PC shutting down/going into BIOS mode while playing completely bricks the game

[raw glen]

This only happened because my kitten unfortunately stood on the power button long enough for it to happen, but in short - the game broke. Completely.

The file I'm left with couldn't be deleted through the in-game menu, and until I reinstalled the game I was unable to start any new files.
Furthermore, upon manually removing the broken file, I was unable to start the game without getting a Fatal Error crash before the menu could load, and had to reinstall a second time to remedy that.

Attached are the broken file - and just in case, the one I was able to create before removing the former caused the game to crash on startup.

[cyan heron]

bump

[rapid tree]

i added this to priority list because i dont think booting to bios should corrupt a save

[cosmic rapids]

This also happened to me. My save file is now corrupt and it starts me over to the beginning of the game. I had just cleansed the ram guardian 😭

[rapid tree]

did you boot into bios or something else happened

[cosmic rapids]

I had an unexpected power outage. When my computer rebooted it had a small update and when I started the game on steam my save file was corrupted. Oddly enough it looked exactly like the screen shot above (same amount of crystals and health and spirit energy). When I start that file, it puts me at the very beginning of the game right after character creation.

[rapid tree]

with one health im assuming?

go ahead and post your save here if you still have it

[cosmic rapids]

I do! My boyfriend made a copy of it while he was trying to trouble shoot for me (he’s more technologically adept than me). Let me boot up the computer and post it for you.

[rapid tree]

rose you have a save right at the ram boss right?

[willow bridge]

Worst comes to worst, Nat, I have a testing save just outside of the ram boss. I haven't used any of the skill points so you'd be able to re-adjust to how you'd like to play from there

[rapid tree]

my question was answered XD

[willow bridge]

If you want it, you can have it, just gotta refight the ram

[cosmic rapids]

That would absolutely amazing if my game is truly corrupt

[rapid tree]

@fierce surge this may need some attention

[willow bridge]

We'll let you know when we see your files

[rapid tree]

we've tried to fix the other persons save it was wiped clean we would have to check yours but i imagine its the same

[willow bridge]

eee, yep thats looking familiar

I don't like how that file looks brb

yep thats gone

[rapid tree]

i could tell by the name that save is gone

[cosmic rapids]

Nooo 😭

[willow bridge]

here, nat, lemme grab mine for ya

sorry if it lacks money or cosmetics you had

[cosmic rapids]

Thank you so much!!
Is there a way to prevent this from happening again?

[rapid tree]

we aren't sure yet just make backups of your saves

[willow bridge]

Until we know how, just gotta hope we don't have more people lose power like this

copying your save files to a separate folder is a good idea, then just copy your current one over every few days

@cosmic rapids

just pop that down into your saved games

it should need to be renamed once in game but otherwise its good

AIGHT time to cut power to my pc and screw up some saves 🫡

Wait wait, can yall verify if you have cloud saves turned on?

[cosmic rapids]

Yes, I did

[willow bridge]

Thanks

Okay booting game after attempt 1

No damage

[cosmic rapids]

Thank you soooo much for this save file. Despite this really unfortunate event, I absolutely adore the game!

[willow bridge]

Anytime, I’m here to help afterall

Okay giving it more time now

[rapid tree]

im going to try to set up saves before each boss starting tomorrow

[willow bridge]

Also moved locations

Okay booting up again

[rapid tree]

still saved? it could be like a 1 in a million shot but youve hit better odds

[willow bridge]

I’ll see in one second

[rapid tree]

oki

[willow bridge]

My first attempt I just loaded in a save without thinking to move. It needs changed location to save again I figure

So I moved this time before unplugging

[rapid tree]

ohhh ok

[willow bridge]

Attempt 2: no damage

Gonna try putting it into bios real quick

[cosmic rapids]

I had been playing for a couple of hours when the power outage occurred

[willow bridge]

Noted

Okay the game auto booted this time

Let’s see

nope it all looks fine

No damage on attempt 3

[rapid tree]

maybe its something with them being right near a boss fight both time

like just completed or about to complete

[willow bridge]

Hmmm

Okay I’ll give it a try on my ram save

[willow bridge]

notta

[fierce surge]

@cosmic rapids @raw glen
Very sorry you have were corrupted. Unfortunately poorly times power outages can corrupt save files. Though the timing has to be perfect. Because the have uses auto save.

The solution we are working on is to have automatic backups created periodically so that players can repair corrupted saves by rolling back to the nearest good save.

This hasn't really been requested much by players but I think it's the answer and is a nice safety net.

I don't know if repairing these saves is possible. I can take a look tomorrow.

[willow bridge]

from what I've gotten to see here, they're toasted

completely blank when you open them, pure 0s

[raw glen]

I was able to regain the two light essences I had with an hour to spare yesterday, and am nearly back to where I'd been, so I'm okay if the other one can't be fixed.

[willow bridge]

We’ve had another person lose a save on steam

[willow bridge]

@hidden plover This save is just at the ram boss, it should work alright for you

Do you know how to find your game save location?

[hidden plover]

yes

[willow bridge]

Alright, just pop that files right into there and boot the game

it might need to be renamed (and the fox very much needs to be redone as I kinda rolled a dice to get his appearance LOL)

but notably I didn't use any skillpoints so you can completely customize that again

[hidden plover]

I just made mine fluffy and fat😂 Will try the save, ty!

[willow bridge]

Lemme know if you have any issues

[hidden plover]

Uhh, the save is not loading. I assume I mislead with folder.. it is steamapps>common>Spirit of the North 2?

[willow bridge]

oh yeah lol

Here lemme grab the save location

[hidden plover]

Oh wow, sorry for that

[willow bridge]

C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\AppData\Local\SOTN2\Saved\SaveGames

[hidden plover]

Thank you🙏

[willow bridge]

the files that are just strings of numbers are your game saves. Though, if your save gets fried, it changes to Sotn2save_(insert random number)

so you can delete that one in your saves, its dead

[hidden plover]

It works! Thank you so much! Was about to yeet my pc due to anger

[willow bridge]

I am so sorry you had to lose your save in the first place, this bug's a nasty one

[hidden plover]

looks like this, so no need to keep? Will be dead forever

[willow bridge]

nope that one you wanna keep

the one that says SOTN2save_

that top one is your steam achievements, don't wanna lose that lol

[hidden plover]

Tbh I had some pc crash before (pc has some issue I need to repair still e-e) and had no issue with my file before. Just that one time

Guess dying and crashing didnt like each other much

[willow bridge]

yeah its a matter of a crash at JUST when the game autosaves

make sure to make backups of your saves to another folder elsewhere until we get save rollbacks as a mechanic 😅

[hidden plover]

Thank you for the save! Does a Steam backup make sense if it might happen again or just do some copy of the file after huge progress

[willow bridge]

I just make copies of the file

Anyways, glad I could help but I have to go

[hidden plover]

Thank you! Will definitely continue tomorrow! Love this game so so much. Really nice one and a rollup of the first!