Game won't load my saves

[Enigmatick]

There seems to be an issue where the game will both not recognize my saved games (Continue and Load buttons grayed out) nor load them (short black screen then back to menu when attempting to load). I've found a temporary fix for the recognition problem by moving my saves from C:\Users\Username\Saved Games\Pillars of Eternity to C:\Users\Username\AppData\LocalLow\Obsidian Entertainment\Pillars of Eternity\CurrentGame but after exiting the game it will no longer load the saves made during that session despite it being in that folder.

 

Saves are below, frustrating issue
 

http://www17.zippyshare.com/v/GbDB7OQ9/file.html

[Enigmatick]

No idea how to edit my posts on here but I needed to update this saying that problem is bigger than I thought.

 

At times the continue and load options will be grayed upon starting the game, more importantly specific save files won't load. It seems that every time I make a new save they now become corrupted and won't load, this persists even after reinstalling the game.

Saves are attached BUT I've tried troubleshooting with a friend and it seems that while these saves do load, after the first time they load the new save corruption problem kicks in.

 

 

http://www13.zippyshare.com/v/W9jmA5PA/file.html
http://www13.zippyshare.com/v/BfxVBXrn/file.html
http://www13.zippyshare.com/v/aZQQ1Mr9/file.html
http://www13.zippyshare.com/v/nJDpCqfH/file.html

 

Edit: Windows 7 64-bit

Edited March 29, 2015 by Enigmatick

[Svenne]

I have a similar reason. My game finds my saves but when I load them the game sends me out to the main menu instead of into the game

[epmode]

I can confirm that loading Enigmatick's save files completely broke my ability to create valid new save files. Loading an old save works fine but all new saves are corrupt. Attempting to load them returns me to the game's title sceen.

 

Reinstalling the game didn't fix it, neither did loading an old Windows restore point. I'm currently trying to restore from a full Windows backup which I assume will fix the problem but good lord, this is an awful bug.

 

This may be important:

 

Prior to testing the files, all of my saves were maximum 1.3 megabytes (I just started Act 2). After the bug hits, all new saves are about 22 megabytes, even when I start the game from scratch.

 

Windows 8.1 64 bit

 

I have a similar reason. My game finds my saves but when I load them the game sends me out to the main menu instead of into the game

This is exactly what I mean when I say the file is corrupt. Brings you back to the title screen. Edited March 29, 2015 by epmode

[epmode]

I just finished restoring from my Windows backup and the problem is finally fixed.  Newly created save files are back down to ~1.3 megabytes and they load with no problems.

 

Again, this bug is tough to remove once you get it.  It's not just a problem with the save files.  Uninstalling POE, deleting all save files, starting a new game and then immediately saving still resulted in a broken file.

 

I realize now that I should have tried deleting my POE settings files before restoring from a backup, just in case.  Maybe you should try that, Enigmatik!  I'd tell you where the settings files are stored but I'm not sure, myself.  I'm just pretty sure that they're not in the Steam folder.

Edited March 30, 2015 by epmode

[Azarius]

I'm having this issue as well.  The saves show up, but trying to load one from the main menu brings me back to the main menu.  Starting a new game, and trying to load from ingame causes half the ui to dissapear, and the game eventually crashes.  I tried verifying the local files, then a full reinstall, but no dice. 

 

 

Enigmatick, were you playing trial of iron?  My first playthrough was not, and it was working fine, but I started over thanks to the dissapearing passives and unconquerable breaking focus on cipher bugs.  Problem started just a bit into the trial of iron playthrough.  I don't really see the point of doing a clean windows install since without knowing what is causing this to happen, it could just start all over again.  Not being able to play is dissapointing.

 

Windows 7 64 bit.

[epmode]

Do you have any save files that still load properly?  You may be able to determine which ones will fail by looking at the file sizes as I mentioned in my earlier posts.

 

If so, keep the valid files and move the corrupt ones elsewhere, then try to delete the configuration files that Pillars uses to store your screen resolution, keybindings and all that stuff.  I'm almost positive that those files aren't removed when you uninstall the game so the problem may actually be there.  I don't know where those files are stored though.

Edited March 30, 2015 by epmode

[Rumpelstilskin]

For me this happens on a second PC with cloud sync. I assume the save files themselves are ok, since they load fine on my first PC, but on the second PC they just send me to the menu.

[Enigmatick]

I just finished restoring from my Windows backup and the problem is finally fixed.  Newly created save files are back down to ~1.3 megabytes and they load with no problems.

 

Again, this bug is tough to remove once you get it.  It's not just a problem with the save files.  Uninstalling POE, deleting all save files, starting a new game and then immediately saving still resulted in a broken file.

 

I realize now that I should have tried deleting my POE settings files before restoring from a backup, just in case.  Maybe you should try that, Enigmatik!  I'd tell you where the settings files are stored but I'm not sure, myself.  I'm just pretty sure that they're not in the Steam folder.

epmode, your solution to my problem. I can't tell if it worked, the continue and load options are grayed out every other start.

