Save files are corrupted

[RetroNutcase]

Just patch the game to not cap at 8MB! If you don't, there will be a mass exodus.

Something isn't optimized correctly either if every item fills up this file as a separate permanent line item.

The problem is the game starts to run into issues with loading save files of 6MB or larger, taking longer than normal. Just having a larger save size alone isn't going to be a full on fix. What needs to happen, ideally:

-No size limit, for starters
-Optimized loading so that larger files don't cause long loadtimes/game hangs
-Save cleanup to remove garbage/unneeded data and prevent bloating

 

[emersm2]

I posted this elsewhere as well but thought I would add it here in case someone here found it in any way interesting or useful.

I have done some of my own testing and experimenting and I think I have come up with a working hypothesis on what is going on with saved items with regard to how they impact file size. Note, this is just a working hypothesis! I haven't done near enough testing to say anything conclusive. This is mostly food for thought and perhaps something for others to base more testing on. Also note that I talk about items mainly but that can be expanded to NPCs and other things in the world.
I did the following experiment a few times in a few different places:

• Entered a brand new area my character had never been and walked around but did not loot or touch anything at all: notable save file size increase
• Looted everything in the area into my inventory: small file size DECREASE from previous
• Broke down everything I just looted into components: very slight file size decrease from previous

Here is how I think item storage in saves works... When you enter a new area for the first time, all items in that area are instantiated into the word and become part of your save for the first time, because now the game must keep track of them and where they are. After entering a location for the first time your save might have something like this:
ItemID:001 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456 Rotation:
ItemID:002 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:003 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:004 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:005 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456

Once you loot everything it might look something like:
ItemID:001 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:002 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:003 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:004 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:005 Location: Main inventory

Once you then delete the item (break it down or maybe sell it to a terminal and wait for it to expire)
ItemID:001 Location: Deleted
ItemID:002 Location: Deleted
ItemID:003 Location: Deleted
ItemID:004 Location: Deleted
ItemID:005 Location: Deleted

It actually makes sense that once an item is instantiated into your save (you get near it for the first time) the game must forever keep track of its ID and location even if you completely delete it. Otherwise, when you return to that area in the future, the game would not know that you have already picked up the item and it would be there for you to pick up again. It also appears that storing that the item as present in your inventory takes less storage space than storing its coordinates/rotation in the world (makes sense) and storing that the item is deleted takes least storage space of all (but it's still there).

This also seems to explain many of the things people are reporting. It would explain why quests that drive you around cause a big increase in your save file size because you are being brought past new areas for the first time and many new items are getting initially created. It could explain why items expiring in a vendor/drop box or getting broken down seem to slightly decrease file size (it's less expensive to store Item:deleted compared to Item:In Drop Box 00017).

It could also explain the differences people who have gone for 100% experience. Perhaps some people who have 100% went very directly from one point of interest to another, where others might have spent a lot of time driving around and instantiating every last bit of Night City.

If this is at all correct, the big takeaway would be that once you visit an area, looting all the stuff in it does not make the problem worse, it actually slightly helps!

Now Enter Crafting...
If the above is true, there are a finite number of things out in the world for you to find, and so the space it takes to store the status of all of those things is also finite and predictable. Unless I am mistaken, this is one of the major differences between this and something like Fallout 4 where the cells eventually reset over time, giving that game the ability to eventually actually forget the state of in world locations, supporting infinite play (and saves). However, when you start making brand new items that were never in the game by crafting, all of those items would be subject to the situation described above. Now, you could potentially have an unlimited amount of things for your save to keep track of.
If crafted items are treated the same, once you create something, like a new gun, the ID and location of that gun now must forever be tracked, even if it's GunID:0043 Location: Deleted. Since crafted items were never placed out in the world, and the game does not need to remember that it shouldn't be out there anymore, I would think the design should be such that when a crafted item is removed from the world it should be fully forgotten. However, it may be that it is treated like any other item and remembered forever, and this might be the real root of the issue.

Things I still want to test:

• Does crafting a stackable item directly into your inventory get tracked individually the moment it is created or not until it is somehow split from the stack (like you craft 10 grenades and sell 1 of them). If they get tracked individually from creation and forever, that is an issue.
• Does upgrading the stats on an existing item through crafting just change the attributes associated with that single item, or does it create a brand new item every time and behind the scenes delete (and still track) the old one. If so that is also an issue.
• Does incapacitating NPCs generate new items as they drop, or are they already created and in existence on their person like a container, and along with this, are items in containers generated on opening the container.

Again, this is all just a working hypothesis at best, I have definitely not done enough experimenting and testing to demonstrate anything with much confidence. I just found it all to be very interesting. Hopefully this is helpful to someone.

 

[hulkman2456]

I don't know if this is gonna help. My save file is 4.7MB. I've completed the game. Completed all side missions and gigs. I've probably seen 90% of the map. I barley crafted. But I did pickup majority of the items dropped. I don't pick up everything. Like ashtrays, cans etc. Disassembled the items, and upgraded various things. Craft I barley touched because I wasn't really understanding on how it worked. So I've been ignoring it.

