Save Folders Empty

[generalvikus]

I've created a game in the 'game 1' with an auto - generated legacy fleet. I then saved the game, and could re-load it. After ending the turn, I could then load the game in February 1900. However, the 'game 1' folder is completely empty. I tried repeating for save slot 2; once again the information was clearly saved, but the save folder was empty. Since the folders are empty, they cannot be zipped in order to provide them for reference, though the data is clearly being stored somewhere. Where can I find the save file?

[generalvikus]

Additional information:

- I renamed the game folder from Rule the Waves 2 to Rule the Waves 2 1.07
- There is a copy of the game folder; one with the Higher / Historical speeds mod installed, one without.
- In this instance I was playing the modded game.
- When I went into battle and saved the game, the path was stated as follows: Program Files (86)\Rule the Waves 2 1.07\\Save\Game1\RTWGame1.sac .


So, it saved to the unmodded folder, and for some reason there's an extra backslash here: [Rule the Waves 2 1.07\\Save] . I can open the un-modded game and load the save, but the 'Game 1' folder of the unmodded game is still empty. 

EDIT: More information...

If I create a game in the unmodded version, then go into a battle and save, the popup will tell me that the file is going to exactly the same place:


Program Files (86)\Rule the Waves 2 1.07\\Save\Game1\RTWGame1.sac .

but when I check that folder, it's still empty. 

I presume that between the mod and the duplication of the game, something has gone horribly wrong; I need to do a clean install. How can I do that?

EDIT 2: I imported a save folder which is using the same mod, by downloading it, extracting the zipped folder to the Save directory of the modded game. The folder was called Game 9; and I didn't have a Game 9 folder in the directory. I can open the save file, and what's more, the folder is definitely not empty. 

[williammiller]

generalvikus

This may be Windows re-directing your save games into one of its 'preferred' locations, especially if you have the game installed into the 'Program Files' folder. Microsoft says that this is to help make Windows more secure, as to why it does this without telling you.

See if you can locate the save game folders in your "C:\Users\<YOUR USER NAME>\Documents\Saved Games" folder - they may have been moved there. It is also possible that Windows moved the files to another (sorta hidden) folder, specific to your machine/user logon, I will see if I can find how to locate that for you...

[generalvikus]

Aug 22, 2019 10:05:50 GMT -6 williammiller said:

generalvikus

This may be Windows re-directing your save games into one of its 'preferred' locations, especially if you have the game installed into the 'Program Files' folder. Microsoft says that this is to help make Windows more secure, as to why it does this without telling you.

See if you can locate the save game folders in your "C:\Users\<YOUR USER NAME>\Documents\Saved Games" folder - they may have been moved there. It is also possible that Windows moved the files to another (sorta hidden) folder, specific to your machine/user logon, I will see if I can find how to locate that for you...

Thanks very much, I'll check as soon as I've got access to my Desktop. 

[dorn]

Aug 22, 2019 10:57:53 GMT -6 generalvikus said:

Aug 22, 2019 10:05:50 GMT -6 williammiller said:

generalvikus

This may be Windows re-directing your save games into one of its 'preferred' locations, especially if you have the game installed into the 'Program Files' folder. Microsoft says that this is to help make Windows more secure, as to why it does this without telling you.

See if you can locate the save game folders in your "C:\Users\<YOUR USER NAME>\Documents\Saved Games" folder - they may have been moved there. It is also possible that Windows moved the files to another (sorta hidden) folder, specific to your machine/user logon, I will see if I can find how to locate that for you...

Thanks very much, I'll check as soon as I've got access to my Desktop. 

If you know name of one ship classes you can use it to find. Or to be sure create same irracional name which would be probably not duplicated so than you only need to search your disk.

[generalvikus]

williammiller I've just had to deal with this problem again and realized that I never recorded what I found out about this. In my case, it seems that the autosave file is stored where you would expect it to be - C / Program Files 86 / Rule the Waves 2 / Save / Game (x)

However, the manual save file is stored in the following directory:

C / Users / [User] / Appdata / Local / VirtualStore / Program Files 86

I found this out because this time I was trying to duplicate my game directory in order to update it; when I did, I found that each version had the same contents in its own save directory, but only the original had a 'clone' in virtual store where it was actually getting the 'real' save file from. Hence, I could load the save game in both versions, but in the copy, the game was listed as January 1900, whereas the original listed June 1904. By copying the save files from the clone directory into the duplicate game directory, I was able to load them in the updated duplicate.

I'm not sure if anybody else is having this problem, but it might be worth mentioning in the manual or something, as it took me some time to figure all this out, and then only thanks to dorn's useful tip of using one of the ship names to find the hidden save folder. Do you know of any way to change the default save directory in order to solve this problem?

[williammiller]

Its Windows doing its 'normal' thing when you install a program into the 'Program Files' folder...it will place the saves into the user's VirtualStore folder. This can also happen when you run the game using Administrator privilege in some rare cases I have discovered.

If you install the game into a non-system folder it will (usually) leave the saves in the RTW2 'Save' folder AFAIK.

[trifler]

Feb 4, 2020 23:32:27 GMT -6 williammiller said:

Its Windows doing its 'normal' thing when you install a program into the 'Program Files' folder...it will place the saves into the user's VirtualStore folder. This can also happen when you run the game using Administrator privilege in some rare cases I have discovered.

If you install the game into a non-system folder it will (usually) leave the saves in the RTW2 'Save' folder AFAIK.

I install mine into D:\Rule the Waves 2. I can confirm that the saves are in there and working properly. I have never tried installing it in to the Program Files folders.