(SOLVED) Lost everything, please help! (from using Mission Select)

[Spats]

I saw warnings that Mission Select would erase progress, so I thought I would test it carefully by first trying with "Endgame", the final mission in the list. I figured it would be no big deal to replay through just the one mission, if I needed to. But it deleted everything -- dozens of hours of progress in the DLCs, all the control points from Foundation and Investigation, the silly cat ear hairband that was ludicrously over-complicated to unlock, all that time farming upgrades to make Seize work instantly, rewards from Jukebox expeditions, all my weapon upgrades, the entire ability tree unlocked, a quarter million Source bucks... I feel like I've been kicked in the gut.

Even after seeing the warnings, I wasn't capable of imagining that released software could possibly work this way. It was literally unbelievable. It is like if starting a new Word document erases everything else you've ever written.

I went looking for my save files, hoping to find a backup, but they don't seem to be under AppData, so I guess they are saved in the cloud?

Does anyone have any way to get my progress back? Loading some kind of backup from somewhere?

Update with solution: I found where the save games are stored on my machine (with game purchased from Steam):

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\XXXXXXXX\870780\remote

where XXXXXXXX is a big number, apparently my steam user ID, and 870780 is apparently the number used by Control.

My save game was gone forever -- I didn't find a way to save it. However, because Control has a relatively small save state space (compared to e.g. an RPG like Fallout 4) I was able to achieve tolerable results by:

1) Using reg2k's save game editor to restore my abilty points, source, unlocked outfits, personal and weapon mods. This is a Javascript single page app that can be run from a file on your desktop, or you can just run it right off of github. You first back up your save game folder (like I should have done in the first place!), then upload your savegame-slot-00_persistent file to the SPA, edit it, then download a new version (which you will need to rename back to the proper name).

2) With my powerups back, it was quick work to speed run back through Foundation and Investigations to unlock my DLC control points. Of course you could also enable assist mode (immortality and one hit kills).

3) I didn't bother redoing the hassle of unlocking the cat ears since they are just cosmetic anyway and I think they look ridiculous, and anyway I still have the Steam achievement

4) I replayed Shum and Jukebox because it was fun, but I could have used assist mode to make it easier.

Hope this provides hope for someone else. The most important info is how to find and back up the save files, which is a good idea anyway as others noted, but especially if you plan to experiment with Mission Select.

[marsHm311oW]

Originally posted by Spats:

I saw warnings that Mission Select would erase progress,

So and what do you want now? They already gave you a warning and you still accepted it.

[Spats]

Originally posted by marsHm311oW:

Originally posted by Spats:

I saw warnings that Mission Select would erase progress,

So and what do you want now? They already gave you a warning and you still accepted it.

This is true, but the warning said "progress" and I didn't understand that this included "everything including powerups and DLCs". I've been PC gaming since the 80s and this behavior took me by complete surprise.

My hope is that some kind of backup exists, somewhere and that someone knows how to access it.

[AI Sin || SinNoAria]

You could try reading about the save issue (different issue) and seeing if the advice posted relating to that helps (related to recovering save data). Otherwise, I guess let this be a lesson to make backups before doing anything risky. In fact, make backups regularly even if not doing risky stuff.

[Spats]

Originally posted by SinNoAria/Arkia/AI Sin:

You could try reading about the save issue (different issue) and seeing if the advice posted relating to that helps (related to recovering save data). Otherwise, I guess let this be a lesson to make backups before doing anything risky. In fact, make backups regularly even if not doing risky stuff.

Fair enough -- as they say, sometimes your purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others. My own expectations for trusting game devs in the future to preserve user data have been appropriately adjusted!

[AI Sin || SinNoAria]

Wait, you trust game devs to not make a broken game? What dimension of existence are you from? Don't you know that devs in this dimension are known to make games with serious bugs that can wipe out your game files and even your computer? Or make the game unplayable for certain people for over a year?

Not that I'm naming any names, Be*****a, E*, and C*P G***s.

