Aykay

Yes, I have. On W10. Before anyone tries to screw up their good game saves and really damage them, or even start a new career after who knows how many sunk tonnages and combat patrols, check W10's "Controlled Folder Access to Protect Data" to see if sh4.exe has been blocked from accessing your normally also protected User/Documents folder!

I don't know how many more times I'll have to miss the little message icon in the bottom right of the taskbar when games don't seem to work like they used to, before I learn to always check that right away first.

So I've been playing around with my SH4 save folders, I have quite a few backups, but none of them have worked. I thought I'd also have to run that mephitic Torpedo Loadout Editor exe that sets off all the alarm bells in any mediocre antivirus program to restore the identical situation that might have existed the last time I saved the game 4 years ago.... but no.

And then my eyes did fall on the white icon, which I had already learned was my number one troubleshooter in so many cases where something appeared not to be running and corrupt, but was just blocked by W10 controlled folder access.

So just click on the then white icon, the message(s) appear and (hopefully) only the exe of a game was prevented from accessing certain folders. And lo and behold, that's exactly what it was. Again. So I immediately added sh4.exe (and sh3.exe too, for that matter) to the exceptions, and voila, from then on the game saves were loaded again without a hitch. Phew. And again sittin' there with that grin, happy that the solution was so simple again. But it's also so ... hidden in plain sight. I never think about it first. Goddammit. Could've saved me so much time and trouble. Also again.