Why would they design it like that?

[thebigJ_A]

I've been saving frequently during patrols, for fear of newb mistakes and crashes. Now that I was on my sixth patrol, the list of saves was extremely long, since hard saves are connected to specific patrols (i.e. I can't save over "savegame1" from my first patrol while on my second).

I decided to clean things up a bit, and I deleted my oldest save.

It's gone.

It's all gone!

Every save after the hard save I deleted, from every patrol, is gone. :damn:

It gave me the same warning message you get when you load up a game, that it will delete "all saves related with it", but I assumed that meant for that patrol, or something. I mean, it can't mean deleting a single savegame will wipe out everything after it. That would be stupid, and makes no sense. What kind of game forces you to keep all of your old saves? But it does.

Who designs a system like that? Who would think, "Well, clearly anyone who wants to get rid of a save from weeks or months ago also doesn't want anything else past that date"? It doesn't even send it to the recycle bin where you can get it back!

Ok. There's a warning. But what it's warning you of is so asinine that my at least partially logical mind rejected that as a possibility, and took it to mean something that made more sense.

I'm sorry for ranting. It's just that I've lost all the work I've done over the previous weeks at this great game, and I'm upset. :nope:

Edit: I don't even know what the game deletes when you "Delete" saves. The save files are still in my Documents folder, but neither Commander nor the game know they exist.

[Kaleun Cook]

"all saves related with it"

I think in German the warning is a bit clearer about what SH3 will do, IIRC it says something like "all saves after the loaded one will be deleted". I'd say this is because the game wants you to have one carreer only and not many different strands depending on your different decisions.

[Fish In The Water]

The save files are still in my Documents folder, but neither Commander nor the game know they exist.

If that's the case, try renaming them (by adding a digit at the end of the filename) and then reload the game. If you get lucky (and the game recognizes them), you can back up the save folder and then revert the names back.

Good luck! :sunny:

[sublynx]

[QUOTE=Fish In The Water;1653003]If that's the case, try renaming them (by adding a digit at the end of the filename) and then reload the game. If you get lucky (and the game recognizes them), you can back up the save folder and then revert the names back.


If this doesn't work, maybe you can start a new career with the old name and move the files from the old Document folder to the folder where the new career is. Just a thought.

[krautjacket]

I've been saving frequently during patrols, for fear of newb mistakes and crashes. Now that I was on my sixth patrol, the list of saves was extremely long, since hard saves are connected to specific patrols (i.e. I can't save over "savegame1" from my first patrol while on my second).




I don't know about anyone else, but when I play, I have a save either called 'at sea' or 'on patrol', and when I save on my next patrol, it overwrites these saves, so I don't get your problem



*edit, when I save on the next patrol, I always use the exact same names as the last saves

[Jimbuna]

I'm trying not to laugh but these problems were encountered here over 5 years ago and it amazes me how the same issues tend to come full circle.

I am aware you've not been here overly long but one positive must be the proof you and other new members bring that shows the longevity of the SH3 game.

*On a serious note*
If adding the extra letter/digit fails to work you can change the file in your last save from 'war ended' true to false.

It's not a bad idea to back up your SH3 folder in MyDocs on a regular basis but be advised, it will only be compatable if you add no additional mods.

Good Luck Kaleun http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

[Sailor Steve]

*edit, when I save on the next patrol, I always use the exact same names as the last saves
Same here. The only downside is that if you get a corrupted save you can't go back and reload an earlier one.

To my mind it's worth the risk.

[thebigJ_A]

If that's the case, try renaming them (by adding a digit at the end of the filename) and then reload the game. If you get lucky (and the game recognizes them), you can back up the save folder and then revert the names back.

Good luck! :sunny:

Do I rename all the files in the same folder that are based off the save? (e.g. save1.clg, save1.isf, crew_config_save1.cfg, etc.)

I tried that, and when I loaded Commander I got the same error as before, "Invalid argument to date encode."

[Fish In The Water]

Do I rename all the files in the same folder that are based off the save? (e.g. save1.clg, save1.isf, crew_config_save1.cfg, etc.)

Yes...

There should be a series of nine files associated with each save. The extensions are as follows:

.clg
.crp
.isf
.map
.psc
.rmr
.rms
.rsf
.sav

Try adding the same new character to the end of each filename (just before the dot) and then do a test load without Commander. If the game still fails to recognize them, I'd take Jim's advice and check the 'Careers.cfg' and 'careers_0.cfg' files.

They're both located in: 'My Documents\SH3\data\cfg\Careers\[YourCareerName]\. Open them up with Notepad and look for the following lines:

Finished=true
WarOver=true

Then change them both to:

Finished=false
WarOver=false

Best of luck! :sunny:

[thebigJ_A]

Didn't work.

