New Saves not loading on either Windows or Linux (tried everything)

[modernkhione]

I've run into an extremely frustrating problem with my saved games not showing up in the "load" list after a certain point. I had played a good 5-7 hours on GeforceNow (the Nvidia game streaming service), which I understand are on Windows computers. They can see all my saved games fine. However, now my personal computer, which can dual-boot into both Win10 and Ubuntu, cannot see my newer saved games from when I played on GeforceNow, though they all sync correctly from the Steam Cloud onto my computer, into the Saved Games folder on Windows. I have tried every single trick that was recommended and even some that weren't, including:

• re-installing the game (twice)
• running only as admin/sudo
• clearing everything in my "Temp" folder in AppData
• verifiying game files on Steam
• installing the game on Linux (in case I missed some file here or there) & moving the savegame files manually by downloading from the steam cloud (then also trying various means of editing a save -- such as creating a new game entirely with the same character, then replacing it with that of my old one)
• disabling steam cloud
• disabling my malware/anti-virus software -- I run Malwarebytes and Windows Defender, neither of which has ever given me any issues when I run the game
• trying the fix that involved deleting files in the AppData folder, then creating a new save from the newest point after unpausing and walking to a new map, and saving over that one
  • also replacing that new save file with one of my old ones
• editing the contents of the save files by converting to .zip and replacing the contents with that of the newer saves (this just resulted in the two older saves I used also disappearing from the list)
• moving an old save out and renaming a new save to the name of the old one
• changing what is in the "CurrentGame" folder in AppData
• changing what is in the loadedSave.zip file with 7zip
• changing the permissions of the save files -- none are read only any way, but I have tried 664, 666, and 777 (which I seriously shouldn't need but I was desperate); I have unblocked any that were "blocked" because they were from a different computer as well

I probably tried a few more things but at this point I've lost track; this list is just to show you that I have tried literally everything I can possibly think of, everything that might have been suggested, and at this point I'm just about done with this game entirely. I do not want to have to play only on Geforce Now for a game my computer can actually run fine; I was just testing out the technology. I am extremely disappointed also that similar bugs seem to have been pervasive in this game for years and have not been fixed. I think the only difference from Nvidia's computers and mine that I can see (aside from vastly superior hardware) is that they a) clear files after every user (so perhaps there is something on my computer? but I tried with a fresh install on Linux to no avail) and b) it seems their computers have the White March I & II installed, though I do not own either expansion, and thus cannot install them on my own computer. I also do not think I should have to buy about 30$ worth of content to access save files on the part of the game I already own; I think that is reasonable.

Please, tell me if there is any other thing I can try to fix this. I absolutely abhor having to do redo hours and hours of progress. I finally got into the game as a newcomer to this genre and this has been very upsetting to have to deal with.

Edited May 10, 2021 by modernkhione
one more detail