Save Game Issue...

[CaptainHaplo]

Greetings All,

I have lurked for a long time - and let me first say thanks to all the members of the community, to all the modders (GWX ROCKS!) and especially to Neal. Now, with the greetings done, I am having a heck of an issue with SH3. This one has been around since 1.0 stock, although I am running 1.4 with GWX 1.03 and the update. Since it has been around since the first days of SH3 - I don't see how it could be mod related. The issue - my save games keep disappearing! I have done a search on the forums and reviewed everything there - but didnt find a sure reason as to WHY or How to Fix it....

Here is the basics - I can play and save fine. If I save - I always do another save and exit under a different filename. At that point - I go back to the main menu and check the player and saved career - sure enough - my save games are there. Whats weird is if I just go back to the main menu and exit the game - upon reload - my save games are GONE! I have gone so far as to see them available, alt-tab out and make a copy of my sh3 folder under my documents. Even so - I have lost innumerable patrols because of this gremlin - and I have yet to be able to get thru an entire career because of it. (Note - the game was a gift from my lady within a week of its release in the states - so I have been fighting this a LONG while....)

What totally doesnt make sense is that as long as I dont exit the game - the saves are fine. I am pretty much convinced that the issue is related to the save.tmp file under sh3\data\cfg\ - because all the actual save files are present - so SH3 has to be using something other than mere file presence to list the savegames on the menu.

One other note - if there are no save games - the saved career button is greyed out - but in this case its selectable - but takes you to a blanked saved games screen. As I said - I searched the forums using "save game" and noted that SH4 seems to have some issues as well (kinda disturbing...) but nothing that tells me how to fix this. I'm about ready to pull my hair out over this.

If anyone can direct me to a thread I may have missed - or just happen to know a solution (or a way to rebuild whatever to make the games appear again) - please enlighten me! Thanks in advance!

Captain Haplo

[bigboywooly]

Do you use the save and exit ?

Or save
then exit patrol ?

[CaptainHaplo]

I hit esc, then save under one filename. Then I hit continue and then esc again, this time using the save and exit choice. That is saved under a different filename - usually "d" or "delete" as once its saved I chose the option to abandon the patrol - which takes me to a patrol end screen. I use the arrow at the bottom to "back" out to the main menu - then choose career, the profile name - and saved game. They are all there. I can reload them all day at that point. I often Alt-Tab out right there and make a backup of my sh3 folder under my documents - just in case. But if I hit the back arrow again and go to the main menu - exit the game and then later decide to play again - sometimes (but not all) - when I select saved career - it takes me to the saved game screen - but its all BLANK! It sees games because otherwise the saved career option would be greyed out - but it wont display any games. I have tried just clicking where the games would be (the first, and the last in the list) thinking maybe they are just invisible - but load doesnt do anything. When this happens, I will go back to the main menu, alt-tab out and deleted the existing sh3 folder under my documents - then rename my copy to be sh3 - go back in and sometimes the save files are back - sometimes not.

This happened again yesterday - AFTER I had sunk the Hood in Plymouth, then took out 2 Fijis and an Illustrious from a TF that decided to run right over me - then ran into a convoy protected by a Revenge class that I was able to sink.
:damn: :damn:
Now I still have a backup copy of the sh3 folder - but the rename didnt work this time. It seems every time I have an amazing patrol - I end up losing it. Any ideas or fixes? While I would love to be able to get this patrol back (for obvious reasons) - another great one will occur if I can't.

Again - thanks in advance. And Happy Easter to all who celebrate it! (My response was interrupted numerous times due to a need to hide eggs - for my 2 year old - and my lady - both of whom love hunting for them colored things.

Thanks!
Captain Haplo

[Jimbuna]

Welcome aboard kaleun Haplo :arrgh!:

I'm wondering if you have ever done a reinstall and not deleted the SH3 folder in C\MyDocs :hmm:
As below:
Delete any/all SH3 files from C\MyDocuments
Install a clean version of SH3 in C\Program Files\Ubisoft\SH3
Patch it to 1.4b
Copy the folder and paste it to whatever drive you want.
Rename the folder ‘GWX’.
Now install GWX
Now install GWX (v1.0 whatever)
Create a shortcut to the desktop..
Install the SH3Cmd 2.7 plus the SH3Cfg file
If your going to use multiple installs I’d suggest a separate install of SH3Cmdr for each plus an install of MultiSH3.

Something else that I know has worked in the past for some is to access your saved career file in C\MyDocs and add a single letter to your save file name eg: 'x'....remove the file then reboot your machine and insert the file again then load up the game :yep:
Hope this helps matey....good luck/hunting :up:

[CaptainHaplo]

Thanks Jimbuna.

I have rebuilt the pc from the ground up (do it about once a yr whether it needs it or not) - install stock sh3, patch to1.4 and then GWX 1.02 (dont know why I thought it was 1.03 - oops) with update. I am running SH3 Commander with the gwx addon files - but since I only have one install of sh3 - I cant see adding another. This cant be mod related as I have had the problem way back when 1.2 was the patch to have in stock sh3 - and was never running mods at the time.

I tried renaming the .sav file - copying it out, rebooting and moving it back in (both renamed and not renamed back to the original) - no joy. But - it was worth a try and I appreciate the help. Should I rename all the files under that save - or just the .sav file itself? I know some are things like the map file, crew file, etc.

I think what I may end up doing if there isnt an answer out there is trying a bit by bit file compare on the contents of a hosed sh3 folder and the backups snapshot I normally take prior to exiting if I can get one that works to recreate this. Maybe that will find what is changing and making these games disappear. May also try the savegame folder on another pc and see if it reads it there - that will let me know something is corrupt in the install I have - thanks for pointing me toward that. I will post my results as I can. Any additional input out there? Thanks!!!

Captain Haplo

[Jimbuna]

Did you install the SH3Cfg4SH3Cmdr file ? :hmm:

[CaptainHaplo]

GWX102Cfg4SH3Cmdr.zip - 4 files for SH3Commander - yep they are installed!

[Jimbuna]

Then all I can suggest is you carry out the procedure exactly as I've set it out in post #4....but this time install v1.03 (everything you need is contained within my sig) :up:

[CaptainHaplo]

Doing so now - thanks mate! One item I caught that could be a culprit. I have always kept a copy of my sh3 folder on a backup drive so I didnt "lose" anything - will try totally clean, as well as on another pc and see what happens. Thanks again!
Captain Haplo

[Jimbuna]

Your welcome and good luck :arrgh!: