Save games not being found? Steam

[Xorlium]

Hi,

I have the Steam version. Today I was playing and everything was ok, but later today steam said "finished downloading King's bounty: The Legend".

After this, I can't see my saved games. I went to the folder (My Games/Kings Bounty/$save) and they are still there, but the game doesn't see them.

I started a new game, saved the game (to check what's going on) and it can see that one. And not only that, but I does make a new file in the directory (Training Center.sav)

Anyone else has this problem?

[chronotraveller]

I have the same problem.

[zkoter]

i've got the same problem. Running the steam version so not easy to down grade to an earlier patch.
really really annoying and it's not good publisity for the developer.
Save games are sacred, as people will not accept starting all over again everytime a patch arrives.

[damaged]

Got the same problem, I went from level 20 something back to level 7, I'm pretty miffed.

[kazerus]

Miffed is putting it very lightly. I have tried multiple ways to try to trick the game into seeing my other saves but still no luck. Any help on this matter would be much appreciated.

[Badger_442]

Same here also, save games are there but are not available to load. As if they have some version compatibility issue.

GGrrr. Have been playing for a week with no problems..

Devs this should be looked at ASAP as you have crippled all the Steam players.

[theyarecomingforyou]

I registered just to complain about this. After the latest automatic update on Steam I can no longer load any of my recent save games. That's absolutely unacceptable. Fix it.

The game is a huge amount of fun but I can't be doing with this nonsense.

[warchie]

The problem with the Steam program is the auto updates. I lost my damn save games too. I refuse to play this until it is fixed. I can see my save game files but now the game doesn't recognize them. Stupid updates. I never auto update anything but Steam takes over and shazaam! If this can't be fixed I want my money back. I have invested several hours, if not days playing, this is wrong and everyone knows it!

[spooky612]

Same issue for me. i went from 17th back too 11th. I am wondering when i can have a refund? i havent even wanted to waste my time seeing if the fix i was looking for in the new build was fixed, since i cant play my current game which is many more hours in than these much older saves.

i was looking for the western island crash to be fixed.


This is just sad. and im not kidding about the money back thing. :(

[stoicfaux]

If you're using Vista, your original saves are in: c:\Users\<login name>\Documents\My Games\Kings Bounty\$save

If you're on XP, I think you would look under "c:\Documents and Settings" instead of c:\users.


Oh wow, I just found the new save dir:
c:\Windows.old\Documents and Settings\<user id>\Documents\My Games\Kings Bounty\$save\Greenwort (1).sav
c:\Windows.old\Users\<user id>\My Documents\My Games\Kings Bounty\$save\Greenwort (1).sav

(Users and "Documents and Settings" are the same dir. They're symlinked (but Windows calls it a Junction instead.))


Looks like somebody made a big mistake in locating the Users/"Documents and Settings" directory. Bad patch, bad!

[Hypatian]

I don't know that there's an error in location--if I create a new saved game, it goes into that same directory, alongside my already existing saved games. It's just that the new one shows up on the list, whereas none of the old ones do.

[stoicfaux]

Never mind. The "windows.old" directory just links back to the c:\users\... directory. So the patch is definitely borked in that it doesn't see all of your same game files.


Has anyone noticed a problem with the timestamps listed on the saved games in the Load screen? A couple of the saved games that do show up have June and July of 2009 dates...

Using touch to reset the timestamps on the *.sav files didn't make a difference.
Copying a save file over a save file that does show up in the load screen didn't work either. In fact, the load screen no longer displays that save file. =P

[Hypatian]

Over on the Steam forums, people are reporting that they can load pre-1.7 isles saves now without crashing. It seems like it's been patched to work with the older saves, but the newer saves are now incompatible? (i.e. every save game I have made while I've been playing.)

It would be nice if we could hear something official about this. The deafening silence on these forums and the lack of any Steam-based patch notes makes things feel even worse.

[Xorlium]

Is there any way to un-patch the game in Steam? I really want to play, and it had been working perfectly for me, I had seen virtually no bugs...