The two configs already had those values listed as false. Probably because the first autosave (In port before patrol 1) still exists, I'd guess.

Forget it. I'm just going to start a new career. Sigh.

[Howard313]

ahh, I feel your pain, My first career went the same way. Made it to 1942 and decided that I didn't need all of those old saves. Deleted the first one and poof. Bye Career! :salute:

:damn:

[thebigJ_A]

It just doesn't make sense.

Deleting saves after the one you load makes sense, from a realism perspective and because of how the game keeps track on a per-patrol basis. Why would getting rid of old saves delete newer ones, though?

If there's any logic to it, I'm missing it.

[reignofdeath]

For easy purposes I keep as many saves as it takes per patrol I usually save something like this.

p1-1
p1-2
p1-3
p1-4
p2-1
p2-2
p3-3

and so on and son on. I also try to fit in the grid Im in in there too.

[postalbyke]

yeah, just last week i accidentally clicked on "new career" instead of "saved" and it deleted my entire career.
i was on patrol 10 in a type 2, late 1940.
i then found out that starting a career other than the start of the war in a type 2 is "impossible" (requires modding that i'm unwilling to do when i can just restart a career...)
so now i'm on patrol 2 again, with my rookie crew:nope:
so! right there with ya, buddy!

[thebigJ_A]

yeah, just last week i accidentally clicked on "new career" instead of "saved" and it deleted my entire career.
i was on patrol 10 in a type 2, late 1940.
i then found out that starting a career other than the start of the war in a type 2 is "impossible" (requires modding that i'm unwilling to do when i can just restart a career...)
so now i'm on patrol 2 again, with my rookie crew:nope:
so! right there with ya, buddy!

Do you have GWX? The Black Sea flotilla (30th) uses IIDs, I believe.

[sublynx]

I get a lot of crashes with savegames, even when saving surfaced and far away from other ships or objects. Solutions: I now don't save, I put my laptop on sleep mode when I leave the game. Hibernation mode does not work that well because when I come back from Hibernation the sound of the environment (wind and waves) goes on a loop on the background even in Hydrophone room and it gets annoying.

If I absolutely want to save for some reason:

1. I save
2. teleport back to base
3. alt+tab out of SH3
4. I make a backup copy of my career's save files
5. alt+tab in to SH3
6. load the save made during patrol, not the one back at base
7. play on if it does work

If the save crashes:

1. alt+tab out of SH3
2. use the backup copy
3. alt+tab in to SH3
4. load the career save where I have returned to base

Saves at base haven't crashed yet. This way I don't lose the results of the patrol up to the point where I saved, even if it crashes. I don't get to continue the patrol if it crashes though, so sleep mode works better. DID.

[danasan]

Deleting old saves should work fine as long as you don't delete them within the game but in the folder.

That means, do not start the game. Start the Windows Explorer. Navigate to the folder that contains the saves. Just delete the oldest folders there.

Start your game afterwards. It works fine for me.

If in doubt, just make a backup of the folders and put them elsewhere.

If it fails, but it does not, copy your backup back.

[Snestorm]

I don't know about anyone else, but when I play, I have a save either called 'at sea' or 'on patrol', and when I save on my next patrol, it overwrites these saves, so I don't get your problem



*edit, when I save on the next patrol, I always use the exact same names as the last saves

If you're a real clean fanatic, there is nothing better than krautjacket's method.

Alternatively, you could use my method. One save per patrol. Over-right when required/desired. Patrol 1 = 01, Patrol 2 = 02, OSV.
If the save goes bad, chances are that you will only loose that particular patrol.

[Osmium Steele]

I always use "mine1", "mine2", alternating between saves. I also use "convoy" if I decide I am going to try to intercept a convoy.

[Hondo314]

The design doesn't make any sense to me either. Delete subsequent saves when you load...okay, but no sense in deleting subsequent saves when deleting old saves ingame. Good thing you can delete them manually after exiting the game.

[Jimbuna]

The design doesn't make any sense to me either. Delete subsequent saves when you load...okay, but no sense in deleting subsequent saves when deleting old saves ingame. Good thing you can delete them manually after exiting the game.

That' probably the safest method but can still cause problems...the game engine can be so unforgiving.

[Fish In The Water]

...the game engine can be so unforgiving.

In this regard yes, but it does make up for it in the modding department. Kind of a trade off, six of one half dozen of the other. ;)

[Jimbuna]

In terms of modding I prefer to see it as six of one and a few dozen of the other (in favour of modding) :03:

[Fish In The Water]

In terms of modding I prefer to see it as six of one and a few dozen of the other (in favour of modding) :03:

:up: