Game doesn't save

[Skaeman]

Steam version of Borderlands one and the remastered versions - don't save anything. Every time I start the game, I have to sit through the movie, confirm that I've installed the DLC, etc.
My rig has an SSD for c:/ so the game is installed to E:\Program Files\Steam\steam\games.
I'm trying to get support from GearBox, but with a 2-3 day turnaround for each message, its a major drag....
Has anyone else experienced (and hopefully solved) this?
I've already searched the web, and disabled antivirus, updated drivers, reinstalled, etc, etc, etc...

[Katty Nat]

This might not solve it, but... when you install to Program Files there's always a problem.
Don't install games under Program Files.

[Skaeman]

yeah, I tried installing other places, and it made no diff (the default install location for the game is c:/program files...)
Thanks
-J

[gabi_h]

Left top corner press Steam > Settings > Dowloads > Steam library folders > Add library folder > create a folder that is somewhere else than program files right click on it and chose it to be the default folder, then install your game.
If you have it allready downloaded, after you set up the new default folder go to library > right click on the game > properties > local files > move install folder.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Steam cloud on?

Save games are in your Docs/MyGames folder.

[Shinigami]

I've never had a problem saving to the Program Files folder, and the save games are not stored there to begin with.

Check if Steam Cloud is enabled, and verify that the save game folder in documents, my games, is not set to read-only.

You might be running your copy of Windows with a non-administrative account and the saves cannot be written to for some reason.

Open up the Windows File Explorer. Find the Documents folder, it should (in a default install) appear as one of several icons in the big window. Open that folder.
Find the my games folder, and open that. Inside that, is a Borderlands Game of the Year folder, open that. Then open the Binaires folder, followed by the SaveData folder.
In this folder, you should have several files, in my case, I have a profile.bin file (that contains info such as how many golden keys I have), and then there should be files that look like "save0001.sav" and perhaps also "save0001.sav.bak1, bak2, and bak3". Those are save game backups.

Look at the date modified of the files, is it the latest date and time? If not, you're unable to write data to the files. If on top of this, there's no files in this folder, then you clearly don't have permissions to write to the actual folder.

To see if you have permissions to write to the folder (or to the files in the folder), right click them and choose the Properties button. You should see a tab at the top of the new window that says "security". Click that. In the new window, you should have some info on the accounts that can read and write to the folder or file. Make sure that you can see your account (for example, if you login to your computer with a user called bob, you should see bob in the list). Underneath the account, is another box with the Permissions granted to that account. Ideally, your 'bob' should have all the "Allow" tickboxes set for Full control, Modify, Read & execute, Read, and Write (Special permissions doesn't need it).

[Shinigami]

I know some people have had problems installing under Program Files, it is almost always due to a permissions issue, as this folder tends to be somewhat protected by the system and won't allow some installations if not running an administrative account. The documents folder generally provides full permissions to the 'account' that logged on, as it belongs to this account, however here too we have seen permissions sometimes having been omitted...

[ソーピ-ちゃん]

Originally posted by Natty Cat:

This might not solve it, but... when you install to Program Files there's always a problem.
Don't install games under Program Files.

That is totally wrong. I've installed many many games over the last decade under Program Files and never had a problem. Nowadays I have them on different HDDs, but still.

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Steam cloud on?

Save games are in your Docs/MyGames folder.

I have it on, and the save games don't appear in that folder.

Originally posted by Shinigami:

You might be running your copy of Windows with a non-administrative account and the saves cannot be written to for some reason.

I have one, doesn't help.

Originally posted by Shinigami:

Open up the Windows File Explorer. Find the Documents folder, it should (in a default install) appear as one of several icons in the big window. Open that folder.
Find the my games folder, and open that. Inside that, is a Borderlands Game of the Year folder, open that. Then open the Binaires folder, followed by the SaveData folder.
In this folder, you should have several files, in my case, I have a profile.bin file (that contains info such as how many golden keys I have), and then there should be files that look like "save0001.sav" and perhaps also "save0001.sav.bak1, bak2, and bak3". Those are save game backups.

The folder is empty. While the game is running, it doesn't even attempt to make a file.

Originally posted by Shinigami:

Look at the date modified of the files, is it the latest date and time? If not, you're unable to write data to the files. If on top of this, there's no files in this folder, then you clearly don't have permissions to write to the actual folder.

I have permission, full control, still doesn't save.

[Astro_80 (WASH YOUR HANDS!)]

Be sure that:

Your Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware software is whitelisting the game where it saves. Find out how to do this online.
Your Save location isn't write-protected.
You're using a Windows account with elevated privileges.

[ソーピ-ちゃん]

Originally posted by Astro_80:

Be sure that:


Your Save location isn't write-protected.
You're using a Windows account with elevated privileges.

Thanks for repeating what already has been said and answered.

Originally posted by Astro_80:

Your Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware software is whitelisting the game where it saves. Find out how to do this online.

Did this with Windows Defender, didn't work.

[Shinigami]

Could you perhaps try creating another administrator account on your PC, logging into that one, starting up the game, and checking if this time around it's able to create files into that folder? Maybe it's a profile corruption?

[ソーピ-ちゃん]

Originally posted by Shinigami:

Could you perhaps try creating another administrator account on your PC, logging into that one, starting up the game, and checking if this time around it's able to create files into that folder? Maybe it's a profile corruption?

I created now a new User. Started the game and it created a folder and the saves.
The thing here is, that I have normally the documents on a different partition and the new Account obviously created the documents in the user folder. So maybe there was the problem for this, but I don't think OP has the same setup if he installs the game in standard directory.
Anyhow, the game seems now to have saved the game in the cloud, because the save files are not modified but still I have my progress saved.

So I would recommend to at least try the suggestion Shinigami made.

Thanks.

[Skaeman]

Originally posted by Astro_80:

Be sure that:

Your Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware software is whitelisting the game where it saves. Find out how to do this online.
Your Save location isn't write-protected.
You're using a Windows account with elevated privileges.

no anti virus running, running as admin, and admin has write priv to the directory.

[Skaeman]

Originally posted by Shinigami:

I've never had a problem saving to the Program Files folder, and the save games are not stored there to begin with.

Check if Steam Cloud is enabled, and verify that the save game folder in documents, my games, is not set to read-only.

You might be running your copy of Windows with a non-administrative account and the saves cannot be written to for some reason.

Open up the Windows File Explorer. Find the Documents folder, it should (in a default install) appear as one of several icons in the big window. Open that folder.
Find the my games folder, and open that. Inside that, is a Borderlands Game of the Year folder, open that. Then open the Binaires folder, followed by the SaveData folder.
In this folder, you should have several files, in my case, I have a profile.bin file (that contains info such as how many golden keys I have), and then there should be files that look like "save0001.sav" and perhaps also "save0001.sav.bak1, bak2, and bak3". Those are save game backups.

Look at the date modified of the files, is it the latest date and time? If not, you're unable to write data to the files. If on top of this, there's no files in this folder, then you clearly don't have permissions to write to the actual folder.

To see if you have permissions to write to the folder (or to the files in the folder), right click them and choose the Properties button. You should see a tab at the top of the new window that says "security". Click that. In the new window, you should have some info on the accounts that can read and write to the folder or file. Make sure that you can see your account (for example, if you login to your computer with a user called bob, you should see bob in the list). Underneath the account, is another box with the Permissions granted to that account. Ideally, your 'bob' should have all the "Allow" tickboxes set for Full control, Modify, Read & execute, Read, and Write (Special permissions doesn't need it).

I don;t use steam cloud, so it is disabled. It shouldn;t be required for the game to save.
the borderlands GOY folder does not have a binaries subfolder - all that is there is Launcher, launcherdata, and WillowGames (all directories)

[Skaeman]

Originally posted by gabi_h:

Left top corner press Steam > Settings > Dowloads > Steam library folders > Add library folder > create a folder that is somewhere else than program files right click on it and chose it to be the default folder, then install your game.
If you have it allready downloaded, after you set up the new default folder go to library > right click on the game > properties > local files > move install folder.

tried it. it moved a bunch of files to the new location, and the game loaded and ran. Claimed that it was saving a couple of times during the intro section (ran through to where you use the new you station). On exit, games says it saves., but throws an error about a minute later. No directories for borderlands int he new default directory. On a re-launch, nothing was saved.

[Waste_of_skin]

Just to be clear, you presumably just moved the game files (the program, maps, etc.). As others mentioned, the save files are stored separately, in your user Documents.

Originally posted by Skaeman:

no anti virus running, ...

Does that include the built-in Windows software? In Windows 10, Defender has a "Ransomware protection" option that will restrict access to Documents. If "Ransomware protection" is turned on, you could try turning it off and see if the game will save. If that works, you can turn "Ransomware protection" back on, and then add BorderlandsGOTY.exe to the programs that are allowed access.