 

[jfg1984]

I posted this elsewhere as well but thought I would add it here in case someone here found it in any way interesting or useful.

I have done some of my own testing and experimenting and I think I have come up with a working hypothesis on what is going on with saved items with regard to how they impact file size. Note, this is just a working hypothesis! I haven't done near enough testing to say anything conclusive. This is mostly food for thought and perhaps something for others to base more testing on. Also note that I talk about items mainly but that can be expanded to NPCs and other things in the world.
I did the following experiment a few times in a few different places:

• Entered a brand new area my character had never been and walked around but did not loot or touch anything at all: notable save file size increase
• Looted everything in the area into my inventory: small file size DECREASE from previous
• Broke down everything I just looted into components: very slight file size decrease from previous

Here is how I think item storage in saves works... When you enter a new area for the first time, all items in that area are instantiated into the word and become part of your save for the first time, because now the game must keep track of them and where they are. After entering a location for the first time your save might have something like this:
ItemID:001 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456 Rotation:
ItemID:002 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:003 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:004 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:005 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456

Once you loot everything it might look something like:
ItemID:001 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:002 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:003 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:004 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:005 Location: Main inventory

Once you then delete the item (break it down or maybe sell it to a terminal and wait for it to expire)
ItemID:001 Location: Deleted
ItemID:002 Location: Deleted
ItemID:003 Location: Deleted
ItemID:004 Location: Deleted
ItemID:005 Location: Deleted

It actually makes sense that once an item is instantiated into your save (you get near it for the first time) the game must forever keep track of its ID and location even if you completely delete it. Otherwise, when you return to that area in the future, the game would not know that you have already picked up the item and it would be there for you to pick up again. It also appears that storing that the item as present in your inventory takes less storage space than storing its coordinates/rotation in the world (makes sense) and storing that the item is deleted takes least storage space of all (but it's still there).

This also seems to explain many of the things people are reporting. It would explain why quests that drive you around cause a big increase in your save file size because you are being brought past new areas for the first time and many new items are getting initially created. It could explain why items expiring in a vendor/drop box or getting broken down seem to slightly decrease file size (it's less expensive to store Item:deleted compared to Item:In Drop Box 00017).

It could also explain the differences people who have gone for 100% experience. Perhaps some people who have 100% went very directly from one point of interest to another, where others might have spent a lot of time driving around and instantiating every last bit of Night City.

If this is at all correct, the big takeaway would be that once you visit an area, looting all the stuff in it does not make the problem worse, it actually slightly helps!

Now Enter Crafting...
If the above is true, there are a finite number of things out in the world for you to find, and so the space it takes to store the status of all of those things is also finite and predictable. Unless I am mistaken, this is one of the major differences between this and something like Fallout 4 where the cells eventually reset over time, giving that game the ability to eventually actually forget the state of in world locations, supporting infinite play (and saves). However, when you start making brand new items that were never in the game by crafting, all of those items would be subject to the situation described above. Now, you could potentially have an unlimited amount of things for your save to keep track of.
If crafted items are treated the same, once you create something, like a new gun, the ID and location of that gun now must forever be tracked, even if it's GunID:0043 Location: Deleted. Since crafted items were never placed out in the world, and the game does not need to remember that it shouldn't be out there anymore, I would think the design should be such that when a crafted item is removed from the world it should be fully forgotten. However, it may be that it is treated like any other item and remembered forever, and this might be the real root of the issue.

Things I still want to test:

• Does crafting a stackable item directly into your inventory get tracked individually the moment it is created or not until it is somehow split from the stack (like you craft 10 grenades and sell 1 of them). If they get tracked individually from creation and forever, that is an issue.
• Does upgrading the stats on an existing item through crafting just change the attributes associated with that single item, or does it create a brand new item every time and behind the scenes delete (and still track) the old one. If so that is also an issue.
• Does incapacitating NPCs generate new items as they drop, or are they already created and in existence on their person like a container, and along with this, are items in containers generated on opening the container.

Again, this is all just a working hypothesis at best, I have definitely not done enough experimenting and testing to demonstrate anything with much confidence. I just found it all to be very interesting. Hopefully this is helpful to someone.

I feel like this is probably the most thoughtful post we've had on the board yet. Thanks for sharing your hypothesis, it makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[korenmk]

I have better one, i have reinstalled PC, installed GOG Galaxy, imported game and was hoping for cloud sync to work, but no dice there... nothing imported back and now i am at square one.... onlyy option is start new game or quit... i have chose the latter..

 

[cadberry]

My save file is 7 mb and I still need to do act 3. Should I be worried? I have not hoarded items, only kept iconics.

 

[thorsfury]

You screwed us HARD CDPR.

Witcher 4 better be free at this point.

 

[rmac]

I posted this elsewhere as well but thought I would add it here in case someone here found it in any way interesting or useful.

