Save files are corrupted

[Papabaloo]

"Official moderator" isn't on CD Projekt's payroll. You're conveniently ignoring the fact that they're just long-standing forum members, as they've been repeating in the thread.

Save files are corrupted

Has anyone else noticed how grenades are bugged when you disassemble them in your inventory? I feel like that might have something to do with this issue. I saw that some people were crafting grenades then disassembling them to get more components than they put in. I think I just solved the...

forums.cdprojektred.com

Getting upset over something one of them said is utterly pointless, and with how bloated this thread is, I have serious doubts we'll actually see any red post in here.

Sigh, I do not want to start a debate with you. If you feel this isn't the channel to voice concerns, fair enough. I just happen to disagree and already explained why.

Now, I can tell you there is nothing "convenient" about this situation. The fact that an average customer has to come here and try to find solutions for such a game-breaking bug is just baffling. But putting that aside for a second, I can tell you I am not ignoring anything. The fact that that moderator isn't on CDPR's payroll is irrelevant - IT IS ALL WE HAVE TO GO ON SINCE THERE'S NO OFFICIAL RESPONSE OR ACKNOWLEDGMENT WHATSOEVER ON CDPR'S SIDE. All we have to go on is that moderator's post, which you know CDPR has had to have read, and yet kept silent.

That is unacceptable on a problem this big. Especially one that was exacerbated by either a lack of response or a abysmal way to address it by someone loosely tied to the company's offical forum.

 

[pagefault404]

The save file issue wasn't a design choice in the sense that they wanted to cap save file size to 8MB to eventually stop player progress, and a lot of people seem to be coming in here with the idea that it's just that.

Yes, there's a max size limit on saves, however, SOMETHING is bloating in regards to player data that's causing the data in memory to exceed 8192KB. When you save after this has happened, instead of increasing the file size, the game just cuts off everything after 8192KB, rendering the file incomplete, or as the game used to say in 1.04, corrupt.

If the bloat can be fixed, or isolated and mitigated, the issue will be resolved without them having to touch on the 8MB size limit for saves. Both the bloat, and the 8MB size limits weren't design choices, but, have something to do with how the engine works. It's entirely possible that the 8MB size limit is a restriction carried over from REDengine 3 due to the fact that no save in The Witcher 3 ever came close to that file size, so, they just didn't think about increasing that size. The working theory is also that the problem with bloat exists because of REDengine 4 and how it handles player data. This is everything from itemIDs, player status, stats, location on the map, events done, cars bought, areas explored, and likely even more fine grain details like how many bullets fired, your accuracy percentage, how many headhsots etc.

We don't know.

What we DO know, is roughly what's causing the bloat, and we work off of that, trying to give people the best advice that we can for mitigating the save file issue, whether it's to change their playstyle, or to stop playing the game altogether (The option I chose), whatever suits the individual player.

To that end, i'm well aware that some people will not tolerate this and demand a refund, as is your right. You purchased a broken product, and I 100% agree with that. You have a right to be angry, and you have a right to voice those concerns on the forum, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. On the other side of that coin, there are people who know they purchased a broken product and are trying to figure out a way to work around the issue. Both camps are going to see the other as counterproductive because on the one hand, the refund camp doesn't agree that we're working to fix their [CDPRs] mistake. On the other hand, the fix the mistake camp feels like the complaining is unnecessary.

Does this suck? Yes. Is there anything we can do about it right now? No. Did that moderator fly in like an A10 Warthog dropping 30mm rounds on a clay hut with their hot take? Perhaps. I wont defend the moderators opinion, I will however defend their right to express it.

Be angry, be vocal, that's how this issue will get resolved, but, if you decide that you can no longer be patient, please respect everyone who decides to either fix the product or who decide to wait by not spamming around the forums that we should all get refunds. To the people fixing the problem or silently waiting, please respect that consumers have a right to be angry when they feel deceived, and they are going to be very vocal about it.

We can coexist in this single post, there's no real reason to try and push each other out.

"Can't we all just get along?"

