Beta 7 Can not load latest savegame - incomplete save

[Mr.Killer]

I saved succesfully this file https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/5mu10q14 ... 02366&dl=0 and went away for a few hours, came back and wanted to load it, it could not.

Can anyone please tell me what is wrong with it?

Thanks.

[chew-ie]

The file is damaged and unpacking it nets the first error. Checking the xml file itself shows that there is data missing as well as the proper structure / ending of the file. Those are the last lines:

Code: Select all

<value name="$NonCapitalThroughput" type="float" value="14283"/>
</vars>
<cue id="4740" base="4690" stat"0.34"/>
<value nam]]

[Mr.Killer]

The file is damaged and unpacking it nets the first error. Checking the xml file itself shows that there is data missing as well as the proper structure / ending of the file. Those are the last lines:

Code: Select all

<value name="$NonCapitalThroughput" type="float" value="14283"/>
</vars>
<cue id="4740" base="4690" stat"0.34"/>
<value nam]]

Ok, but is this re occurring on a BUG level? because then the devs should look at it. All I did was normally go to the menu, seva the file in an empty slot and it was succesful. So I hope, this would not occur again.

[chew-ie]

It's most probably a problem on your end. If there is any cloud saving active I recommend turning that off.

Also check your drives for errors.

[donzi]

'saved and went away..' so the computer, steam/gog and game was running?

If that's windows and whatever power saving stuff is activating, could be suspect.

..if you exited the game and then steam/gog that'd be best. In which case, local corruption would be abnormal I'd think even with suspend/hibernate and windows caching settings.

[Mr.Killer]

'saved and went away..' so the computer, steam/gog and game was running?

If that's windows and whatever power saving stuff is activating, could be suspect.

..if you exited the game and then steam/gog that'd be best. In which case, local corruption would be abnormal I'd think even with suspend/hibernate and windows caching settings.

Funny you doubt the message "game saved succesfully!" Another example to tip the scale, and beforehand, this was the first time I had this since a few years, and two computers later, so, I just saved the game, and went to upgrade to Windows 11, without exiting the game. Now half hour later I started X4 again and loaded the saved game without any trouble, no corruption in the file.

This was a hick-up, a glitch of some sort that cause the corruption, not my handling. But, I know that I did nothing weird. Though thanks for bringing that human possibility to light, you can never know what might have caused it if the human factor thinks it is all OK!

Thanks man.

[donzi]

hehe, yep. I know people who can read volumes from short, concise sentances. I find it often better to not assume too much sometimes.

It's strange for sure though. I save very frequently and synce them with versioning, never had any not load.

..it's not only the human factor I was referring to. Windows has a default for fast startup (ON) that is a very real data corrupter in some circumstances.

[Mr.Killer]

..it's not only the human factor I was referring to. Windows has a default for fast startup (ON) that is a very real data corrupter in some circumstances.

... if that was the only error Windows has? (relieving sigh!)

[Scoob]

I sometimes experience a rare issue, where I'll save in a new slot, get the short delay then a successful message and I'll carry on playing. I'll then wish to load that save for some reason, and the game didn't actually make the save. The game said it'd saved successfully, but it had not. So, I might save in Slot #5 for example, I go to load the game and Slot #5 is a much older save. I cycle save slots each save, so I always have my last ten saves so I can go back several if something went really wrong. I wonder if our issues are linked at all, but in your case it did manage to overwrite, but didn't write the full data.

I don't use Cloud saves or anything, and this issue is very rare and hasn't occurred in the current Beta for me. I can save and load dozens of time - I'm saving and loading a LOT more in the Beta as I double-check that things can be reproduced after a Save / Reload cycle - and it generally works just fine, but sometimes it simply doesn't work at all. Nothing overwritten, nothing corrupted, it's like I didn't save at all, but I DID and the game confirmed that I did.

My game is the GoG version FYI, and I'm running it from a separate folder - not the Galaxy managed version. I keep the base folder up to date, then create a new instance to actually run the game from. Obviously, save location is the same regardless.

Perhaps this an obscure PC issue, perhaps it's a game issue. The game however does report that the save was successful, but no save has been made - the slot I saved into isn't even overwritten, but retains the older data. Well, I say that, I mean the time stamp on the save in the Load dialogue is the old save. Perhaps just the file name (time stamp / location) isn't updated?

[donzi]

I do that also Scoob.. Once 10 slots are full, I offload them and the quick/autosaves and begin anew group.

Although I am a fan of high perf spinners, my boot drive where egosoft insists be the save game location is an old SSD that came with the system. Maybe, if SSD there is some reallocation etc happening.. SSD wearing thin.

IMO the go-to for drive failure prediction and monitoring is Hard Disk Sentinel worth trying at least the free CLI version to see what it comes up with.

[Scoob]

Thanks for the tips. After a couple of such incidents, I did check my system and nothing to report. Not had such an issue in any other game, nor when saving various other files, so I think it's just an obscure game thing.

[Mr.Killer]

I found after the first reply from chew-ie, that if I leave my pc and quit the game, I check the savegame. Is the time-date ok? can I open it with zip? can I view the file? If all those ar ok, then I leave the game, just to be sure, a few steps indeed, but very much worth it.

[Mr.Killer]

It's most probably a problem on your end. If there is any cloud saving active I recommend turning that off.

Also check your drives for errors.

I had some time to react to your reaction, I find it short sighted to blame the problem directly at my end, yes, the computer is 'on my end' and the save of the game did occur 'on my end' but the game packs the game into a format and puts it locally on my M.2 NVME drive, so the factor of checking my drive is also totally out of the question, because this is being tested regularly.

You think in the past, the present gamer needs fast-faster-fastest and that includes also storage next to processor, memory and graphics card.

As you noticed, some other players had similar things, and I can tell if saving a game that does it 9999 out of 10000 times good, then we assume the programming is solid, but the factor that the computer does more than support the game, and any other program can interfere with the running game, it is not multitasking we see here, it is all linear, like good old basic, routines placed in memory to fullfill its action until... when other routines call on those to make the game run smooth, and so on.
So it is possible some of the routines, not necessarliy in the game, but asking for priority at the exact same time that it interferes the packing or saving of the game, it is possible, so it can easily be a unforseen software glitch, and these happen daily all over the planet because software is written by faulty humans on a system build by humans.

To sum it all up, if it was a programming fault, the team would have been alerted long ago, so, third party error. That would be the right response.
Sorry that it took me all this typing to tell you this, but I had to put this off of my chest, sorta speak.

[chew-ie]

It's most probably a problem on your end. If there is any cloud saving active I recommend turning that off.

Also check your drives for errors.

I had some time to react to your reaction, I find it short sighted to blame the problem directly at my end

I'm not blaming anyone. I merely told you a fact (file corrupt) + some pointers where to start. Experience shows that it tends to be "on the user end" because there are more and more factors involved these days. (OneDrive, SteamCloud, Antivir, Hardware failures, Windows Updates, ...).

[Mr.Killer]

Sorry Chew-ie, not personal, but directed at my computer, that's what I meant by blaming. But you are also right, and I think we both said the same thing when it comes to this 1% error that occurred, maybe less than 1%.

Hope you are not mad that I came on so strong with factual (or actual) problems that might occur.

Have a nice weekend fellow X4-er.