Corrupted Savegame - Any advice?

[Lexandro]

Well I cant get in to Sh4 to well atm, since nearly every career I make ends up corrupted. Ive got as far as summer '43 and thats about it. I have been taking the utmost caution in saving, using multiple files, keeping backups in the captains room, etc etc. but gauranteed I get a corrupted game. :damn:

I have had the game less than a month and its starting to wear thin on the restarts, in total I've started 8 careers, and it would be nice to actually be able to play one without corruption. I keep getting strange occurances in the game that usually points towards the game being busted. Things like when I load a game at sea I hear the WO call "torpedo in the water" but there are no fish running. Or I hear the message "passing thermal layer" every 30 seconds, even on the surface :shifty:.Ive got one save game in the captains room thats gauranteed to make any and all saves at sea with it corrupted, regardless of what I try.

Ive get it with un-modded games, and modded alike. There is no reason to it, except that its usually after spring '42 when it happens. I know my rig to be in perfect working order, and the system is bang up to date with everything software related. Its not a cutting edge rig but it is very easily capable of running SH4 maxed out.

Does anyone know what might be causing it and what can be done about this? Is there known conflicting software with the game? Are there any tools to backup or recover save files? Is there any tweaks I can make to the game to help? Do any mods have a fix for this?

Im at my wits end almost, and I need some advice.

[Seminole]

I just finished up a post that described exactly what you are experiencing. Sometime in '43, it looks to me as if the save game file grows to such immense proportions that it becomes corrupted beyond salvation. Unsalvagable to me at any rate. When I reached November 1943 mine were running to 25 Mb size after only a day or 2 out of home port.

I tried lots of remedies without sucess. Things just got screwier and screwier.(i.e.....crazily absurd, eccentric, or unusual )

The one remedy that worked for me was to simply let go of the career and start a new one in 1943.

A bitter pill to swallow I know but there it is.


Good luck!

[SteamWake]

Im curious Lex how many patrols had you 'finished' ?

[banjo]

I don't know why it happens either, but as I have said in other posts, to protect yourself always keep your last "Auto_on_Leaving_Port" save. That way, if your own saves get corrupted you can always load the auto save and re-start your career from that point. You have to repeat the last patrol but you don't lose your whole career.

[Anachronous]

I keep a whole bunch of numbered saves. So I can go back to various stages if need be. Usually I save after sinking or evading.

[Lexandro]

Im curious Lex how many patrols had you 'finished' ?
Countless tbh. I cant get about 5 or 6 out of the way before late '42, more if I dont sail from Pearl. In total since I got the game I've fully finished about 50+ patrols and earned well over 100k in tonnage in a couple of them. I'll admit im not using 100% realism as I am still getting a feel for command, and some of the options are a bit of a pain in the bum (CO2 limit) so I dont have them all on.

I have to say though if it wasnt for the corruption I would already have finished at least 3 careers already. And starting from '43 isnt really an option for me, I want to play through and earn a top class crew as it should be done.

[kiwi_2005]

Well I cant get in to Sh4 to well atm, since nearly every career I make ends up corrupted. Ive got as far as summer '43 and thats about it. I have been taking the utmost caution in saving, using multiple files, keeping backups in the captains room, etc etc. but gauranteed I get a corrupted game. :damn:

I have had the game less than a month and its starting to wear thin on the restarts, in total I've started 8 careers, and it would be nice to actually be able to play one without corruption. I keep getting strange occurances in the game that usually points towards the game being busted. Things like when I load a game at sea I hear the WO call "torpedo in the water" but there are no fish running. Or I hear the message "passing thermal layer" every 30 seconds, even on the surface :shifty:.Ive got one save game in the captains room thats gauranteed to make any and all saves at sea with it corrupted, regardless of what I try.

Ive get it with un-modded games, and modded alike. There is no reason to it, except that its usually after spring '42 when it happens. I know my rig to be in perfect working order, and the system is bang up to date with everything software related. Its not a cutting edge rig but it is very easily capable of running SH4 maxed out.

Does anyone know what might be causing it and what can be done about this? Is there known conflicting software with the game? Are there any tools to backup or recover save files? Is there any tweaks I can make to the game to help? Do any mods have a fix for this?

Im at my wits end almost, and I need some advice.

What you mention i haven't experience and ive had SH4 since it came out. Ive never had a currupted save either. Your HDD could be currupting the saves. :hmm: Are you running stock or modded.

[Defiance]

As said, Keep the auto saved files

And save the game on the map view

Ohh and after using time compression give it a while before saving, And once saved then continue the game for a minute

Since my last fubar saved-game load i went to auto saved game in base and redid mission so to speak, After this i saved games on map view and allowed a bit of time after a save before quitting, So far so good (no doubt no i've typed this in i'll have a save fubar lol)

[Seminole]

I don't know why it happens either, but as I have said in other posts, to protect yourself always keep your last "Auto_on_Leaving_Port" save. That way, if your own saves get corrupted you can always load the auto save and re-start your career from that point. You have to repeat the last patrol but you don't lose your whole career.