[Spats]

Originally posted by SinNoAria/Arkia/AI Sin:

Wait, you trust game devs to not make a broken game? What dimension of existence are you from? Don't you know that devs in this dimension are known to make games with serious bugs that can wipe out your game files and even your computer? Or make the game unplayable for certain people for over a year?

Not that I'm naming any names, Be*****a, E*, and C*P G***s.

LOL Your point is well taken, but I guess I have been very lucky up until now. I have run into plenty of bugs, but in my experience (until now) user savegame data has been well taken care of, so I guess I got complacent.

[RasaNova]

Wait... Somebody posted something about losing everything, admits they made a mistake, receives constructive feedback in response and is taking it well ? What's going on?? I'm still on the internet, aren't I?

[Inherited]

My mission list doesn't even show "Endgame" and I have finished the game earlier. Last mission I can replay is "Polaris".

And im missing 3 collectibles I should've been given during Endgame... 2 hotlines (The board - the future and Trench - the endless grind) and 1 photo from Jesse as Director. Can't even replay it because its missing from the selection list....

[Spats]

Originally posted by SinNoAria/Arkia/AI Sin:

You could try reading about the save issue (different issue) and seeing if the advice posted relating to that helps (related to recovering save data).

Update: I didn't find a way to recover data, but this did set me on a path to finding a sort-of solution (main post updated). I used a savegame editor to get back the results of my grinding, and once powered up, it was easy (and fun) to speed run back through the content. (Thanks to Remedy for making all cutscenes skippable!)

[Cwispy]

Hi guys, just reading this post now. Correct me if i am wrong.
We can technically restore the saved progress in Control IF we did manually back up the save folder in your own steam userdata (location mentioned above) before deciding to re-do any chosen missions?

[Silly]

When games were new,
They wanted a lot from you.
Daunting you, taunting you,
Resetting and delaying you.
Players played stoically.

Now everyone's turned off by that.
They want to burn through it quickly.
A quick fix for the fickle.
Some tricks for the clicks of the feckless.

But that's not you. You're an acrobat.
You could swallow a baseball bat.


I'm just kidding. That really is poor game design.

[Spats]

Originally posted by Noyou:

Hi guys, just reading this post now. Correct me if i am wrong.
We can technically restore the saved progress in Control IF we did manually back up the save folder in your own steam userdata (location mentioned above) before deciding to re-do any chosen missions?

Update 2: I quit the game AND Steam, and repeated the "restore" procedure, and now everything is back to normal.

Update: Negative, negative, something weird is going on. Once I actually tried playing the game and fast-traveling to Foundation Upper Warehouse, the broken wall in front of the control point had regenerated, the control point let me "claim" it again (though I had just arrived via it?), the nail ritual pillar had regenerated (but wouldn't respond, since the quest was still showing as complete), and a loot chest had regenerated, Apparently the below procedure did not work completely. Be warned, if you choose to experiment!

Original comment:

I felt confident enough that this was true that I just tested it, and it maybe worked.

To "save" all save points, I first quit the game (Update 2: looks like you might need to quit Steam as well, to be safe) and then copied the entire 870780 folder from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\XXXXX (where XXXXX is a big number that will be different for every Steam user) to a "Control saves\sep-8" folder on my desktop.

I then used Mission Select to restart from various mission checkpoints. As before, this had the effect of overwriting slot-00 (the "Continue game" slot) with the content of each mission checkpoint.

To "restore" my save points, I quit the game again (Update 2: and Steam as well), copied the contents of the 870780 folder back into place under Steam userdata (overwriting existing files).

Next time I started the game, Faden was back in her Extradimensional Suit with all other content put back to normal.

Um.. if anyone tries this, do be careful about your file manipulation, and don't e.g. mix up the source and destination folders or anything. Might be best to make a few extra backups just in case (my entire 870780 folder was 2.5 mb).

[Spats]

(I'm still not sure how the game + however many DLCs managed to ship with an unfixed issue with this combination of "catastrophic impact" and "should be really easy to fix", but the rest of the game has been of uniformly world-class quality so I guess I can't complain, especially now that I have a work-around.)

