Cut and dried rules of game saving?
 

After losing my 7th career...without it being caused by being pounded into the silt by DC's...I'm gettind a little exasperated.

There is no way I can run an entire patrol without saving...I have a real life :nope: . But I have lost careers when a game save will not load...once I get the infamous "SH3 has encountered an error and must close..." error...I know that career is basically a wreck on the ocean floor. In almost all of these cases I will find that my "In base before patrol" date has suddenly moved ahead of my last save. How does that happen? How does the "In base before patrol" date suddenly become today, when I may have started the patrol 5 days ago (and it was correct date at that time)? I'm guessing there are some rules to saving games, in patrol, that I'm not following. This seems ridiculous but, so be it :salute: .

So, can you tell me about these game saving restrictions as I'm not sure how many more careers I can stand to lose before I give the entire thing up.

Vic, hoping to see summer of 1940...AT SOME POINT!! :damn:

No saving when in contact with another ship. No saving when submerged. No saving near the coast. Its mostly random luck, but saving when you're all alone is safest.

No installing mods while on patrol. Plus what AVSM said. :03:

Also, if you have multiple careers going, don't have multiple careers at sea at the same time.

Complete a patral with career 1.

Then play a patrol with career 2. Make sure you finish this patrol before going to a new patrol in career 1, or starting career 3.

weeeeeeeeeird. this is good to know!

Just a little "Extra"

From my experience, after a "legitimate" save(see the above)if the game loads and the first thing you hear are dials breaking etc (as if your under attack) even when you KNOW there is nothing in the immediate vicinity,or in fact as little as 50km away. Abandon that patrol, or load an earlier save. I've saved at radio contacts of "Task Foce" heading in my direction(2hours away...gametime) loaded game, heard damage, continued to sink major battleships which are not even counted on return to port.

maddysad

Ok, I've never had a Save game problem since SHIII came out (was it 4 years already, geeshh!) This is what I do.

1. no other ships around
2. I save in the same position as when the game starts, that is; In the control room, facing the intruments.
3. no gramophone
4. I always overwrite and use only one save slot. (hey, one save game is better than zero)

In other words, keep it as simple as possible. Works for me. :yep:

never realized there were save restrictions!

What AVSM said. Only save when you are at least 50km from land, planes & other ships. Perform a manual hydrophone check to be sure nothing is around you.

As far as overwriting previous saves, I would avoid this too. I've had a lot of problems with corrupt saves after overwriting saved games. I've found that it's "safest" (realtive term with SH3) to give each save a different name.

I've had save game issues too. I agree with all that has been said. I do what amounts to a combination/compromise between someting IanC and Murr44 said. I always save games under a different name. To avoid having too much saved, every so often I go into my careers folder in 'my documents/SH3', and manually delete old patrols. I think there are two files to delete for each numbered patrol (0, 1, 2 etc.). Always delete the oldest ones, and leave a few prior to the most current.

Always save when surfaced.
Always save when in control room, F2, view.
Always save at least 50km off shore.
Always give the game a little time at TCx1 after being on high TC before you save.
Never save with any known contacts, go some 30km away from your last sinking.
If the first save works, do not over write it. Make a new one which you may over write.
Give the game a little time before you exit, just a couple of seconds of your time...

This is good info. I just last my 1st save a couple days ago. I tended to save just after I sunk a ship. Will follow the tips above from now on.

In my new campaign I get the broken glass just as the game loads. I did get credit for all my tonnage after completing the mission. Hopefully when I start the next mission it will be normal and I will quit saving just after I sink a ship.

The sound of broken glass at loading is the game setting your damage status from your last save point. Even if you have 99% hull integrity you will hear glass breaking. Is normal.

Wow...many of these are new to me...like being in control room view and being surfaced. Although these can be a pain to stick with, at time, as someone said..."it's better than NO save...". So, is the concensus that I should NOT overwrite a patrol save (Buck01, on my second patrol) but should instead create a new save each time (Buck01-2, would be my second save during my second patrol)?

If I delete previous saves while still in that career will it cause problems with SH3commander's career files?

Thanks.
Vic

There should not be any probs overwriting your saves, but for safety reasons leave the first, working , save as is. Then make a Buck02 save which you can then overwrite.
Personally I have had problems after overwriting the same save file several times.
Therefore I tend to make a new one whenever something important has happened since I last loaded the game. If I have only "cruised" I overwrite the save I loaded from.
You should never delete old saves from your active career, never. If you try to do that, from within the game, you will get a warning that any saves after the one you are deleting will be deleted too.
Old not active careers yes, if you delete the whole career.