Corrupted Save-File. "Data at the root level is invalid"

[swes92]

After plenty of hours of gameplay into the Showcase - Ford Class scenario I tried to load a save made at an earlier point in the game.
That's when I got the following error message:

"Data at the root level is Invalid. Line 1, Position 1"

All my other save-games from other scenarios are working fine, it is just the ones from the Showcase - Ford Class scenario that are not loading.

It would be great if there is some way to rescue that save-file, as I think this is one of the best scenarios in the game, and I've spent a substantial amount of time in a realistic progression up to the point of imminent escalation.
Thank you very much!

Command Showcase, Ford Class_attack_imminent.zip

(973.66 KiB) Downloaded 19 times

[swes92]

Anything? Anybody with a similiar problem?

[thewood1]

I'm guessing that the lack of a response is probably the answer. I have never seen that specific error on a save file. I have had corrupted saves, but after thousands of playing hours, I ahve only see two.

[Nikel]

It was reported before in the same scenario but there was no answer.

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 7#p5144017


And this was the first report with other scenario that was fixed.

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 0#p5024230

[FifthDomain]

Yer i had this problem it was related to the & symbol then, but that problem was fixed in an update. The developers did manage to recover my save for me but i don't know how they did it.

[Frogisis]

I've been suddenly getting the same problem ever since the v1.07 update this fall, on both my regular desktop and a literally brand new laptop. I've scrupulously avoided any non-letter characters in all my mission, task pool, and reference point names (i.e. no "&"s, which showed up in a search as causing this problem for someone else) but it still happens, even if I do nothing at all and simply let time advance.
Possible lead: when on a whim I tried checking the integrity of the game files on Steam after playing, I discovered some amount are always corrupted and need to be reacquired after each session. After some save/load testing to try to resolve the issue on my own, I found that sometimes repairing the install this way before starting CMO will allow a save to be loaded, but more often than not no saves can be loaded whatsoever regardless of installation integrity checks.
What could be causing this and how do I clear it up?

[Nikel]

I've been suddenly getting the same problem ever since the v1.07 update this fall, on both my regular desktop and a literally brand new laptop. I've scrupulously avoided any non-letter characters in all my mission, task pool, and reference point names (i.e. no "&"s, which showed up in a search as causing this problem for someone else) but it still happens, even if I do nothing at all and simply let time advance.
Possible lead: when on a whim I tried checking the integrity of the game files on Steam after playing, I discovered some amount are always corrupted and need to be reacquired after each session. After some save/load testing to try to resolve the issue on my own, I found that sometimes repairing the install this way before starting CMO will allow a save to be loaded, but more often than not no saves can be loaded whatsoever regardless of installation integrity checks.
What could be causing this and how do I clear it up?

It is explained in this thread.

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 5#p5202145