Was quicksave functionality stealthily added at some point?

[gwelty]

The reason I ask is because, when troubleshooting my "no menus" problem, I discovered a way to enable quicksaves in this game. Add the following lines to config.cfg:

s_console_commands_history "{bind f5 save}"
g_last_savegame "quicksave"

I'm not 100% sure those lines do anything. But I have them in my config.cfg.

Then add the following lines to binds.cfg:

bind f5 "save"
bind +f9 "load_last"

This gives you quicksave and quickload ability at any point within any level. I've been using it for hours. I don't have to rely on checkpoints at all. Every time I hit F5 it gives me the green 'saving' icon in the lower-right-hand corner of the screen. I can then come back and resume the game from there at any time.

I got this stuff from an old config.cfg I had from 2013. Back then it *didn't* work. But now it *does* work. So it looks like the functionality was finally added at some point, but it doesn't seem to be referenced in these forums.

Can anyone confirm that my method works for them, as it works for me?

There used to be *huge* fights over the lack of this feature when the game first came out. I preordered the game on September 10, 2011, three days before it came out, because I was so impressed with the demo. I read the forums a lot in those days. Having no quicksaves was a *very* controversial move according to many purchasers of the game. The dev himself was clear multiple times in the forums that the feature would never be added. So I'm pretty curious about this.

[Gintoki-San]

I confirm it. This function of quick save/load is working. F9 not work and i manually set quick load in options game. By the way - thank you. It function would be necessary in a highest difficulty.

[gwelty]

You're right, now that I think of it: F9 doesn't work with the above set up. However, going to the main menu and continuing from the most recent save *will* load any quicksave that was saved via F5.

Perhaps if I take the "+" out of "bind +f9 "load_last"" then F9 will work.

[gwelty]

Nope, removing the "+" from before "F9" in binds.cfg doesn't work. However, all one needs to do is choose the last "Manual Save" under "Load Game" to get the savegame that was saved with F5 at any time.

[Ron AF Greve]

Great, thanks! Although my version seems to wipe out the config.cfg/binds.cfg though I managed to save a view times (not 100% sure yet if it still works when it has removed it).

I really like a quicksave function.

[gwelty]

Strange, my game isn't wiping out the above lines in config.cfg and binds.cfg. Well, I hope it works for you.

[Ron AF Greve]

You're actually right (it was late yesterday :-( ). It is still there but it just rearranged the lines. Thanks.

[Proud Facebook Mom]

Thank you, this makes the game more fair

[Ron AF Greve]

Yes, it is great to have it. I now realize Shadow Warrior has it too. Both great FPS's. Unfortunately a lot of other gamemakers still think replaying an hour or so is great fun (woolfe (not an fps) to name one but also wolfenstein and others).

At one point quicksave was the norm, not sure why savepoints took over??

[gwelty]

As I alluded to above, I think that not implementing quicksave was a deliberate design decision on the part of the devs. Perhaps it was to promote immersion, since you take every moment more seriously if you know you can't 'take it back' via quickload. Or perhaps it was to make the game harder, since constant quicksaving and quickloading can make boss battles and/or hordes more manageable. There are occasions when devs say that implementing quicksave is too difficult programming wise, especially if there are a lot of scripted events. (I don't think that's the case here.) Finally, checkpoints (what you call 'savepoints') was the norm on consoles for a long time because of console limitations, but obviously that doesn't apply in a PC context.

So there you have it. Those are the options, I think.

I say more on the topic here:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/98400/discussions/0/620713633850228793/#c620713633861218796

Originally posted by gwelty:

I play lots of roguelikes with permadeath and no save scumming, so I do like that kind of game. Not being able to undo any mistakes does provide quite a bit of immersion. But no roguelike asks you to do what Hard Reset asks you to do: fight the same exact battle sequence over and over and over again. (Rather, you just start the whole game over again.) In Hard Reset, fighting the same closed room of enemies five times in a row because you keep dying on the very last wave of enemies isn't very immersive for me; in fact the frustrating repetitiveness takes me *out* of the game quite a bit. But I realize that's not the case for everyone, so I can't generalize.

Hard Reset seems to suffer from an internally conflicted vision of what it wants to be. On the one hand, it wants to be an 'old school shooter' that lacks regenerating health, lacks a cover system, and swarms you with mobs of enemies at a time. It thus avoids many of the conveniences of modern-day shooters. On the other hand, it unnecessarily shoves in a checkpoint system that is a relic of early consoles, as a way of attaining the difficulty of 'old school shooter,' despite the fact that Doom, Heretic, Hexen, Duke3D, Quake, Blood, Shadow Warrior, etc. all had arbitrary quicksave and quickload! I can't fault the devs for wanting the player to embrace their aesthetic vision *in toto*, but I think that options for players are good to have, even if not every player takes them. Doom was extremely immersive for me when I completed all four episodes back in the mid 1990's, despite the presence of quicksaves. It was probably because you didn't get to use the mouse :-)

[Ron AF Greve]

But why not make it an option then everyone can choose how they prefer to play the game? It is of course extra coding and only worth it if enough people like it. But I get the impression that there is a reasonable amount of playeres who like to quicksave.

[gwelty]

'Making it an option' may conflict with the devs' overall vision for the game. Game-making is a work of art, after all! In the end, they have the right to make the game they want to make, and we all have the right to tell them what we think. :-)

[Ypulse]

Originally posted by Ron AF Greve:

Yes, it is great to have it. I now realize Shadow Warrior has it too. Both great FPS's. Unfortunately a lot of other gamemakers still think replaying an hour or so is great fun (woolfe (not an fps) to name one but also wolfenstein and others).

At one point quicksave was the norm, not sure why savepoints took over??

savepoints took over coz of consoles

[Unholy Warz]

I was able to get both F5 to quick save and F9 to quick load. Options - Controls - Key Bindings - Load Last Checkpoint - Click and press F9. I copied to config.cfg (at the end of this list) :

s_console_commands_history "{bind f5 save}"
g_last_savegame "quicksave"

Then in the binds.cfg (above what's already listed> bind +f9 "load" ) :

bind f5 "save"

I don't know that it matters where it is copied on the list but this is working flawlessly for me.

Hope that helps