 

[ShalmanezerIII]

If this happens to me - I will hate this company forever. It is not just because the game would destroy my char and waste time, it would be mostly because of the reactions of CD PR / "deal with it" OR " play less so the saves do not become huge enough to crash "... / Up to this moment it is one more link in a chain of cr.. about a game that was supposed to be the next generation RPG, defining the future of RPGs

 

[HiroTsukamoto]

Anyone had succes in getting a refund on steam?
If so, how? Can´t play since 1 week...

 

[botwinka]

I think that would be weird if the file currupts because some items are missing from a quest. But then again I never would have imagined we'd be in this predicament in the first place lol

Has anyone tried editing a currupted file and adding the EOF line thats missing? Does Cyberpunk then load it?

Yes, someone in this thread tried adding ENOD to the file, but to no avail. Unless fixed missing bytes, adding just EOF won't fix anything

 

[IAmMrSoda]

The kicker is though, I barely see it being reported about it happening on consoles. It's possible that the console version has this bug too, but we're very much in the dark about that.

Same here. Its practically 99% on PC. Theres been nect to none on the console side. The issue there, though, is that it's still unknown know if its on console as on PC there can be macros for things like duping and crafting/dismantling. But that cannot be done on console. So what PC users can do in hours may take much longer for console players.

So the bug very well -could- be on console. We just haven't hit that point yet. A good analogy is, its like a race. 1st place and 2nd place both still finished the race. But 2nd just took longer to get to the finish line.

That said, console also may not have the bug. I've seen several saying that Sony and Microsoft do save file testing as part of certification and that for PC its unregulated. So this bug may have been caught by Sony/Microsoft and fixed on console already. But that's just a theory, not fact.

There's also a belief that maybe each platform has a differently created save file. So what affects saves on PC wouldn't affect a console save. Similar to the infamous PS3 save bug for Skyrim. That only affected PS3, the PC and 360 saves had no issue. Again, this too, is just a theory. But it is based on a event in the past albeit from a different company.

The only fact we have for consoles about this bug is... well we are still uncertain. Maybe it does occur, maybe it doesn't. Time will tell.

 

[pagefault404]

Same here. Its practically 99% on PC. Theres been nect to none on the console side. The issue there, though, is that it's still unknown know if its on console as on PC there can be macros for things like duping and crafting/dismantling. But that cannot be done on console. So what PC users can do in hours may take much longer for console players.

So the bug very well -could- be on console. We just haven't hit that point yet. A good analogy is, its like a race. 1st place and 2nd place both still finished the race. But 2nd just took longer to get to the finish line.

That said, console also may not have the bug. I've seen several saying that Sony and Microsoft do save file testing as part of certification and that for PC its unregulated. So this bug may have been caught by Sony/Microsoft and fixed on console already. But that's just a theory, not fact.

There's also a belief that maybe each platform has a differently created save file. So what affects saves on PC wouldn't affect a console save. Similar to the infamous PS3 save bug for Skyrim. That only affected PS3, the PC and 360 saves had no issue. Again, this too, is just a theory. But it is based on a event in the past albeit from a different company.

The only fact we have for consoles about this bug is... well we are still uncertain. Maybe it does occur, maybe it doesn't. Time will tell.

All of this is my personal opinion, so any console player reading this please don't freak out.

The game has a fundamental issue with save files that stems from something to do with the engine and how it handles player data. That's the bloat. It's my personal belief that consoles will also experience this issue given more time, because no matter what platform you play it on, it's STILL a REDengine 4 game. Now they may have done something in regards to how the save file data is processed for consoles that could prolong this issue, like on the Playstation allocating for 12.5MB but potentially not using it all.

in order for this to be a PC specific issue, they would have had to fix the problem for console, but leave the issue in for PC. Now a lot of people are on this CDPR is the devil train, but, I don't believe they would ever be that intentionally malicious as to leave an issue like this for one platform to deal with while fixing it for the others.

Edit: Like you said, time will tell.

 

[chotnik]

Yes, someone in this thread tried adding ENOD to the file, but to no avail. Unless fixed missing bytes, adding just EOF won't fix anything

Which is no suprise now that it's known save are compressed, not a simple flat/textfile.

