C to D with use of Bessel resupply

[Archive1]

Used the Bessel resupply at Vigo, Spain for the first time last night and got a crash to desktop when I tried to restart the patrol and head back to Lorient. Is this a known problem? Running GWX 3 with no problems at all and with minimum mods (mostly graphics). Date was Feb 1941 so Bessel should be available.

Second question: now that we've crashed, is there any way to restart at the last saved point...which was before I exited the patrol at Bessel...so I can avoid the Exit at Bessel and just turn around to head for Lorient thus saving a successful patrol from oblivion? I can just restart the patrol from scratch from Lorient again, but would like to retain the 'renown' acquired since the patrol was quite successful. I'm not hung up on this, since it's 'the hunt' that's captivating, but it would be nice if there were a way to get back to the last save. Rather like the Restore Point in Windows.

[frau kaleun]

Just an FYI in case you're not aware, docking at a resupply ship will end your current patrol. When you leave the resupply ship, the game will consider it the beginning of your next patrol.

Which of course does not explain why you would have a CTD if all you did was go in and try to pick up where you left off, which should be the auto-save that the game does when you end a patrol and are going to start a new one.

Personally I've docked at Vigo to resupply once, I think it was about the middle of 1940, without any problems. But it's possible you just got a corrupted save, which unfortunately does happen occasionally. If you have saves from earlier in the patrol that ended at Vigo, you can try loading the last one and play from that point on and "re-end" your patrol that way. If that one crashes as well, you may need to load the next to last one, and so on down the line, until you get to one that works. Unfortunately if you do have a corrupted save somewhere in the mix, it's likely that any saves made after that one will be borked as well.

Where were you when you saved the game? Saving in some situations (while submerged, too close to land or within range of other units) can cause a save to go bad and crash when you try to load it up.

[Archive1]

F Kaleun:
1. re: docking at a resupply...I expected and understand that docking at a resupply point is essentially no different from docking at Kiel or wherever and that the patrol would end. It did end quite correctly. But when I attempted to restart the patrol from Vigo/Bessel and head to Lorient, that's when the CTD occurred.
2.I'm not aware one can restart from a 'Save' made in mid patrol. How do you find a list of those 'saves' from which to choose one for a new restart? The only restart I'm aware of is from in port choosing either End of Last Patrol or Beginning of Patrol (or whatever the exact wording is), and that wipes out everything that happened in the entire patrol from the start. I should have mentioned I'm using Commander - looked in the My Documents section at the saves that Commander makes, but those are just 'from the start' saves, not in patrol saves. In other words, "...If you have saves from earlier in the patrol that ended at Vigo, you can try loading the last one and play from that point on and "re-end" your patrol that way. If that one crashes as well, you may need to load the next to last one, and so on down the line, until you get to one that works..." - that's exactly what I'd like to do, but haven't a clue how to do it.
3. Am aware of "close to port, near convoys, while engaged/submerged" etc hazards for saving. But here the save should have been automatic after docking after 'Exit Patrol' at Vigo /Bessel and restarting.

Thanks for the response. If you have any information or guidance regarding #2 above I'd appreciate it.

[Jimbuna]

Perform multiple saves in mid patrol and give them all a different number, when you boot up your game choose savegame and click on the savegame numbered file you require.

[frau kaleun]

@Archive1: as indicated by Jimbuna above, in order to have mid-patrol saves to revert to you will have had to make those saves at various points during your patrol. This has to be done manually during play as the only auto-saves the game provides are when you are in base before and after patrols.

Unfortunately if you made no saves during the patrol, you will have to find an auto-save that works and start over from there. This may in fact mean repeating the entire last patrol if the most recent working save is the auto-save from when you started it.

To make a save during a patrol, hit the ESC key and one of the options you get will be to save your game (or save and exit, which you can do to make a save and exit the game without ending your patrol). Click that and you'll get a screen where you can type in a name for your saved game and click the "Save" button next to that. Very important: CLICK THE 'SAVE' BUTTON TWICE! Apparently the first click only activates the button, it's the second click that saves your game. If you get a popup saying the game has been saved, you're good to go. If you don't get the popup, click the "Save" button again so that you do get it. (If you don't get a confirmation of the save, it wasn't saved. I learned that the hard way.)

IIRC there are usually two auto-saves provided "in base" when you are docked in between patrols - one from when you docked at the end of the last patrol and one just prior to the start of the next patrol. If you have not made any saves yourself, they should be the last two saves in the list provided when you load that career and both should show you docked at the Bessel in Vigo. If the later of the two doesn't work, you can try loading the prior one and see what happens.

If neither works and the next save back is from the start of the previous patrol, then sadly you will have to try loading that one and just do the patrol over.

[Archive1]

Jim and F_K:
Yep have always made several manual saves during a patrol, just as you have described and have gotten confirmation, and then Continued the patrol to end the Pause. Have not given each save a number (I guess one enters something like "Lenz 1" and "Lenz 2" instead of merely the name of the Kaleun, e.g., "Lenz" as I have been doing ). I have been content to know that there was a Save out there somewhere if needed, but I have no idea how to manually select one of those saves to restart the patrol at that point. Have never had to do so. Whoa! I think I see the problem after writing this paragraph. I have saved merely as the name of the Kaleun, therefore each save overwrites the last and there is only a single manual Save, the last one, at any given time, and not a series. An AHA! moment.

I now presume that upon boot after choosing Continue a Career that one gets a list of previous Saves with their assigned number or name. Since I do not number or name each save no such list has ever appeared for me. Is this written down somewhere and I missed it over all these years? Egad.

Sorry about the confusion, but I don't obviously have the game loaded and running at this time and am inventing screen messages. Am an old hand at SH back to version I but have never had to try and manually load a mid-patrol save. I believe once with a power outtage mid patrol it loaded a previous manual save without my doing anything.

Appreciate the attention and assistance.

[frau kaleun]

I think I see the problem after writing this paragraph. I have saved merely as the name of the Kaleun, therefore each save overwrites the last and there is only a single manual Save, the last one, at any given time, and not a series. An AHA! moment.

I now presume that upon boot after choosing Continue a Career that one gets a list of previous Saves with their assigned number or name. Since I do not number or name each save no such list has ever appeared for me.

Yep, there's your answer. :yep:

I usually name my mid-patrol saves numerically by the date in the game in a mmddyy format - 091439, 102140, etc. - but any system you use that doesn't involve just overwriting the same file every time should be fine. I just use dates because that was the first method that popped into my head; the game displays them chronologically anyway. When you load up a career all your mid-patrol saves should be listed that way in the same display that shows you the auto-saves made in base.

[Archive1]

Thanks guys.
After all these years still learning stuff. Of course, in retrospect it makes sense...but that's true of much of life.
Over and out.
Archive1

[FIREWALL]

I use the grid # as a reference point for mid patrol. I only save out in open water.

[Jimbuna]

I use the grid # as a reference point for mid patrol. I only save out in open water.

That ia another viable alternative....provided each grid square is differnt eg BE11, BE12 etc.