That doesn't always work. I always save those too, but once I got to late 1943 I left base with a saved game file of 300-400 kbs. Within one or two ingame days the first saved game file grew to a whopping 25 MB and was corrupted beyond repair.

Reloaded the Auto Leaving Port...and even the auto entering port files but wham-o ,same thing... over and over... it was hopeless.

[Rockin Robbins]

Sorry, but I have to dome down on Kiwi's side. I've done hundreds of saves in all kind of conditions, including while submerged and under attack, with dozens of different mod configurations and never had a corrupted save. I generally have a save1 and save2 alternating places for backup, plus the autosaves. I've never had to use one in 18 months of playing.

So I'm not too helpful, but it is information!:|\\

[SteamWake]

Sorry, but I have to dome down on Kiwi's side. I've done hundreds of saves in all kind of conditions, including while submerged and under attack, with dozens of different mod configurations and never had a corrupted save. I generally have a save1 and save2 alternating places for backup, plus the autosaves. I've never had to use one in 18 months of playing.

So I'm not too helpful, but it is information!:|\\

Ill have to agree with RR here :huh:

All kinds of saves in all kinds of postions. I too used a numbered save game system to be safe but have never had to really 'fall back' for anything other a screw up.

Then again I rarely get past a dozen or so patrols before I either retire or get 'killed'.

[doulos05]

I know you want to play all the way though, but perhaps you should try starting one in 1943 for test purposes. It is possible that something in your game install is corrupted and the corruption starts in or around 1943. Failing that, have you tried reinstalling per the reinstall thread here?

[Zayphod]

One question: Are you using the "save replay" option? I seem to remember someone here mention that when using that, it's also saving a video of what's going on, which lead to a HUGE saved file.

BTW, my save structure looks something like this:

autosave on "arrival/leaving" base, etc.

Mission01-01 (for mission 01, save #1)
Mission01-02 (mission 01, save #2), etc.

Saves are usually once every 2 game days (night/day cycle) and if sonar or radar contacts are made, I'll do one right there, always on the map view.

While getting from base to the patrol point, I might just over-write one of those, but I make it a point never to over-write a save file more than 3 times. I'll simply make a new save file and continue on from there.

Don't delete any of the old "mission" saves until AFTER you've returned to base, and have a new mission started.

[Lexandro]

What you mention i haven't experience and ive had SH4 since it came out. Ive never had a currupted save either. Your HDD could be currupting the saves. :hmm: Are you running stock or modded.
Its not the hardware, the comps in perfect condition. The HDD the game is on is practically brand new (2 months old) and its a Seagate 320gb SATA 300 with perpendicular technology. Pretty much one of the best HDD's you can get. Plus I have re-installed the game 3 times now to be sure, and used other HDD's ( I got 3 hard drives btw).

The corruption happens with stock or modded, it makes no difference. One game got to late '43 before issues on stock. My last one only got to Nov '42 before it went wonky. THe only thing I can think of is that I do extra long patrol missions. Since I have unlimited fuel option on I can sail about the ocean for ages. I usually do about 3 objectives before returning to port. And I *did* used to save the game before every attack run so that I could get a good attack without worrying about to many duds or missed shots. Now Im saving well away from every vessel and only in daylight. I never ever use the replay option, I dont do anything other than play and save when I need to.

As I said though all my games are backed up in port, I use multiple save files while at sea and almost never over write them. I am using uboat 1.5, but also had the corruption with 1.4 before upgrading the game to uboat. There really seems to be no cause I can pin down specifically.

Sorry if you have all heard this before but its such a nasty bug, that I cant beleive Ubi left it alone and hasnt fixed it. Savegames and menu systems in games should be bullet proof imo.

*EDIT* Oh forgot to mention, Im running the game in Vista Premium 32bit. Its a "clean" Vista install, basically every bit of junk in it is disabled and only essential services are running. When I play I make sure there are no background tasks running other than my firewall to ensure no background interference.

[Zayphod]

This may be the cause of the problem:

http://www.qctimes.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/gremlins.jpg

Can't think of anything else, sorry.

[Seminole]

Are you using the "save replay" option

In a word...NOPE.


The saved file just becomes unmanageable around the 13th or 14th patrol. No more complicated than that.

The good thing is that by then one has grown to become quite bored with the career and a change isn't a totally unwelcome thing now that I have had time to think about it..;)

[SteamWake]

I noted the date of my current carrer June of 1943 and no save game issues ... yet.

[Defiance]

Well i jinxed it roflmao

Went to my last save before i hit the sack from another nights bliss in the pacific

Loaded it and got the dreaded fubar

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Typical aint it, Working great and i fubar mine up

There's a few mods i don't normally use that i've been trying, So will drop back to my "always use" and see if it replicates

[Seminole]

:hmm: ..the best laid plans of mice and men...too bad it went sour...shadda knocke don wood...;)


...mine too was nothing but smooth sailing back in June of '43..not a care in the world..then it got to be Novemver of '43.....:nope:

[kiwi_2005]

Well i hope you find a fix to your problem as its got me stumped, your pc seems to be in top notch, you know what your doing. Wonder if its a bug within the game itself. Ive been pass 1944 in some of my careers and never come across it. Gawd the last thing we need is the same problem that happens with SH3 saves - you get so far and the game saves, craps out.

[Seminole]

I am far from certain that it is a bug and that it is in the game itself.

This is the only time I have had trouble with saved games. Then again it is the only career I have played so far into. And too... there was a mod involved that I put into play and took out again..so who really knows...????

http://www.clipartof.com/images/emoticons/xsmall2/489_shrugging.gif (http://www.clipartof.com)

Take heart that it is the rarity of the occurance that made it so dog-goned conspicious...:yep: You might well play a whole career without a mishap. i would not sweat it.

[banjo]

Playing with TMO and RSRDC I've had corrupted files many times, but have also been well past 1943 many times with no problems. As far as the large game save files goes, I believe that is an RFB problem, or used to be. Never had that problem with TMO.

[Wilcke]

In the past year I have not had any corrupted saved game files related to careers. I run TMO, OM and RFB. If your loading a lot of mods in and out you will find saved game files that are no longer usable; thats a common issue.

Major game play mods and anything that alters environment besides textures will usually hose a saved game file. You either have an install that you can goof around with or you just have to wait for a career to end prior to doing major changes.

[Defiance]

Well i've checked my newly added mods

These were installed with the game from a fresh zero format on the drive

Always used TM which is now the TMo and PE

Some other visual mods

With TMo and PE i only had maybe 2 corrupt saves

These mods are new to my usual ones that i'd always used since creation ....

RSRDC/improved bow waves + bow conning tower , Maybe i can start from there and see if my mods are causing the problem

Only thing for me to do is try to do a full mission eg: leave base do all required then finish for day if/when i get back to base

[neilbyrne]

I had this problem so bad that I did a clean install, destroying a career in which I already had two CMOH and it was only the end of '42.

I have subsequently tried to stay within the guidelines above about always saving from the nav screen and not while in time compression.

Another thing that I have seen work best is that you have to let the program run until it's happy to stop. What I mean is if something big is happening, like you're taking damage/sinking, and you just want to abort and re-load, don't do it. Let it run out and then re-load. The few times that I've just jumped out, I've had problems loading a save thereafter.

No need to reinstall either. When the problem does occur, it appears to clear at the end of that patrol.

I'm now on the 11th patrol of this career in SEP '44. The only save issue since the beginning of this career has cropped up in the last two patrols. If I load a save from when the boat was at sea, a reddish plume of smoke appears emanating from the sub or directly above if submerged. You can move away from it, and it disappears after 7-10 minutes of game time, but it will definitely draw flies if you are near any escorts.

Usually, I keep my last entering & leaving port saves and not more than the two other most recent ones named with date time groups. As said this has worked well except for the recent smoke issue.

[Goose_green]

I've been reading the thread so far and it reminds me of the save game issue I had with SH3. I started my career in 1939 and reached the latter part of 1943, 35 patrols later in, and I had a save game that refused to re-load. I never got to the bottom of the problem, and I remember there were a lot of similar instances reported by other kaluens too. Maybe the SH4 save game gremlin maybe related to that of the SH3 save game issue.

Anyway, it's just a thought :hmm:

[Webster]

save game issues usually happen because the AI doesnt save correctly due to the randomness generator that ensures a unique game each time by changing things around in a random mannor. since its "wired" to not repeat the same element in the same place so it is in direct conflict with what the save function is trying to do which is what causes the corruption.

the basic rules to avoid save game "issues" is to come to a complete stop on the surface with speed at "0" and no AI contacts nearby (ships or planes, reguardless of whos side their on, within visual or sensor range that is reported by your crew) and finish any repairs before saving. (those distant convoy and ship markers all over the map dont interfere with anything)

you should also not save if you are in shallow water (shallow water icon showing on screen) or within visual sight of land (because you can come out of the save as much as 3 miles away from where you were when you saved the game.


its a lot to read but try looking at these threads about save game issues:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=109293&highlight=large+save+game+files

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=140618&highlight=large+save+game+files