 

[Midnight_Nova]

Same here. Its practically 99% on PC. Theres been nect to none on the console side. The issue there, though, is that it's still unknown know if its on console as on PC there can be macros for things like duping and crafting/dismantling. But that cannot be done on console. So what PC users can do in hours may take much longer for console players.

So the bug very well -could- be on console. We just haven't hit that point yet. A good analogy is, its like a race. 1st place and 2nd place both still finished the race. But 2nd just took longer to get to the finish line.

That said, console also may not have the bug. I've seen several saying that Sony and Microsoft do save file testing as part of certification and that for PC its unregulated. So this bug may have been caught by Sony/Microsoft and fixed on console already. But that's just a theory, not fact.

There's also a belief that maybe each platform has a differently created save file. So what affects saves on PC wouldn't affect a console save. Similar to the infamous PS3 save bug for Skyrim. That only affected PS3, the PC and 360 saves had no issue. Again, this too, is just a theory. But it is based on a event in the past albeit from a different company.

The only fact we have for consoles about this bug is... well we are still uncertain. Maybe it does occur, maybe it doesn't. Time will tell.

All of this is my personal opinion, so any console player reading this please don't freak out.

The game has a fundamental issue with save files that stems from something to do with the engine and how it handles player data. That's the bloat. It's my personal belief that consoles will also experience this issue given more time, because no matter what platform you play it on, it's STILL a REDengine 4 game. Now they may have done something in regards to how the save file data is processed for consoles that could prolong this issue, like on the Playstation allocating for 12.5MB but potentially not using it all.

in order for this to be a PC specific issue, they would have had to fix the problem for console, but leave the issue in for PC. Now a lot of people are on this CDPR is the devil train, but, I don't believe they would ever be that intentionally malicious as to leave an issue like this for one platform to deal with while fixing it for the others.

Edit: Like you said, time will tell.

If I were to guess, it's not impossible that the limit is upped to what the PS4 alocated (I can't talk about the Xbox One). They are all exactly 12.59 (iirc) mb in size as was mentioned earlier into this thread.
I will have to doublecheck tonight to see if the games profile is kept separate, and gladly will get back to that. If it isn't separate, then it's more likely that those on the PS4 are stuck with the same timebomb.

But this is mostly theory crafting, as I sadly have no idea how the Playstation OS works on a technical level.

 

[Molte]

Let me reiterate for anyone coming into this thread at this point.

Any form of crafting will also increase file size.
This includes upgrading component rarity, which reduces component numbers without producing any new items by itself.
When you hit 8,129 Kb file size, your save file will be corrupt and wont load.

Any sort of rumor that this is related to duping/glitching is complete bogus.
This happens in 100% legit play throughs, playing the game as intended.

 

[FlorettaV]

Let me reiterate for anyone coming into this thread at this point.

Any form of crafting will also increase file size.
This includes upgrading component rarity, which reduces component numbers without producing any new items by itself.
When you hit 8,129 Kb file size, your save file will be corrupt and wont load.

Any sort of rumor that this is related to duping/glitching is complete bogus.
This happens in 100% legit play throughs, playing the game as intended.

Don't confuse relation. Duping is definitely related. It's just not the only relation.

 

[IskrasFemme]

Let me reiterate for anyone coming into this thread at this point.

Any form of crafting will also increase file size.
This includes upgrading component rarity, which reduces component numbers without producing any new items by itself.
When you hit 8,129 Kb file size, your save file will be corrupt and wont load.

Any sort of rumor that this is related to duping/glitching is complete bogus.
This happens in 100% legit play throughs, playing the game as intended.

154 hours in game here, PC... a lot of itens crafted, a lot of things on inventary - more then 60k... no one file corrupted... all entire save folder (each): 4 mb.

Just a tip: dont use mods...at finish the update fix wave (Febuary).

 

[Molte]

Just a tip: dont use mods...at finish the update fix wave (Febuary).

Let me just shut this down once and for all.
No duping, no glitching, no mods, absolutely 100% legit.

