Corrupted/Lost Save files (Mac, version 3.6)

[radiospace2]

I'm continually having problems that I believe started after updating to version 3.6 (I hadn't played in awhile before that, though) loading saved games. I'm on an iMac running Mac OS 10.15.7.

This started with broken files on the cloud, so I switched to saving games locally and now the latest local saves are not showing up (even though the files are in fact on my computer, and older save files on my computer DO show up).

In both cases it seems like once I get to the midpoint of a game the saved files are corrupt in some way, whether they are saved to the cloud or locally, which results in cloud saves showing up as Broken Saves and local files simply not showing up as options from the load screen.

This has happened across 3 campaigns now. In the latest example, I made it to 2268 last night, and have 6 save files from 2268 on the hard drive (1 manual save and 5 auto-saved) which appear to be corrupt. The latest file that will load is from game year 2242.

A pattern like this seems to have happened in each of my last 3 campaigns, where after some point the save files become unopenable. There is nothing when I save the files to indicate there is a problem with the process, and the files themselves on the computer appear to be the appropriate size (i.e. 2.7 MB for a 2268 save) compared to the older saves that will load.

Any ideas...?

 

[AndrewT]

Any mods involved?

That aside I have no real idea what could be causing this to you, I am sorry. If these are not Ironman campaigns, can you at least reload from autosaves?

 

[radiospace2]

Any mods involved?

That aside I have no real idea what could be causing this to you, I am sorry. If these are not Ironman campaigns, can you at least reload from autosaves?

I don't recall ever installing in mods to Stellaris. But I'm not sure how to check in-game on that.... before the game launches I can go to SETTINGS in Steam and see that there are no Workshop items installed... if there's something else I should check let me know.

I could reload an old save but I lose so much progress that it's extremely dispiriting. For example in the latest campaign I fought a long drawn-out war and won significant territory, and the last good save the war hasn't even started yet, in fact a large portion of my peacefully settled empire hasn't even been settled yet.

More importantly I'm pretty sure if I re-started from an old save that it would start corrupting saves again around the same point and I could never get beyond 2242 or so in terms of saved games. That said I'd be happy to replay from that point as a technical test if it helped solve the problem, if somebody was going to examine the save files or whatever.

One thing that occurs to me as potentially relevant: possibly a new feature or something I'd managed to overlook all these years, I just discovered after upgrading to 3.6 that I can create custom races and force the game to use them as my AI opponents. So I created a bunch of Star Trek-themed races (The Borg, Klingons, Romulans, etc) and have been playing against those empires, and it's in all of those games (which are also all the 3.6 games I've played) that the saves become corrupt.

I've noticed some minor glitches with these AI empires in terms of the names when they split into two different opponents. I.e. the Romulans in one campaign created a spinoff nation whose name was something like "The Empire of". Like the actual name was a null value, so it was just The Empire of.

I could try starting a new campaign and forbid the use of any of these custom races to see if that is behind it. (My whole enthusiasm for playing lately though has been to play against the Romulans and stuff, though, I mean it's a huge upgrade in the experience for me, love it).

Thanks for the help...

 

[AndrewT]

I don't recall ever installing in mods to Stellaris. But I'm not sure how to check in-game on that.... before the game launches I can go to SETTINGS in Steam and see that there are no Workshop items installed... if there's something else I should check let me know.

In our launcher, go into the Mods tab and the Playset tab.

One thing that occurs to me as potentially relevant: possibly a new feature or something I'd managed to overlook all these years, I just discovered after upgrading to 3.6 that I can create custom races and force the game to use them as my AI opponents. So I created a bunch of Star Trek-themed races (The Borg, Klingons, Romulans, etc) and have been playing against those empires, and it's in all of those games (which are also all the 3.6 games I've played) that the saves become corrupt.

I've noticed some minor glitches with these AI empires in terms of the names when they split into two different opponents. I.e. the Romulans in one campaign created a spinoff nation whose name was something like "The Empire of". Like the actual name was a null value, so it was just The Empire of.

That does sound like a clear bug! Please report it as such in that forum.

More importantly I'm pretty sure if I re-started from an old save that it would start corrupting saves again around the same point and I could never get beyond 2242 or so in terms of saved games. That said I'd be happy to replay from that point as a technical test if it helped solve the problem, if somebody was going to examine the save files or whatever.

It would be diagnostically useful, yes. If it does recur at the same point, again a new thread in Bug Reports is the next step to getting it fixed.

 

[radiospace2]

I'm not running any mods going by the Playset tab.

I've just started a new campaign without the AI playing any of my custom races to see if it happens there; when I have time I will also continue a save game from one that became corrupted. I'll post a new bug thread once I have info from both of these tests to add to the summary.

 

[HFY]

I'm continually having problems that I believe started after updating to version 3.6 (I hadn't played in awhile before that, though) loading saved games. I'm on an iMac running Mac OS 10.15.7.

This started with broken files on the cloud, so I switched to saving games locally and now the latest local saves are not showing up (even though the files are in fact on my computer, and older save files on my computer DO show up).

In both cases it seems like once I get to the midpoint of a game the saved files are corrupt in some way, whether they are saved to the cloud or locally, which results in cloud saves showing up as Broken Saves and local files simply not showing up as options from the load screen.

This has happened across 3 campaigns now. In the latest example, I made it to 2268 last night, and have 6 save files from 2268 on the hard drive (1 manual save and 5 auto-saved) which appear to be corrupt. The latest file that will load is from game year 2242.

A pattern like this seems to have happened in each of my last 3 campaigns, where after some point the save files become unopenable. There is nothing when I save the files to indicate there is a problem with the process, and the files themselves on the computer appear to be the appropriate size (i.e. 2.7 MB for a 2268 save) compared to the older saves that will load.

Any ideas...?

Here's something to test if you want to unzip the save file:

Stellaris - Stellaris Crashes on M1 Macs, PLEASE FIX [3.4.5 - a361]

Description Stellaris Crashes on M1 Macs, PLEASE FIX [3.4.5 - a361] Game Version 3.4.5 - a361 What version do you use? Steam What expansions do you have installed? Do you have mods enabled? No Please explain your issue is in as much detail...

forum.paradoxplaza.com