[rocknworship]

Hi, I just installed fs2_open_3_6_9. I've played some, but I can't find a way to save! I got through a few missions, and decided maybe the game was supposed to save automatically. So I exited the game, and when I went back in my pilot profile was still there, along with my changes to the HUD, but my campaign was all the way back at the beginning? How does saving work in this game? Is there a save file that's getting put in the wrong place on my computer? I'm running XP Pro. Thanks for your help, this seems like a great game, but without saving capability it will be frustrating.

[rocknworship]

Can anyone just tell me how the game gets saved for them? Is there a key to press, is it automatic, what does everyone else do? Thanks.

[Flipside]

It autosaves your progress at the end of each mission

[rocknworship]

Ok, thanks. :-) There must be something wrong with mine then, 'cause it isn't autosaving. Does anybody know what the autosave files are called, and where they are supposed to go? Maybe they are being misplaced. Thanks.

[Dark Hunter]

I believe it is the pilot file that the save data goes to.


Oh, and while I'm here:

[jr2]

You are using the Ready Room (not the Mission Simulator), right?

[karajorma]

Check your Freespace2\Data\Pilots\Single\ folder. You should have both PilotName.plr and PilotName.FreeSpace2.cs2 files in that folder.

[rocknworship]

Yeah, I'm using the Ready Room, not the Simulator in the Tech Room. I looked in my Pilots\Single folder, and I have both of those files, and the .cs2 file increases in size as I complete missions. However, if I so much as Esc out to the ship bridge, my pilot information (medals, hit %, etc.) all goes back to zero, and my missions start over. I also looked in the mission simulator, and the only mission is called "Freespace2", it's almost like the game is treating the entire campaign as a mission, and won't save in between individual missions. Aargh.

After I finished the first two normal missions, I alt+tabbed out and copied the two pilot files to another folder. The .cs2 was 20kb, and I found that when I esc out and go back into the ready room, it wipes it (in the Single Player folder) back to the starting 5kb. I tried pasting my back-up copy over that one and going into the ready room, but it doesn't work, it just overwrites it immediately. I'm pretty much ready to give up, unless anyone has a great idea? Thanks for the help.

[Wobble73]

I'm assuming that each time you start FS2 you are not entering the campaign room and restarting the campaign?   

[karajorma]

Try a pilot with a different name (make sure you aren't using anything other than the standard letters (in case this is some weird special character problem) and see if that works any better. You can just skip the 1st training missions using the button in the top right corner of the mission brief and then see if the game starts in the right place when you come back to it.

I'd suggest deleting anything in players\single on the grounds that it can't hurt.


If that doesn't work, run the debug build instead of the normal one and see if that spits out an error, or failing that post the fs2_Open.log that has now appeared in your data folder.

[rocknworship]

No, I'm not entering the campaign room and restarting. I just now deleted everything in the single player folder (2 files), restarted the game, and created a new pilot with only letter characters. I skipped through the 3 training missions, and when I got to the "welcome to Aquitaine" briefing deal, I escaped out to the bridge. I then immediately clicked on the ready room again, and was back at "Welcome to the 53rd", before all the training missions. Maybe I got a build of the game where the autosave isn't working?

I'll try that debug version now, maybe that will work.

[Dark Hunter]

When does the game actually save the data? When you finish a mission or when you exit the program? (This question directed at someone like Kara who'd actually know these things.)

[rocknworship]

No dice with the debug build. Here's the fs2_open log. I did the same thing as before - skip through the training, then esc, see if it will go back to after the training. It doesn't. No errors though.

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[jr2]

Well, for starters, it looks like you are using Direct3D instead of OpenGL... not that this would cause this problem, but it will probably cause others in the future when you get this sorted.

Also, I see several warnings about VRAM being a certain size instead of 0 after flushing, although I haven't a clue as to what that means.  *looks at coder-gurus*

OH, OK, I"ve got your problem, AFAIK:

Move your freespace2 folder to, say, c:\games\freespace2 or c:\freespace2 or c:\program files\freespace2.... don't use the "My Documents" or "Desktop" or anything under your profile (c:\documents and settings\...) as the path... the game somehow sees it as a drive root directory, because of how Windows treats this folder, IIRC

[rocknworship]

Ok, thanks, I'll give that a shot

[rocknworship]

Cool! That fixed it. I apparently wasn't seeing cutscenes before either, 'cause it started up with one I hadn't seen... Anyway, thanks a lot for your patience and help. I'm ready to play now. :-)

[Jeff Vader]

I apparently wasn't seeing cutscenes before either, 'cause it started up with one I hadn't seen...

Yes, switching to OpenGL would have that effect. Direct3D tends to beat the cutscenes down to a bloody pulp.