Huge savegame files & TC stutter

[Brett Sinclair]

Hi guys,

I'm currently playing through the stock SH4 campaign, out on my tenth tour.
However, there is a strange issue: The .rep file of my savegames is in the magnitude of MBs for half my savegames, and in the magnitude of GBs (!) for the other half - which leads to terrible stutter during TC, etc.
What did I do wrong? And how can I possibly fix this?
Thank you.

Best,
Brett

[aanker]

This was an issue when SH4 first came out; SH4 v1.0.

What version do you have and where is it installed? In Program Files or a folder you made under C\: like C:\GAMES or C:\Ubisoft, etc.

Is your game from a DVD - SH4 v1.0 or SH4 Gold v1.5 U-Boat Missions, or is it a digital download from Amazon or Steam of SH4, and if so is it updated to v1.5 U-Boat Missions?

Don't worry, people here are helpful if you provide information to narrow it down. Oh, and what version of Windows are you running - if you are using Windows.

[Brett Sinclair]

Thank you for the quick reply!
The issue is not gamebreaking (yet), but immensly annoying.
I run the Steam version of SH4 + U Boat missions (should be 1.5, I believe) + sometimes GFO mod on 64 bit Windows 10. It is installed in the Steam folder, which in itself is in a custom games folder on my harddrive, not program files or similar.

Best,
Brett

[propbeanie]

Did you happen to save the replay during one or more of your Saves? Those will bloat the poor thing immensely... :salute:

[Brett Sinclair]

Thank you.
I don't even know what that is or how to do it, so I suppose not.
The large file in question is the "SaveFile.rep"one in the "documents/SH4/data/cfg/SaveGames/0000000X" location.

Best,
Brett

[aanker]

Thank you for your info, you seem to be doing everything right.

It's probably possible to turn on replay accidentally to get huge "savefile.rep" files. I don't (have never) used that feature either but this sounds like what could have happened. - how do we turn that off??

/ turns off Event camera when in game.

When in the Office and you click on the radio to the left to access realism settings there is a box to check that turns off the event camera.

I never use it though and don't know if the event camera is even the correct problem, but it could create a huge save game file.

What do you think?

[propbeanie]

It's a little tick-box thingie below where you type in the Save Name, which I'm thinking defaults to an off (un-ticked) state. So I don't think it's very easy to do an accidental Save of that, but you may have.

Since you say you are doing the Stock game, I'll guess (probably incorrectly) then that you're later in the war, like into 1944 maybe, and have had a few recent trips to Empire Waters (off of the coast of Japan). The Stock game has nasty habit of spawning ships on top of ships (the RGG) in the Jap_HarborTraffic file, besides the fact that it is constantly generating patrol vessels in the harbors. If you go into the Inland Sea in mid-44, you'll find about twice as many vessels as there were there in 1943. It should be the opposite.

This is the nature of the game in Stock trim if you play a long career. Throw in a few planes, and there can be quite a bit of data to keep track of, just in the Jap_HarborTraffic file. Hence the bigger Saves after a few "years" of playing the game. Also, if you used to have mods activated, they do not always de-activate cleanly, and that can add more "trash" to your Save file. Use the "Tasks..." in JSGME whenever you first install the game, and "Generate a snapshot of the game files". Then install your mod. After you de-activate the mod, do a "Compare game files to snapshot", and make certain that all is well. It takes several minutes each time you do that, but worth it in the long run for the aggravation it might save you later... :salute:

[fireftr18]

The stutter on high time compression is normal for most people, especially when there are other units close. I get the stutter, but it isn't a problem unless I'm close to a port.
The save files get huge. If you overwrite saves, they can get corrupted. The fix is to save into a new file each time. I'll make a master save while in office, then simply add a number each time. So I'll have file names like, "fireftr," "fireftr1," etc. I save immediately after getting away from port, after each attack, and any other time as needed. I continue until the end of the patrol, then start over.

[Brett Sinclair]

Thank you.
I already tried separate saves instead of overwrites, but savegames are still huge.
Never knew about the jap_harbor_traffic.sii file (it's 1.69 MB), but it is a good explanation (I'm somewhere in 1943, having ventured to the Japanese coast (and harbours) again and again.
I'll turn off the even camera and test again. Current I am reinstalling the game + DLC + GFO mod.

Best,
Brett

[aanker]

What fireftr18 & propbeanie posted above is good advice.

I was thinking last night; when you leave the Office, get your patrol Orders, and depart for your Objective, do you sink shipping, complete your Objective, sink more tonnage, completing Objectives until you run out of torpedoes, maybe Refit & Rearming once at a forward Base, until you have several Objectives completed, a nice list of tonnage sunk, and then return to Port/Base.

Or, do you continually Refit & Rearm at a forward Base, Radio for Objectives, complete them, Refit & Rearm, Radio for another Objective, on and on until you've been out four, five, six or more months completing Objectives and sinking tonnage. Recently, one guy was out for a year before returning to Port/Base.

Continually completing Objectives and being out many months like the second method above without returning to Port/Base would make a very large savefile.rep file.

........

[Brett Sinclair]

I always do "short" tours of max. 4 months / max. 5 objectives / max. 10 ships sunk (until I run out of torpedos).

Best,
Brett

[aanker]

I always do "short" tours of max. 4 months / max. 5 objectives / max. 10 ships sunk (until I run out of torpedos).

Best,
Brett
Somebody will pop in with the solution to this mystery.... On the bright side, we are narrowing the possibilities. ; )

[Brett Sinclair]

Thanks.
Anway, I did a complete reinstall, deleted my last (10th) save and started a new patrol. Even after following all the advice in this tread, my first save (a fair distance off the sub base south of Miday, no idea what is called), it islready 174 MB.
I guess I'll have to live with it, as it is not game-breaking.

Best,
Brett

[propbeanie]

... are you talking about a single, numbered folder under the "SaveGames" folder is that large after one patrol? That is rather large. If you are talking about the size of your My Documents \ SH4 folder, then that might not be considered large...

Just to be certain:

https://i.imgur.com/RAQiaSE.jpg

Notice the circled "Save replay" box that is empty. NOT saving the replay. The arrows are pointing to an old save of mine that has playback with it, the little movie camera in the right column. The "flag" icon designates it as a Single Mission (Quick Mission in Stock). The little "TestSaveOfATest" there (not "Saved" yet) is from me departing Midway in June 1942, and traveling out about 10 minutes. File size for it (the "00000007" folder in my case) is 780kb - kilobytes. My SingleMission save with the replay, which is maybe 4 minutes total ("00000006" folder) is 2.83MB, megabytes. The folders are not always in numerical order either. If you delete a Save, the game might re-use that particular folder number, which is the case with my Save folder structure in Windows versus what the game has in its list. Check the time stamps of your Save folders.

[Brett Sinclair]

Thanks!
I'm talking about the number that shows up ingame when hovering my mouse over savegames; just to check I went into the document folder.
Replays are not saved, I checked again. However, I may try to change my savegame names.

Best,
Brett

[Brett Sinclair]

- Installed the base game from Steam.
- Started the game.
- Installed U Boat missions.
- Started the base game again.
- Did a standard patrol, savegame size 5.1 MB.
--> Problem solved!
I now suppose it is an GFO issue, I will test it further.

[propbeanie]

I'm glad you're going better again! Now, these can be difficult concepts to wrap one's head around, but you can try a few things here to help you in the future:

Silent Hunter 4 Corruption Management System (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=2460009#post2460009) (thread)

and

MultiSH4 (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=1110) (download)

I cannot find a release thread for MultiSH4, but there is a bit of a ReadMe with it. The whole idea of MultiSH4 is to change the default Save folder name on a given SH4 install...

After you've made your initial of Silent Hunter 4, you use Rockin Robbins' CMS to create a "pristine" back-up, and other desired installs. Each of the installs only creates another full copy of the game on your computer. You then use MultiSH4 run in each particular game copy folder, so change the Save folder, such that your "Stock" game has a folder "SH4". You can make a TMO install and using MultiSH4, a "TMO" save folder. Make a GFO install, use MultiSH4 to make a GFO save folder. That way, things don't get as messed-up as easily, and when they do, you just use CMS to restore another copy of the game...

But there is a lot of reading and understanding to get through first. Also, I'm not so certain how well your Steam would do with it... I'll try to experiment with my Steam SH3, and try to get back with you sometime next week about that. I've got quite a bit going on over the next few days, and I get to spend lots of money I don't have on vehicle repairs... :salute:

[Brett Sinclair]

Thank you!
I'll look into it, but for now I'll finish the campaign with the stock game. I am already in August of 1944, and may take a trip to Kure in mid January of '45, given there is a single mission where one has to sink the Yamato there on the 13th.

Best,
Brett

[propbeanie]

Definitely not something to rush into. Preliminary results from my experiment are not encouraging for Steam. My original Steam SH3 install is modded to LSH 2015, which still works. My first copy of SH3 was modded to WAC 5.x, which used to work, but now hangs on the loading screen, after adding it to the Steam Library folder. My attempt at a GWX install won't even start. I did rush through the menu building, and I have not tried to de-activate and re-activate the mods yet. More research & testing forthcoming. Now, if I can just test the start, and go on to the next test, without feeling the need to blow something up, I'd be finished sooner... :salute: