved and become unavailable so you need to make a local copy if you want to continue those.

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by Akazury:

Originally posted by Tuidjy:

A solution for me is being able to just turn ALL cloud activity OFF.

I already told you how to turn off cloud saves. You first disable them in the Games Options (which should be enough), after that you disable Steam Cloud saves in Steam and log out of your Paradox account in the Game & Launcher.

The game insists on logging me, even if Steam is offline. The only way to make sure that the cloud saves are off without me fiddlef*cking with them every time I play is to suspend the Internet connection. Which slows down booting the game by about a minute.

I stand by my statement that the cloud save mechanism of the game is an abomination.

[jjaeger14]

Tuidjy, I 100% agree. Thank you Akazury. But if you think your complex solution is an appropriate solution, I disagree. I've lost my empires as well with no clue what happened until I read this post. And I play the game on 2 laptops, sometimes offline and sometimes online. So you want to talk about confusing?

[jjaeger14]

Where are the Triumph studios comments on this issue. it is a year since this post was created (an excellent post) and yet nothing has been done to improve and solve the issue. The screens for 'loading galactic empire' do not exist (at least on my version of the game'. Choosing to load a saved game (and if this is the process then CLARIFY THAT with your error messages) has a drop down for galactic Empires and then all I see is a series of game saves and no choices for loading Galactic Empires.

You need to SUPPORT YOUR CLIENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mourioche]

To avoid all problems, i do not use the cloud.
I already found some problems (bug) if you save both on cloud and on your hard disk, if the files have the same names.

Be careful : If you play empire mode, you have two files :
- A file to save your empire ; This is the .EAG file
- Files for saved games : They are the .ACG files

By default on win7, yours local saved files are here (in french) :
C:\Users\<user>\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Age of Wonders Planetfall\Saves

The cloud file can also be found here :
C:\Users\<user>\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Age of Wonders Planetfall\Profiles\<A number>\CLOUDSAVES
So, perhaps with some luck you can found your lost files here ?
When game start, the "synchronization" synchronize these files.

You can put files both on cloud and/or on your local disk,
And you can use both cloud and local disk for empire mode... the .EAG file on cloud and the .ASG file on local disk is possible... that is something idiot imo.

From option/general you can select "manual save" and "rapid save" on cloud or not.
According what you chose here, the empire file .EAG will be on cloud or on local disk.

When you save a game, you can check "cloud" or not.
In this case, you will find yours saves on cloud or on local disk, but only the .ACG file,
Not the empire file.

By default empire file will be on cloud.

if you want to use empire file on local disk, and if you currently have empire files on cloud you can ;
- Copy your last empire file .EAG from
C:\Users\<user>\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Age of Wonders Planetfall\Profiles\<A number>\CLOUDSAVES
to
C:\Users\<user>\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Age of Wonders Planetfall\Saves
(Also copy game save files if you want)
- Then, on option/general unselect "cloud" options.
The game will then use the local empire file.

In a perfect system, we could save
- Game
- Empire
- Own heroes
both on cloud and.or on local disk.
But this is not what is done...
Heroes are in another files and are only local, for example.

[Fully Sick Monaro]

As mentioned above, the saving local/cloud mechanism is deplorable at best. It is confusing, and unsound in environments where your power or internet is not 100%.

For the last two years I've struggled to keep my games relevant. I have over 500 save game files constantly coming at me on every sync; there's no provision to log in to Paradox's mother site and remove them easily, or do so in game. A great example of cloud file management is Valheim. I'd expect better from a large company like Paradox, but hey, it's Paradox(ical).

Thank you very much mourioche for your explanation. It's information like this that proves invaluable to keeping this game alive.