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.

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.

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.

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

I agree
 

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.

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. ;)

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: