About savegame backups

Some evil bugs can break your savegame, so making backups seems like a good idea. If you are struggling to restore a local backup, calm down and have a look at this stub.

Why backups?

Some folks cannot load their base game due to the infamous DLC-must-be-owned-bug, as shown on the screenshot. That's a sad story, indeed, and we all hope this gets fixed soon. But if you happen to have a recent backup of your savegame, you can resolve this problem on your own - or any other issues that might get you locked up in some place.

Savegame location

This one should be easy to find. For a windoze setup with Steam and Ubi, the saves are stored here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegames\<UbisoftConnectID>\4740

That is actually one of the few bits documented by ubi[www.ubisoft.com]

Note the <UbisoftConnectID> is a hash for your account and must also appear in the name of the .save files. Be sure to include the temp file in your backup, as it is usually the newer one in the sync stack.

Why so complicated?

The savegames appear to contain an internal timestamp. If you launch the game regularly, any local savegame data with an older timestamp than the cloud saves are ignored.

So, what's the plan? Simply run the game offline. However, if you attempt that (e.g. in airplane mode), UbiConnect won't be happy. Is that a problem? Nope. It just makes things a tad more tedious:

How to restore a backup

1. launch and quit the game to have it activated
   
2. replace your local savedata from the backup
   
3. go offline
   
4. launch the game again and load your save
   
5. quit the game so it writes a local save with a current timestamp
   
6. next time you play online, you can resolve the conflict
   
7. keep your local save and it will sync to the cloud.

Scripted backups

The savegame files are just a few kB in size, so there is no harm to copy them automatically each time you start the game. The screenshot shows an example of a backup folder with a shortcut for manual copying, the two scripts below and the naming conventions for the backups those scripts create. Disclaimer: This guide section is for techies. It presents two variants that do the same automation, so you can chose between powershell and batch scripts, in case you are used to the one or the other.

Getting the job done with PowerShell is straight forward. The screenshot shows the below script in powerShell-ISE, which comes preinstalled with most windoze setups.

$now = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd-HHmmss' # set your preferred timestamp format
$to = "D:\bak\AFoP\AFoP-$now" # set your backup location
$from =  'C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegames\*\5093'
copy -r $from $to
D:\Steam\steamapps\common\AFOP\afop.exe #set the game exe to launch

You can copy and save the above code as a ps1 file. The file can then be edited (check your folder paths!) and tested with ISE, or you can run the script directly with right-click. Note that you may need to adjust your execution policies to run shell scripts from files. If you prefer to keep strict policies, you can still run the code from ISE, which seems inconvenient, though.

If you want to do the same thing with old-school batch scripts instead, things may get a little more tricky.

REM Note: %date% and %time% are localized, so adjust the substrings as needed (:~skip,keep)
set timeStampWithSpaces=%date:~6,4%-%date:~3,2%-%date:~0,2%-%time:~0,8%
set timeStamp=%timeStampWithSpaces: =0%
set backupTarget=D:\bak\AFoP\AFoP-%timestamp::=%
set savedir="C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegames\"
for /f %%a in ('dir /b %savedir%') do set connectId=%%a
set backupSource=%savedir%%connectId%\5093
REM ready to copy the savegame and launch the exe - cancel with Ctrl+C
pause
xcopy /I %backupSource% %backupTarget%
D:\Steam\steamapps\common\AFOP\afop.exe

When you save the above code as a bat file, you should be able to run it with a double click. So, this variant might be convenient to launch your script and game with a shortcut and hotkey. However, batch files of unknown origin or purpose can be dangerous, especially if you happen to run them with elevated permissions. So be careful when tampering with such scripts, and always check first what they do =)

Closing remarks

That's it for now. I hope this will help some players, as I have not seen any guidance for restoring a savegame backup. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment, as things have gotten a little more technical with the last section added. I hope also this can be helpful.

[DrBonifarz]

Yeah, I remember Ubiconnect used to cause such and similar error messages sometimes, which is a true nuisance, but has never lead to any loss of data. The bigger issue is when some error occurs with the state content of your savegame, that renders your save slot useless. But personally, I have had this only once, with one of the bugs that appear to be fixed now.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Ive tested the method i posted below many times and i have yet to lose my save data. So i think im onto something with the syncing error issue too causing it.

[RPG Gamer Man]

I figured out why the game loses the save. There is a desynch issue between cloud saves on steam and ubisoft connect that is causing it. Another way to prevent it is that ubisoft connect will come up with a "Failed to sync save" error message. On the bottom is a "TRY AGAIN" button that lets you do it. You may have to try it several times for it to sync the save correctly. If you do not do this, it could possibly cause save game issues also.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Yep, rule of thumb when playing games. Anyways, so far no bugs.

[DrBonifarz]

Happy to see it helped someone. I wish you a good time exploring the game without any incidents that will make a savegame restore necessary. I had no further issues since then. But always better to keep a backup :)

[RPG Gamer Man]

Thanks for the guide. I have now started playing the game. As i said in your post, i will use your guide to backup my saves, and have done so.

[DrBonifarz]

Good news: Title Update 1.11 fixed the infamous "The Skybreaker must be owned" bug. There may still be other spectacular ways to have your savedata messed up, so the guide could still be useful :)

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2840770/view/4530150757095178538?l=english

[DrBonifarz]

I have just added a section for techies with a suggestion to automate your local backups.