[Hypatian]

Not as far as I know. In fact, I heard stories of people trying to keep KB from patching to 1.7 from 1.6.5 and having it auto-patch when they tried to run it. :l

[theyarecomingforyou]

Over on the Steam forums, people are reporting that they can load pre-1.7 isles saves now without crashing. It seems like it's been patched to work with the older saves, but the newer saves are now incompatible? (i.e. every save game I have made while I've been playing.)
Yeah, but that's no help to me and the 30hrs I put in on after 1.7. Now instead of playing the game I'm having to hang around forums hoping for a workaround or waiting for information on when it will be fixed.

[Houdani]

Just wanted to throw my name into the hat.

Steam user. Purchased *after* v1.7 patch. None of my saves show up in the load game list (although they still exist in the save directory).

Phooey.

[Karel]

Hello all,

I`m very sorry to hear that.. I talked to responsible guys and it seems that new 1.7 patch is not compatible with saved games which were made in previous KB version.. This is of course very unfortunate :(

Please try contacting Steam support and ask them how to revert your game back to previous(original) version, so you can continue playing using your saved games. Then I suggest you disable autopatching feature for your Kings Bounty, so it does not get patched automatically again..

Meanwhile, we will see if we can make 1.7 patch which would be compatible with old saves.

We are very sorry for this inconvenience..

[damaged]

Hello all,

I`m very sorry to hear that.. I talked to responsible guys and it seems that new 1.7 patch is not compatible with saved games which were made in previous KB version.. This is of course very unfortunate :(

Please try contacting Steam support and ask them how to revert your game back to previous(original) version, so you can continue playing using your saved games. Then I suggest you disable autopatching feature for your Kings Bounty, so it does not get patched automatically again..

Meanwhile, we will see if we can make 1.7 patch which would be compatible with old saves.

We are very sorry for this inconvenience..

Passing the buck? are you kidding me?, I don't think you're sorry at all, in fact I don't think you guys give 2 craps about us, we steam users have been playing with 1.7 since it rolled out on Steam and it was fine, until you 'fixed' the other issue, now our saves are screwed, now you're blaming Steam?

Do you even know how Steam works?, we can disable automatic updates, but when we launch the game it updates itself, see the problem? Besides, even if that were the case, that information is only useful if you had told us the saves would break BEFORE updating the copies on Steam, it's a little late with your 'helpful' tip.


This is the first and last game I buy with 1C involved.

I hope you guys end up like Flagship Studios.

[theyarecomingforyou]

I`m very sorry to hear that.. I talked to responsible guys and it seems that new 1.7 patch is not compatible with saved games which were made in previous KB version.. This is of course very unfortunate :(
I'm sorry but calling it "unfortunate" just doesn't cut it when I've lost 30hrs of progress. Do you have ANY idea how irritating that is? It's enough to make me dislike the game and avoid purchasing any future titles. I can't have a situation where the game could auto-update at any time and wipe out my progress.

Did no-one think to check whether saved game compatibility would be maintained? It's not an unimportant decision, especially for an RPG.

[Karel]

Passing the buck? are you kidding me?, I don't think you're sorry at all, in fact I don't think you guys give 2 craps about us, we steam users have been playing with 1.7 since it rolled out on Steam and it was fine, until you 'fixed' the other issue, now our saves are screwed, now you're blaming Steam?

Do you even know how Steam works?, we can disable automatic updates, but when we launch the game it updates itself, see the problem? Besides, even if that were the case, that information is only useful if you had told us the saves would break BEFORE updating the copies on Steam, it's a little late with your 'helpful' tip.


This is the first and last game I buy with 1C involved.

I hope you guys end up like Flagship Studios.

I understand you guys are very angry, I would be too. But I don`t understand your attitude towards me. I`m trying to inform you what is going on. Would you be more happy if noone told you what is going on and ignored you? I can of course keep it that way.

Yes, I know how Steam works. No, I`m not passing the buck, but I can`t really tell you how to revert your game back to original version, can I? I`m not a Steam employee so I do not know that, that is why I told you to contact Steam support. They are the only who could give you instructions how to revert back to original version of KB.

By the way, the first 1.7 Steam patch had some major crash issues, that is why the second patch came out. Honestly I do not know why your old saved games are not working with the new patch. It could be necessary thing due to some fixes or it can just be a bug. We are investigating this now, I`ll keep you informed. Well, if you are interested.. can`t really tell from your reactions.

[damaged]

I understand you guys are very angry, I would be too. But I don`t understand your attitude towards me. I`m trying to inform you what is going on. Would you be more happy if noone told you what is going on and ignored you? I can of course keep it that way.

