Auto-save corruption

[RUPD3658]

Ok, I was 10 scenarios in to MCLV and was doing great (7DV 2MV 1 draw) when in the middle of a turn the screen kicked back to the start menu (Play SPWAW) screen. This happened to me once during a regular sceanrio (Non MC) and I was able to reload using the auto save.

I tried to reload using the auto save but got a message that the OOB had been corrupted.

So I guess 2 weeks worth of my life have been lost. I love the MC syatem but am afraid to have this happen again.

Before I restart and try again, I was wondering if there is any way to make a back up copy of auto saves in case a get another crash or experience a power failure due to a summer storm. I am not looking to cheat, just to have insurance.

Please dumb down any advice since to are dealing with a techophobe who barely understands his compter.

I am playing the version that came with the newly released Generals Edition and have not added any patches.

Thanks.

[KG Erwin]

One thing I do in long campaign battles is manually save once every 5 turns or so, exit out of the game completely, check my progress in Campaign Watcher, and then restart SPWaW from my last save.

Mega Campaigns have some problems with the auto-save, so manually saving these, too, is advised.

Don't forget that SPWaW is a DOS game that was gussied-up to work in Windows. The myriad stability issues encountered require some extra care in game-play. This is an unavoidable side-effect, so one must learn the game's quirks. With experience, you will become more comfortable with it. Remember, though, that "quirky" doesn't mean the game is "buggy". It just means that the game is a resource hog--I do NOT recommend playing the game for more than two to three hours at a sitting before saving/exiting.

It ALSO helps to delete the steel.prf (your preferences) once in awhile. A corrupted steel.prf CAN cause some curious results. Just remember to reset your preferences before reloading the battle/campaign in progress.

[DuckofTindalos]

Sound advice. Almost any game can CTD or start behaving otherwise strangely if you spend too long on it at a time. Besides that, it's not good for you personally either.

[RUPD3658]

I hope the technical solution here is not "Get a life". [:)]

Now that you mention it, both crashes occured after about 4 hours of continuous play. I guess I got used to marathon game session playing War in the Pacific. It is really tough when you only planned to play "One more turn" and you see that the sun is now starting to come up.

How do you manually save a MC? When I hit the save button it says that the game will auto save and can not be saved manually.

[KG Erwin]

ORIGINAL: RUPD3658

I hope the technical solution here is not "Get a life". [:)]

Now that you mention it, both crashes occured after about 4 hours of continuous play. I guess I got used to marathon game session playing War in the Pacific. It is really tough when you only planned to play "One more turn" and you see that the sun is now starting to come up.

How do you manually save a MC? When I hit the save button it says that the game will auto save and can not be saved manually.

Yes, we ALL have real lives, so frequent saving helps. I have all of the Megas, but I play in a different fashion. Others can help you better than I can . Sorry.

[RUPD3658]

I think I have solved the problem. I saved a MC and then went to my MC save directory. There were 3 files with this name.

I then made copies of all three and saved them to a different folder, outside SPWaW.

I the returned to the MC, reloaded, and played a few more turns and saved again.

Next, I deleted the save and copied the copied files I had made back to the MC save directory.

I was the able to reload the old save without issue.

So it looks like the solution is to make a back up copy of the save files after each auto-save so that you have a resore point if the system crashes. Now I look forward to restarting MCLV knowing that I have some insurance.

I am sure this could also be used by people who didn't like the outcome of a given mission but I think that playing through adversity is more fun. Besides, if you cheat against the AI, who are you really cheating but yourself? [:-]

[KNomad]

It is really tough when you only planned to play "One more turn" and you see that the sun is now starting to come up.

[8D]