Save files keep disappearing.

[Kelragon]

I have been playing since the 1.0 release. I have been enjoying it. I decided early on I would have 3 save files for my current crew. Only recently when I load my last save (after fully shutting down the game) one of the other save folders (not the latest save) randomly disappears.

When I go into the save folder in "dolphin" (linux user here) the Save-1 file is still there it is just empty (Again its a random save that gets removed and that just happened to be the one last time. My last save (Save-4) is still there and intact but just now when I loaded up the game (Save-3) is now gone. So now I only have (Save-2) and (Save-4).

Now what sucks about this is Save-3 was what I JUST saved in then decided to make a Save-4. So now I am 100% locked into any and all decisions I have made up until now and have absolutely nothing to fall back on. My (Save-3) was the last "Safe" save I had.

I guess the game isn't stable enough to start playing after all.

[aksel_bugbyte]

Hi!

So is it so that when you load a saved game some other saved game disappears?

That is indeed strange. I've never seen that happen before. You have space left on the harddrive I assume?

The game has its own cloud save feature. Not that it is a great solution to this problem but could be tried to backup saves.

[Kelragon]

Originally posted by aksel_bugbyte:

Hi!

So is it so that when you load a saved game some other saved game disappears?

That is indeed strange. I've never seen that happen before. You have space left on the harddrive I assume?

The game has its own cloud save feature. Not that it is a great solution to this problem but could be tried to backup saves.

Ok so I am not sure when or how it does it. I don't notice it at first, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen as soon as I started the game. As for the cloud save feature I do see a cloud zip folder and it does seem to have my saves in it. I have not unzipped it to see if the saves work or are even current yet. But if they are then I agree its not a great solution but at least it is a solution none the less. Thanks for responding and pointing out the save cloud feature, hopefully it will work and I can continue my space adventure.

[Kelragon]

So I was able to unzip the cloud save zip but each one is not linked to the save folder they are in. When I unzipped (Save-3)'s cloud zip the save file that was inside it was actually (Save-4). When I unzipped (Save-4) zip (Save-4) was inside, (Save-2) also had its own (Save-2). And (Save-1) had (Save-2) folder inside. The only two files that have been erased from my game so far are (Save-1) and (Save-3) both of those had different save information in there cloud zips. The two saves that are still showing up in game (for now) are (Save-2) and (Save-4) and both of those had the correct and up to date save information.

Still don't know when, how, or what I might be doing to have had this happen. Also I forgot to mention yes I have plenty of space on my hard drive. about 300 gb space.

[Kelragon]

Ok so for what ever reason it seems I can only have 3 save files I made a (Save-5) file and now my (Save-2) file has disappeared. Now my save files are not just named (Save-#) my save game with my current crew is called (S.W.A.T. Survival #) And I got to wondering is it possible that the "periods" ( . ) in the name are the problem?

So I started the game with (S.W.A.T. Survival 1) (2) and (3) I then created a (Sandbox MODE) save just so I could build a starter ship quickly and see what the resources added up to. After I played for awhile in my (S.W.A.T.) crew I made a (4) save (same name) and then noticed one of the other ones disappeared (a random one). This has been happening ever since and I seem to only be able to have 2 saves linked to that crew (right now its (4) and (5) and my (SandboxMODE) save.

So every time I make a new save it randomly removes one of my past ones. I still don't know when it does it because when I shut down the game this last time I still had (S.W.A.T. Survival 2, 4, and 5) and now I only have (4 and 5). Also the cloudzip do not contain the correct save inside them for the saves that are randomly deleted.

[aksel_bugbyte]

Hi!

It could be possible the periods cause issues. But it is peculiar that you could have some save files still.

However, you could give it a test with something very plain like: swat-survival-1, swat-survival-2, etc.

Let me know if the behavior changes. You can load a game and immediately save to a new save file with the naming convention above.

[Kelragon]

Originally posted by aksel_bugbyte:

Hi!

It could be possible the periods cause issues. But it is peculiar that you could have some save files still.