Yes, I know how Steam works. No, I`m not passing the buck, but I can`t really tell you how to revert your game back to original version, can I? I`m not a Steam employee so I do not know that, that is why I told you to contact Steam support. They are the only who could give you instructions how to revert back to original version of KB.

By the way, the first 1.7 Steam patch had some major crash issues, that is why the second patch came out. Honestly I do not know why your old saved games are not working with the new patch. It could be necessary thing due to some fixes or it can just be a bug. We are investigating this now, I`ll keep you informed. Well, if you are interested.. can`t really tell from your reactions.

I will explain my attitude, you as an employee represent the company 1C, you act as their voice, and since I'd imagine the CEO does not hang out on the forums, posting to its (ex)customers, you also must be their ears, if the comments do not apply to you personally, please feel free to pass them along to the appropriate parties, or have them post here, and I will direct my comments to those responsible directly, for now, you will have to do.

Let's get something straight, the first 1.7 patch worked perfect for me and alot of others, the crashing was limited to a small few, the 'fix' you guys did for them broke the majority of players, the 'fix' broke more than the original problem, since people are now much farther along, not to mention alot of the people who suffered from the first patch got past it and started over, those that started over now cannot use THOSE saves now, since those are now broken, the reason the saves are not usable is because someone put in code that tells it to ignore certain saves with a certain header, it was a cheap workaround to avoid writing code that could convert our (now incompatible) saves to compatible saves, then to have them send their lip-service out here to lie to us, that's just unprofessional, we are not idiots, do not treat us as such.

Also my comments are my own, whether I'm interested or not, does not matter, you should keep the others updated regardless of whether or not I am 'interested'.

P.S. Steam only applies patches issued from the developer, so quit trying to put the responsibility on them.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Let's get something straight, the first 1.7 patch worked perfect for me and alot of others, the crashing was limited to a small few
Exactly. The game worked perfectly for me before but now I can't play it without restarting and there's no telling whether this could happen again. I really hope a further update can restore compatibility and resolve this issue but I don't want to be waiting weeks for it, if indeed it ever happens.

[stoicfaux]

By the way, the first 1.7 Steam patch had some major crash issues, that is why the second patch came out. Honestly I do not know why your old saved games are not working with the new patch. It could be necessary thing due to some fixes or it can just be a bug. We are investigating this now, I`ll keep you informed. Well, if you are interested.. can`t really tell from your reactions.

Yes, we want to be kept informed.

We also want to hear the magic words, "Yes, it's a bug, and we're diligently working on the fix right now."

Bonus words: "We're also working with Steam to provide a method of rolling back to the previous version." However, this should only be necessary if you all cannot get a fix done quickly. Given that this is a 3 day weekend in the US (Memorial Day holiday,) I think most US customers would forgive all if the fix arrived before end of day today. (Not likely but one can hope.)

Words neither the customer, publisher, developer, or Steam wants to hear: "Refund my purchase." Let's hope it doesn't come to that (and it shouldn't, assuming a prompt resolution to the issue.) I for one, am tired of dealing with broken software (RequisitePro, I'm looking at you) and I would be more than willing to press for a refund from Steam or reverse the credit card charge if necessary.

[Slerbal]

Hello all,

I`m very sorry to hear that.. I talked to responsible guys and it seems that new 1.7 patch is not compatible with saved games which were made in previous KB version.. This is of course very unfortunate :(

Please try contacting Steam support and ask them how to revert your game back to previous(original) version, so you can continue playing using your saved games. Then I suggest you disable autopatching feature for your Kings Bounty, so it does not get patched automatically again..

Meanwhile, we will see if we can make 1.7 patch which would be compatible with old saves.

We are very sorry for this inconvenience..

That is outrageous! I *run* a computer games company and we'd never get away with something like that - the patch was not announced, there is no news about it and at no point did I get a message telling me that my save games would be incompatable with the new patch.

I will have lost over 30 hours of gameplay from this f**ckup. The game is great, but wow what a way to sour the whole experience for me.

That is completely unacceptable - also do not dare pass the buck over to Steam for this, 1C/katauri is responsible for the patching and it is your responsibility to make sure this is fixed, or I will be demanding a full refund.

Fix it or face the negative publicity... seriously guys - this is what gives PC gaming a bad name... you are letting the side down.

- Slerbal

[zkoter]

I understand you guys are very angry, I would be too. But I don`t understand your attitude towards me. I`m trying to inform you what is going on. Would you be more happy if noone told you what is going on and ignored you? I can of course keep it that way.


gotta love your attitude. Most of the people on this thread are people that signed up to this forum just to complain about this major bug that was introduced in the latest patch via steam. your attitude (which we see as the attiude of 1c compain is basically saying: "yeah yeah we know and don't really care about your problems."
Which basically means that none of us is going to buy anything published from 1C again, and we're gonna whine about it on forums and tell our friends.

It is not Steam that decides which files are pushed out to the steam users. its the developer/publisher. so in other word it's not up to Steam to rollback the latest patch.

As steam is quickly becoming the main selling platform for Kings bounty in the West i'm abit puzzeled about the lack of focus on the customers using steam. (could it be that 1c is not getting the royalties from them Steam sales?)

As mentionend before. what we want to hear is: we know about this HUGE cockup and we've got all available resources working on it. And we are going to roll back to the previous patch on Steam for all users.


Best of luck.

[Ahriman]

Just bought the game yesterday on Steam, played for ~8 hours or so (fun game!), opened the game today, same problem, no saves.

This does show some pretty bad patch design from you guys, and it is very frustrating; Steam just ships out the patches you give them, they aren't responsible for testing them. There's nothing in the patch notes that mentions save-game incompatibility either, even if we had a choice about the update.

We hope you realize that this is a serious issue, and work on a rapid fix, in concert with Steam if need be. Please keep us updated here (and in the Steam forum, ideally).

Also, can you let us know; is the solution likely to be a roll-back, or is there a possibility of making the saves compatible with 1.7?

[Slerbal]

Then I suggest you disable autopatching feature for your Kings Bounty, so it does not get patched automatically again..


I just checked a few details about Steam:
- You cannot disable auto-patching of games
- Steam should not have to carry out a rollback - Steam/Valve are not responsible for the content of developer's patches for Kings Bounty - the Legend - 1C/Katauri is.

Please do sort this out. Kings Bounty is an outstanding game, but your QA process for patch release is apparently non-existent, and that is not acceptable.

[Xorlium]

Okay, let's not get all fired up and try to keep it civil.

Now, Karel, when you say:

I talked to responsible guys and it seems that new 1.7 patch is not compatible with saved games which were made in previous KB version.

it kind of sounds like the conversation went something like: "hey guys, some people are saying they can't read saved games"
"oh, yeah, I know, this version just isn't compatible with previous saved games"
"Okay, I'll go tell them"

Instead, what we want to hear is that the conversation went something like this:
"Guys, what the $%$#? No one can load their saved games!"
"What? Let me check... Oh my god, you are right! I can't believe this! We have to fix it!"

See the difference? In one scenario, we'll never get our saved games because "the versions aren't compatible". In the second scenario, someone wrote if(x=1) instead of if(x==1) or something silly like that and it will get fixed today.

Thanks, and please keep us informed,
Xorlium

[zrave]

Look up how many Steam sales you've had: Every single one of those people is FURIOUS at you right now.

Anyone else can just not install a patch, its not an option for a steam user.

I was 80 hours into my game, close to the end. I was already playing on impossible, so restarting is quite simply not an option.

I want to know: If I get my steam version refunded, and buy the box game and not install this patch, will my savegame work?

[Cutter]

Ever heard of a HOTFIX? Youu see, when a company of PROFESSIONAL developers screws up the PROFESSIONAL developers jump into action and will work AROUND THE CLOCK if necessary to isolate and fix the problem. You meanwhile are asking your paying customers to deal with a distributor that has nothing to do with your game except selling it for you and rolling out patches you make. The fact that you don't QA these things only further proves how unprofessional your company is. Well, not only will the vast majority of these people never buy anything related to 1C and Katuri, they'll actively encourage other people not to as well. You guys need to find another line of work and leave game development to professionals.

[Slerbal]

I agree with Xorlium.

[OldMold]

Would you be more happy if noone told you what is going on and ignored you? I can of course keep it that way.


I hope this was just a lame attempt at humor... I know that in Russia this level of customer service is acceptable, but when you're dealing with the english speaking world, its a whole other ball game. You're the ones who broke your shit, so take responsibility - dont act like you're doing us a favor here by gracing us with your updates.