[Cwispy]

Originally posted by Spats:

Originally posted by Noyou:

Hi guys, just reading this post now. Correct me if i am wrong.
We can technically restore the saved progress in Control IF we did manually back up the save folder in your own steam userdata (location mentioned above) before deciding to re-do any chosen missions?

Update 2: I quit the game AND Steam, and repeated the "restore" procedure, and now everything is back to normal.

Update: Negative, negative, something weird is going on. Once I actually tried playing the game and fast-traveling to Foundation Upper Warehouse, the broken wall in front of the control point had regenerated, the control point let me "claim" it again (though I had just arrived via it?), the nail ritual pillar had regenerated (but wouldn't respond, since the quest was still showing as complete), and a loot chest had regenerated, Apparently the below procedure did not work completely. Be warned, if you choose to experiment!

Original comment:

I felt confident enough that this was true that I just tested it, and it maybe worked.

To "save" all save points, I first quit the game (Update 2: looks like you might need to quit Steam as well, to be safe) and then copied the entire 870780 folder from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\XXXXX (where XXXXX is a big number that will be different for every Steam user) to a "Control saves\sep-8" folder on my desktop.

I then used Mission Select to restart from various mission checkpoints. As before, this had the effect of overwriting slot-00 (the "Continue game" slot) with the content of each mission checkpoint.

To "restore" my save points, I quit the game again (Update 2: and Steam as well), copied the contents of the 870780 folder back into place under Steam userdata (overwriting existing files).

Next time I started the game, Faden was back in her Extradimensional Suit with all other content put back to normal.

Um.. if anyone tries this, do be careful about your file manipulation, and don't e.g. mix up the source and destination folders or anything. Might be best to make a few extra backups just in case (my entire 870780 folder was 2.5 mb).

Wow.. Thanks for your assistance here, Spats.

I totally agree. They should add a "New Game+" to make the game more enjoyable and less hassle. I feel like most game have incorporated this mode (e.g. Witchers..AC Odyssey etc..)

Not sure why they did not do it (or they did not think of it or something)

[Silly]

Originally posted by Noyou:

Originally posted by Spats:

Update 2: I quit the game AND Steam, and repeated the "restore" procedure, and now everything is back to normal.

Update: Negative, negative, something weird is going on. Once I actually tried playing the game and fast-traveling to Foundation Upper Warehouse, the broken wall in front of the control point had regenerated, the control point let me "claim" it again (though I had just arrived via it?), the nail ritual pillar had regenerated (but wouldn't respond, since the quest was still showing as complete), and a loot chest had regenerated, Apparently the below procedure did not work completely. Be warned, if you choose to experiment!

Original comment:

I felt confident enough that this was true that I just tested it, and it maybe worked.

To "save" all save points, I first quit the game (Update 2: looks like you might need to quit Steam as well, to be safe) and then copied the entire 870780 folder from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\XXXXX (where XXXXX is a big number that will be different for every Steam user) to a "Control saves\sep-8" folder on my desktop.

I then used Mission Select to restart from various mission checkpoints. As before, this had the effect of overwriting slot-00 (the "Continue game" slot) with the content of each mission checkpoint.

To "restore" my save points, I quit the game again (Update 2: and Steam as well), copied the contents of the 870780 folder back into place under Steam userdata (overwriting existing files).

Next time I started the game, Faden was back in her Extradimensional Suit with all other content put back to normal.

Um.. if anyone tries this, do be careful about your file manipulation, and don't e.g. mix up the source and destination folders or anything. Might be best to make a few extra backups just in case (my entire 870780 folder was 2.5 mb).

Wow.. Thanks for your assistance here, Spats.

I totally agree. They should add a "New Game+" to make the game more enjoyable and less hassle. I feel like most game have incorporated this mode (e.g. Witchers..AC Odyssey etc..)

Not sure why they did not do it (or they did not think of it or something)

The game designer did an AMA recently and explained that they built the game a certain way which made it impossible to properly allow a New Game+. They thought the sacrifice was worth the unique flow of the main game.