New Save Files After Patch Appear Partially Compressed – Slow Load Times & PDX-Unlimiter Fails

[gdollars7]

Hi all,


I’ve encountered a persistent issue with Crusader Kings III since the latest patch involving brand new non-Ironman save files (not legacy saves). The problem presents as follows:

• Save files created after the latest update are unusually large
• Load times are excessively long, even with minimal in-game progress
• Manual and autosaves feel sluggish and sometimes cause temporary freezes
• PDX-Unlimiter cannot read or parse these new save files, throwing an error

When importing one of these new saves into PDX-Unlimiter, I get:

“The import of the selected savegames has finished. However, there have been some issues with the savegames listed below: autosave_exit: null (error)”

And the Java exception logged is:


lua
CopyEdit
java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException
at com.crschnick.pdxu.io.node.SimpleArrayNode.forEach...


This suggests that the current save format or compression structure might be malformed or incompatible — even though the save was generated after the latest patch.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Start a new non-Ironman campaign using the most recent CK3 build (April 2025).
2. Play for a short time and create a manual save.
3. Exit the game and try to load the save again — observe increased load time.
4. Attempt to open the save file in PDX-Unlimiter.
5. Receive the autosave_exit: null (error) and Java exception.

---

Sample Save & Screenshot:


To help with debugging, I’ve uploaded a ZIP with:

• The affected new save file
• A screenshot of the error from PDX-Unlimiter
• A README summary

If anyone else is seeing similar issues with fresh saves, please comment. Would love to hear from QA or devs if this is a known issue or something new from the patch. I’ve also submitted a support ticket through the Paradox help portal with these same details and attached files.


Thanks,
Gary

 

[gdollars7]

PDX-Unlimiter has been patched and the issue has been resolved.

 

[PAnZuRiEL]

Are you perchance not acquainted with the Bug Reports subforum?