The game takes hours and hours to play - releasing a patch that forces people to restart or lose a large amount of their time is a deal killer. I know I will not be restarting for the 3rd time after 30+ hours put into this...

Here are some tips - feel free to take these as your own, I wont mind:

1. Say "We sincerely apologize for the save game bugs this new patch has caused. We're currently investigating the bug and are working to fix this as soon as possible. I'll keep you updated on our progress on these boards".

2. Pull the broken patch from steam so that users who dont have this patch yet are not afraid to log into steam and can play your game

3. Develop and release a hotfix or workaround that fixes save games for users who already downloaded the broken patch, so they can play your game

4. Fix the broken patch at your own pace, since now you're reversed the damage caused so far, and then, after testing, release it back on steam.

I'm sure Steam has some baseline standards that publishers must follow in order to continue to distribute games. What do you think will happen if Valve starts getting massive chargebacks for 1C games claiming buggy patches and piss-poor support...

Bolshoye Spasibo

[Ahriman]

I agree with Xorlium.

+1. All we want to here is that the developers recognize that this is a problem that *they* have to deal with asap, rather than trying to deflect attention or make excuses or blame Steam.

[MasqueradeCry]

There is a solution to this problem. I worked it out and as things stand it's the only way of getting your saves to be recognised - I even posted the solution in this very thread but the moderators saw fit to delete it because it involved using a nocd crack. {Edit : And no, it didn't involve illegally obtaining the game itself in any way, my copy is legitimate but the only way to get my saves to work is to use that crack}

So not only have they broken the game, which was working fine, but they also refuse to allow anyone to help others to fix it - something they seem incapable of themselves.

[damaged]

FYI, there is another patch rolling out through Steam right now (I'm at about 50% done), this might be a fix.

If so, I'll edit this post and let you know if it worked, unless someone beats me to it.

UPDATE: All fixed, saves are back.

[Badger_442]

This is the way I thnk it should go.

Put back the occasional crashing version back on steam. this will allow people to play while you fix the bugs.

I put in just under 60 hours, and I will not start again.
Working in a software house myself. I know we would have a team of developers working through the weekend to resolve the issue and release a hot fix. I'm sure we can all send you sample saves for you to try and load if you need examples, just let us know where to upload them.

Please keep us updated to the progress or tell us that it wont be fixed so we can arrange refunds from Steam.

thanks.

[Badger_442]

too quick on the mark and missed "damaged" post. there is a download happening.........

[damaged]

Woot, saves are back, thank you to whomever.

[Ahriman]

Downloading 3.6 kbps - thank you Steam :-)

More importantly, thanks to 1c/Katauri for getting a fix out promptly.

[duh]

Ok, so you fixed the isle of freedom crashes, and now a hotfix for the unuseable savegames.

+1 point for you.

Any ETA on when my game will stop locking up my computer after 5 or fewer minutes of gameplay?

I was rather angry and was about to ask steam for a refund, but i decided to wait till i cooled off a bit, since i work retail and i know that support staff dont enjoy having to deal with irate whiny customers.

I then turned around and looked at it in perspective. Im sure your developers worked as quickly as they could to fix the isle of freedom crashes, and then the save game issue.

Those are fixed, great.

Can i at least get a, "Yes, we are working on the issue."?

[Xorlium]

Thank you!!

Excellent... You guys solved the problem in 2 days. That's nice. Good job! (although it shouldn't have happened on the first place, but ok, you came through. I forgive you.)

Now back to playing...

[theyarecomingforyou]

Thank you. I was annoyed - mainly because the game is so incredibly fun and I was playing it nearly non-stop - but at least the issue was resolved promptly.

[zkoter]

nice going 1c.

after the lameass comment made by the 1c staff in this thread i really thought it would take ages before the fix, was allready in my mind getting ready not to buy the armoured princess when it ships in the west.

But then you turn around and surprise me with a quick fix that fixes the save game issues. Great work.

Now in in the future please have test the patches properly on the retail copy AND on the steam version please please with sugar on top.

Armoured princess is back on to top of my "to-buy" list.

Great.

[Nike-it]

As the problem is solved, I close the thread. And I want to ask all of you, that we (1c stuff) are here to help you, and any offencive posts are not accepted!