 

In addition to that I can make a new save and load it but does seem somewhat large at 1,799 mb. Also my configuration preferences were still there despite purging everything PoE from my pc before the reinstall.

[mbpoblet]

There are a couple other threads on this (or very similar) problem(s), where you might find "solutions" (possibly placebos) that seem to have worked for other players and me (although sadly no solution seems to have worked for everyone, or consistently):

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/72216-saved-games-disappear/

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/72527-cannot-load-saved-games/

 

In my case disabling cloud sync and removing all but two (2) of the .savegame files in %homepath%\Saved Games\Pillars of Eternity seems to work (for now), although I must do this every time before I start the game (leaving only the last couple of saves)... but this seems to have stopped working for at least one other affected player, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

Regarding file size, it seems to progressively increase as you progress (which makes a certain amount of sense, since the savegames are zip files containing, among other things, what appear to be maps - possibly bitmaps? - of every visited place - including interiors - and their respective fogs of war, which seem to make most of the size, although the largest file is a certain MobileObjects.save that probably contains the inventory, journal, quests, and whatnot, and that also keeps increasing as you progress); right now, having been exploring part of Defiance for a while, mine stand at around 2.5MB per file.

 

Edit: also regarding savegame file size, a similar and possibly related thread, regarding MobileObjects.save progressively bloating up (even in the relatively early game) and causing severe slowdowns every time the game saves (so, thanks to autosaves, every time you move to a new place), probably due to the time it takes to compress the file: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/72764-quick-saving-and-loading-times-increased-greatly-after-20-hours

 

In any case, the bloating save games and the inability of the game to load them might very well be independent problems (although it's quite clear that the game has extremely serious issues with its handling of savegames, with the companion stats bug as another example of saving/loading badly messing things up: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/73449-stat-bonus-modifiers-can-erroneously-be-applied-multiple-times-allowing-stats-to-grow-beyond-intended-values/).

Edited March 30, 2015 by mbpoblet

[Azarius]

Do you have any save files that still load properly?  You may be able to determine which ones will fail by looking at the file sizes as I mentioned in my earlier posts.

 

If so, keep the valid files and move the corrupt ones elsewhere, then try to delete the configuration files that Pillars uses to store your screen resolution, keybindings and all that stuff.  I'm almost positive that those files aren't removed when you uninstall the game so the problem may actually be there.  I don't know where those files are stored though.

Once this happened, none of my old saves worked at all.  I poked around some, but I wasn't able to figure out where it's saving the config files.

 

I tried disabling my cloud sync, and even deleting all the remote files for the game, still no dice.  Trying it from fresh with the cloud enabled/disabled doesn't seem to matter.  I sent a save made right away in the prologue to a friend, and he can load it fine.  If I try to load the same save ingame before exiting, it the map darkens and npcs disappear.  Exiting to the menu and trying to load the save just loops me back to the menu. 

 

Tonight I will see if I can load one of his saves.  From what Rumpelstilskin said, the problem may not be the save files themselves, at least the problem I am experiencing.  It sounds like there may be several.  I was about 30 hours in to my original game before I abandoned it due to other bugs that had broken several characters, but I had never had any issues with the save games. 

 

[Azarius]

Just tried loading up a friend's save.  The game isn't recognizing it at all, no option to load from it.  Does anyone have any idea where the config file for the settings is located?  It sounds like that could be the issue.  While reinstalling windows worked for epmode, I'm sort of hesistant to go through all that when I don't even know for sure what is causing this, so it could just happen again.

[Guest aeolisio]

I have found a working savegame fix the will load savegames and create new working non corrupt savegames

This has been tested and working on 3 different machines with 5 different save files myself and have had 2 other friends fix their savegames with this method.

First delete the folder C:\Users\username\AppData\LocalLow\Obsidian Entertainment

Then delete the folder C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\Obsidian Entertainment

If you have any saves in C:\Users\username\Documents\My Games\Pillars of Eternity 

Copy them to C:\Users\username\Saved Games\Pillars of Eternity

Run the game as admin and load the most recent save

Move your char and save a new save.  

Without exiting the game reload that new save.

Save again in the same save.

Exit the game.

That should work and create new files in LocalLow and Local\Temp

Though its probably unnecessary before i exit i save then i load my save and resave the same save everytime before i exit the game now.  I have my 60+ hour save now to 85 hours without an issue on multiple machines.

[Enigmatick]

I have found a working savegame fix the will load savegames and create new working non corrupt savegames

This has been tested and working on 3 different machines with 5 different save files myself and have had 2 other friends fix their savegames with this method.

First delete the folder C:\Users\username\AppData\LocalLow\Obsidian Entertainment

Then delete the folder C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\Obsidian Entertainment

If you have any saves in C:\Users\username\Documents\My Games\Pillars of Eternity 

Copy them to C:\Users\username\Saved Games\Pillars of Eternity

Run the game as admin and load the most recent save

Move your char and save a new save.  

Without exiting the game reload that new save.

Save again in the same save.

