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.

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.

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]

Originally Posted by thebigJ_A

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!

[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.

[thebigJ_A]

Originally Posted by Fish In The Water

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!

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]

Originally Posted by thebigJ_A

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!

[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!

[krautjacket]

Originally Posted by 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 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

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by krautjacket

*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.

Originally Posted by krautjacket

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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