However, you could give it a test with something very plain like: swat-survival-1, swat-survival-2, etc.

Let me know if the behavior changes. You can load a game and immediately save to a new save file with the naming convention above.

Ok so I might have figured out why its happening, and no, removing the periods ( . ) did not make a difference. What I do when I save my game before shutting the game down completely is I save in one file (lets say SWAT-Survival-1) then right after that I save on the next save (SWAT-Survival-2) that way when I start the game next time the auto-save doesn't overwrite my (SWAT-Survival-1) auto-saves.

Now this last time I saved into (SWAT-Survival-2) and then right after that I saved into (SWAT-Survival-3) then shut down the game (as well as my computer). When I was able to get back on a few hours later I noticed (SWAT-Survival-2) was gone and I only had (1 and 3). I then shut down the game and went into Dolphin (file explorer) and went into the cloudzip for the (SWAT-Survival-2) file. Inside that file "looked" to be the same file that was in the (SWAT-Survival-3) cloudzip.

Is it possible that I am saving the game two times so close to one another (with in seconds) that its causing an issue? I have started letting the game run a few minutes between saves in hopes that that might fix it.

[Kelragon]

Ok now I am REALLY confused. After I switched the save file from (S.W.A.T. Survivial-#) to (SWAT-Survival-#) in order to see if the periods ( . ) where the problem. I had deleted the only two saves (from within the game) that were visible with the periods in the name (S.W.A.T. Survival-1 and 5). After I deleted those two I shut down the game and haven't tried playing till just now.

I JUST booted up the game and now along with my 3 save files that do not have the periods (SWAT-Survival-1, 2, and 3) are all there but now I also see (S.W.A.T. Survival-3, and 4). Those last two were ones that had disappeared a few days back and I have not seen them since. Now they are showing up with auto saves and manual saves in-tow. And the (S.W.A.T. Survival-2) is still gone, not deleted by me but that was one that had disappeared as well and it's still gone but the two above came back.

[Kelragon]

And now I went back in to actually play and all my saves are gone except for my most recent. This is so frustrating because I really truly am enjoying this game so much.

And this current play through is really scratching that itch for a good space colony sim. But now that I am down to just one save file showing up I am going to have to put this game back on the shelf for awhile.

I am worried that the next time I log in ALL my saves are going to be gone and all my time in this current crew will be as if it never happened.

I guess I will come back in another year and hope its finally stable. Don't get me wrong I know this is clearly only affecting me. It could even be something on my end for all I know. But I do have a huge backlog of other games I have never even installed so I will move on and revisit this one of a kind gem (NOT sarcasm) at a later date. It really is a cool little game.

[aksel_bugbyte]

Hi there.

Very sorry you are having ongoing issues. I can think of two possible reasons that could cause the behavior:

1. Steam cloud is somehow messing with your saved games. This especially since the ones with dots came back. I don't think there is any other explanation for those saved games coming back if they were once deleted.
2. Antivirus program is flagging them and deleting them.

Running the game from the install folder directly could be tried:
Steam\steamapps\common\SpaceHaven

spacehaven.exe and run as administrator.
Also turning antivirus off whilst playing.

I understand you may not have energy anymore to try but indeed, it is strange behavior and whilst I've seen some save games disappearance reports (Due to BSODS usually) I've never seen this type of consistent behavior with the saved games.

They've always been rare and limited to a single instance occurrence for the most part. And there has always been some reason, like a bsod, or game path issue (With special characters in the game path).

Does the game path have any special characters in your case? Are you using a external HDD? Anything other special about your setup?

[Kelragon]

Originally posted by aksel_bugbyte:

Hi there.

Very sorry you are having ongoing issues. I can think of two possible reasons that could cause the behavior:

1. Steam cloud is somehow messing with your saved games. This especially since the ones with dots came back. I don't think there is any other explanation for those saved games coming back if they were once deleted.
2. Antivirus program is flagging them and deleting them.

Running the game from the install folder directly could be tried:
Steam\steamapps\common\SpaceHaven

spacehaven.exe and run as administrator.
Also turning antivirus off whilst playing.

I understand you may not have energy anymore to try but indeed, it is strange behavior and whilst I've seen some save games disappearance reports (Due to BSODS usually) I've never seen this type of consistent behavior with the saved games.

They've always been rare and limited to a single instance occurrence for the most part. And there has always been some reason, like a bsod, or game path issue (With special characters in the game path).

Does the game path have any special characters in your case? Are you using a external HDD? Anything other special about your setup?

I too had the thought that it might be Steams cloud save is doing something after those two saves with the periods came back. I have deactivated the Steam cloud for this game and will see how that goes.

Game path does not have any special characters (to my knowledge) though I am running it on Nobara Linux. I am very new to Linux, the beginning of this year is the first time I ever used an operating system that wasn't Microsoft based. So it is possible there are special characters but I didn't specifically do that. I installed the game where it "recommended" it be installed.

Antivirus I am 99.9% sure is not the problem here. But will look into it non-the-less.

Game is not installed on an external HDD. The only thing "special" about my setup is it is an ASUS ROG Strix laptop. I have not had any problems with any other games on this system, so I be-leave the system itself is not the problem either. The only things that I "personally" think it might be is either Steam's cloud save or the fact that I am on a Linux system now. And of course it could also still be a rare bug.

Also the save's are not getting "deleted" as their save folders are still in the game file under the folder "savegame". And even when the save title is not visible in the game while I am either "saving or loading" if I use the same "save name" (S.W.A.T. Survival-3 for example) the game still pops up with a warning that I will be overwriting an already existing file even though said file name is not visible in the save menu or load menu of the game. Once I agree to overwrite the save it then shows up. But it shows up as only a manual save no auto saves. After that it may or may not be there the next time I boot up the game.

I will try playing with out the Steam cloud activated for this game and hopefully that will be the answer. I will keep you informed over the next few days. Thanks for your help so far on this.

EDIT: I also want to clarify, my most current LAST save is always there. So far the only saves being removed (and more recently re-appearing) are always non-current "older" saves even if older means only by a few seconds.

[Kelragon]

Ok, so I have done more looking into this and I might have figured it out (might being the key word here).

I do not be-leave the Steam cloud is actually to blame here as while it was deactivated this problem still happened. I now think the main problem is what I had mentioned above about how I save in one name and then with in seconds save in another.

After I had turned off Steam cloud I thought that was what fixed it and I went back to my way of saving the game. I hit "escape", go into save, tell it to overwrite (SWAT-Survival-1) as soon as it goes back to the "escape" menu I go right back into save, and tell it to now overwrite (SWAT-Survival-2), after it goes back to the "escape" menu I then say back to title screen, and then exit the game. Upon returning to the game (SWAT-Survival-1) is gone and (SWAT-Survival-2) remains. I also have a (SWAT-Survival-3) the was untouched and also remained.

I did this twice (and will try it a few more times over the next few days) and both times the first save in that method is the one that got removed and the second one is the one that remained.

However, when I save the game, then go back into play for a few minutes, then go back and save on a different name both save names remain. So, I think my method of saving is the actual issue here. It seems I just have to give it some time to actually "finish" the saving process.

I will keep you updated if anything changes, and in a few more days will also confirm if the issue seems to be resolved with my new method of saving.

[Kelragon]

So I am pretty sure I figured it out. I re-activated the Steam cloud and have changed my method of saving. I no longer Save under one name then instantly save in another. Now (and this seems to be working perfectly fine) I just do the manual save once on a different name to the one I am currently autosaveing in.

So if my last manual save was in (SWAT-Survival-1) I let the game run for a few minutes then do a manual save in (SWAT-Survival-2). Then I shut down the game and when I come back all 3 save files are still there with all the autosaves.

Issue seems to be resolved and I am able to continue enjoying this play through.

[aksel_bugbyte]

Hey!

Alright, awesome. Thank you for taking the time to report on this.

We will keep an eye out and see if anyone else has the same issue.