My save game (at 8,137Kb) is available [HERE]

 

[CyberBossMan]

If this happens during normal playthroughs without anything out of the ordinary how could QA have missed this? I'm sure they had to beat the game hundreds of times just for testing. This whole thing is so strange lol

 

[jfg1984]

If I were to guess, it's not impossible that the limit is upped to what the PS4 alocated (I can't talk about the Xbox One). They are all exactly 12.59 (iirc) mb in size as was mentioned earlier into this thread.
I will have to doublecheck tonight to see if the games profile is kept separate, and gladly will get back to that. If it isn't separate, then it's more likely that those on the PS4 are stuck with the same timebomb.

But this is mostly theory crafting, as I sadly have no idea how the Playstation OS works on a technical level.

I'm not any kind of programmer or designer, but if I'm understanding the suggestions being put forth by other community members here who have done a bit of trouble shooting; the 8mb cap isn't the primary problem. The real problem is the way in which the RED Engine is transcribing player save data?

It's saving your game information in such a way that it's generating a lot of unused garbage code as a byproduct (like making unique ID's for items you craft and keeping those unique ID's in your save file forever, even if you've long since sold or disassembled the item you crafted such that the item no longer exists in the game world)?

If that's the case, then increasing the size of the save file above 8mb seems like kicking the can down the road rather than fixing the problem.

 

[pagefault404]

Don't confuse relation. Duping is definitely related. It's just not the only relation.

While technically correct, duping can cause the issue, it's not the sole cause like people were initially reporting. There was a lot of false information being put out there about what causes the bloat initially. It's easy to blame something like this on cheats and exploits, when the reality is that people who have never duped or cheated are having this same issue.

On the other side of this coin, it's being reported on some cheating websites that were brought to my attention that people are duping just fine and not running into this issue. (For obvious reasons I can't link the site, but, it's out there).

So there's something going on, and duping/cheating is not the sole cause like it was initially reported, but duping/cheating can definitely accelerate it.

 

[Ravashack]

I'm not any kind of programmer or designer, but if I'm understanding the suggestions being put forth by other community members here who have done a bit of trouble shooting; the 8mb cap isn't the primary problem. The real problem is the way in which the RED Engine is transcribing player save data?

It's saving your game information in such a way that it's generating a lot of unused garbage code as a byproduct (like making unique ID's for items you craft and keeping those unique ID's in your save file forever, even if you've long since sold or disassembled the item you crafted such that the item no longer exists in the game world)?

If that's the case, then increasing the size of the save file above 8mb seems like kicking the can down the road rather than fixing the problem.

No, the 8MB is the primary problem because you can hit it just by playing an unmodified game, and it will most likely kick in at the worst time possible (endgame).

 

[follow_the_song]

154 hours in game here, PC... a lot of itens crafted, a lot of things on inventary - more then 60k... no one file corrupted... all entire save folder (each): 4 mb.

Just a tip: dont use mods...at finish the update fix wave (Febuary).

I think it's pretty outrageous to blame this on mods.

 

[Midnight_Nova]

I'm not any kind of programmer or designer, but if I'm understanding the suggestions being put forth by other community members here who have done a bit of trouble shooting; the 8mb cap isn't the primary problem. The real problem is the way in which the RED Engine is transcribing player save data?

It's saving your game information in such a way that it's generating a lot of unused garbage code as a byproduct (like making unique ID's for items you craft and keeping those unique ID's in your save file forever, even if you've long since sold or disassembled the item you crafted such that the item no longer exists in the game world)?

If that's the case, then increasing the size of the save file above 8mb seems like kicking the can down the road rather than fixing the problem.

If I understand it right, and others are free to correct me on this matter as I don't want to spread misinformation, if the game writes a savegame over 8mb, the data gets corrupted. But there's also the (possible) flaw of unused item IDs not being purged and reused (Witcher 3 has this problem, but it's realy difficult to encounter). Savegames have natural bloat, but crafting can accelerate this issue. However, playing long enough can cause the same thing.

 

[axt123]

70h in, crafted some items. but not hundres of things to make money or so. saves at 4,83mb and getting bigger.
i think its legit when people say they reach 8mb without mod glitches, simply craft things for money and play the game.
if im correct wierd things start at 5mb, long loading times with black screen.

corrupted saves only start at 8mb.

i hope theres a fix for this soon