Exit the game.

That should work and create new files in LocalLow and Local\Temp

Though its probably unnecessary before i exit i save then i load my save and resave the same save everytime before i exit the game now.  I have my 60+ hour save now to 85 hours without an issue on multiple machines.

I can't tell if this actually is giving me non corrupt saves but I still get this screen 9 out of 10 times

[Azarius]

Aeolisio's fix worked for me.  Based on what I had tried earlier, I'm guessing there were leftover files in appdata that weren't being removed by the uninstall that were the culprit.  It is a completely fresh game, but the saves actually work now.

[Rumpelstilskin]

For me just running it as an administrator fixed it, so I suspect it's the main thing.

[Svenne]

Yo! After restarting the computer a couple of times I got my saves to work!

 

I am streaming at twitch.tv/svenne1138

[mbpoblet]

I have found a working savegame fix the will load savegames and create new working non corrupt savegames

This has been tested and working on 3 different machines with 5 different save files myself and have had 2 other friends fix their savegames with this method.

First delete the folder C:\Users\username\AppData\LocalLow\Obsidian Entertainment

Then delete the folder C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\Obsidian Entertainment

If you have any saves in C:\Users\username\Documents\My Games\Pillars of Eternity 

Copy them to C:\Users\username\Saved Games\Pillars of Eternity

Run the game as admin and load the most recent save

Move your char and save a new save.  

Without exiting the game reload that new save.

Save again in the same save.

Exit the game.

That should work and create new files in LocalLow and Local\Temp

Though its probably unnecessary before i exit i save then i load my save and resave the same save everytime before i exit the game now.  I have my 60+ hour save now to 85 hours without an issue on multiple machines.

 

Huh, seems to be working for me (at least for now), thanks!

 

Will update if when it stops working.

[mbpoblet]

Aeolisio's fix worked for me.  Based on what I had tried earlier, I'm guessing there were leftover files in appdata that weren't being removed by the uninstall that were the culprit.  It is a completely fresh game, but the saves actually work now.

 

In my case C:\Users\username\AppData\LocalLow\Obsidian Entertainment contained the beta savegames (and contains an empty CurrentGame folder after Aeloisio's procedure)... I wonder if this whole issue might be being caused by some kind of conflict between the beta and the full game..? (Although that doesn't mean the whole savegame mechanism is less seriously fubared...)

Edited March 31, 2015 by mbpoblet

[ORCACommander]

I just fixed htis today byt delting the "loadedsave.zip" file from the %temp% save working directory. Seriusly why does this directory exist?  at the very least it shopuld not bei n %temp% one system clean and it could wipe your progress.

[Enigmatick]

Saves definitely aren't corrupted anymore but I still do get the grayed out buttons on the main menu like the picture in my last post :/

[Alden666]

Has anyone tried transferring saves from one computer to another? I want to transfer the files from a laptop to a PC but when I did transfer the saves and (tried) load up a saved file, the save files are not appearing on the list and do not seem to be recognized by the game.

[Aarik D]

Has anyone tried transferring saves from one computer to another? I want to transfer the files from a laptop to a PC but when I did transfer the saves and (tried) load up a saved file, the save files are not appearing on the list and do not seem to be recognized by the game.

 Hello Alden, 

 

If you are playing The White March, make sure that they are installed on both machines and make sure you have have Steam Sync disabled on both computers. 

[Vordigon]

The way i resolved it was to delete everytthing in the appdata directory [C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Temp\Obsidian Entertainment and C:\Users\User\AppData\LocalLow\Obsidian Entertainment\Pillars of Eternity (made backup of loadedsave.zip) folder and delete all saves but the most recently modified in the user/saved games/pillars of eternity folder, then started the game once and placed the backup of loadedsave.zip

and it now works like it used to. I reccomend you make a backup of all your saves just in case the most recently modified one is the one corrupted.Also ive noticed that skipping the logos at the start of the game with LMB 9/10 times resulted in the game not recognising my save files, use the space bar instead.

[tryst_91]

Vordigon, I tried that but now the buttons for "Load" and "Continue" are always greyed out... every time I start up the game. I have tried reloading steam and restarting my computer but nothing works.  It is like the game isn't even checking to see if there are saves.  The saves are there, they just aren't being detected.  I have played this game almost 130 hrs and the problem only began last week.

[ijk987]

Try to do the following:

1) create a new campaign (when the campaign starts the autosave will be created)
2) exit the campaign (you will find yourself in the game main menu)
3) Alt-Tab to the Windows Explorer and open folder "C:\Users\Some_User\Saved Games\Pillars of Eternity" (there you should see the autosave file created at the step 1; let's assume its name is "e140f329-6b43-4294-9513-6123c5932fcd autosave_0.savegame")
4) remove the autosave file, copy you save to this folder and name it "e140f329-6b43-4294-9513-6123c5932fcd autosave_0.savegame"
5) Alt-Tab to the "Pillars of Eternity", go to the "Load" menu and load the autosave (the game will be loaded with your save)