I have done some of my own testing and experimenting and I think I have come up with a working hypothesis on what is going on with saved items with regard to how they impact file size. Note, this is just a working hypothesis! I haven't done near enough testing to say anything conclusive. This is mostly food for thought and perhaps something for others to base more testing on. Also note that I talk about items mainly but that can be expanded to NPCs and other things in the world.
I did the following experiment a few times in a few different places:

• Entered a brand new area my character had never been and walked around but did not loot or touch anything at all: notable save file size increase
• Looted everything in the area into my inventory: small file size DECREASE from previous
• Broke down everything I just looted into components: very slight file size decrease from previous

Here is how I think item storage in saves works... When you enter a new area for the first time, all items in that area are instantiated into the word and become part of your save for the first time, because now the game must keep track of them and where they are. After entering a location for the first time your save might have something like this:
ItemID:001 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456 Rotation:
ItemID:002 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:003 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:004 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:005 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456

Once you loot everything it might look something like:
ItemID:001 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:002 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:003 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:004 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:005 Location: Main inventory

Once you then delete the item (break it down or maybe sell it to a terminal and wait for it to expire)
ItemID:001 Location: Deleted
ItemID:002 Location: Deleted
ItemID:003 Location: Deleted
ItemID:004 Location: Deleted
ItemID:005 Location: Deleted

It actually makes sense that once an item is instantiated into your save (you get near it for the first time) the game must forever keep track of its ID and location even if you completely delete it. Otherwise, when you return to that area in the future, the game would not know that you have already picked up the item and it would be there for you to pick up again. It also appears that storing that the item as present in your inventory takes less storage space than storing its coordinates/rotation in the world (makes sense) and storing that the item is deleted takes least storage space of all (but it's still there).

This also seems to explain many of the things people are reporting. It would explain why quests that drive you around cause a big increase in your save file size because you are being brought past new areas for the first time and many new items are getting initially created. It could explain why items expiring in a vendor/drop box or getting broken down seem to slightly decrease file size (it's less expensive to store Item:deleted compared to Item:In Drop Box 00017).

It could also explain the differences people who have gone for 100% experience. Perhaps some people who have 100% went very directly from one point of interest to another, where others might have spent a lot of time driving around and instantiating every last bit of Night City.

If this is at all correct, the big takeaway would be that once you visit an area, looting all the stuff in it does not make the problem worse, it actually slightly helps!

Now Enter Crafting...
If the above is true, there are a finite number of things out in the world for you to find, and so the space it takes to store the status of all of those things is also finite and predictable. Unless I am mistaken, this is one of the major differences between this and something like Fallout 4 where the cells eventually reset over time, giving that game the ability to eventually actually forget the state of in world locations, supporting infinite play (and saves). However, when you start making brand new items that were never in the game by crafting, all of those items would be subject to the situation described above. Now, you could potentially have an unlimited amount of things for your save to keep track of.
If crafted items are treated the same, once you create something, like a new gun, the ID and location of that gun now must forever be tracked, even if it's GunID:0043 Location: Deleted. Since crafted items were never placed out in the world, and the game does not need to remember that it shouldn't be out there anymore, I would think the design should be such that when a crafted item is removed from the world it should be fully forgotten. However, it may be that it is treated like any other item and remembered forever, and this might be the real root of the issue.

Things I still want to test:

• Does crafting a stackable item directly into your inventory get tracked individually the moment it is created or not until it is somehow split from the stack (like you craft 10 grenades and sell 1 of them). If they get tracked individually from creation and forever, that is an issue.
• Does upgrading the stats on an existing item through crafting just change the attributes associated with that single item, or does it create a brand new item every time and behind the scenes delete (and still track) the old one. If so that is also an issue.
• Does incapacitating NPCs generate new items as they drop, or are they already created and in existence on their person like a container, and along with this, are items in containers generated on opening the container.

Again, this is all just a working hypothesis at best, I have definitely not done enough experimenting and testing to demonstrate anything with much confidence. I just found it all to be very interesting. Hopefully this is helpful to someone.

On this note, I've noticed that cars that I've stolen and offloaded have stayed permanent outside of shops. In any other game, they would have been cleared from the save long, long ago.

 

[jfg1984]

My save file is 7 mb and I still need to do act 3. Should I be worried? I have not hoarded items, only kept iconics.

If what emersm2 hypothesizes is correct, it isn't about how much you've hoarded so much as how much of the city you've gone into, thus causing items to have to spawn and thus forever more be tracked by your save file ... as well as how much you've crafted to cause the same.

 

[Molte]

My save file is 7 mb and I still need to do act 3. Should I be worried? I have not hoarded items, only kept iconics.

In my experience the final mission, added 100+ Kb and I did a bare minimum of necessity crafting in that time, of course this is dependent on which route you end up taking etc.
If I was you, I would not be worried about story related quests just yet if you can currently load fine.
But it's probably nice to keep half an eye on the size after after every play session.

 

[BroNice]

Today I found a corrupted save file on my PS4. I thought this would only happen on PC.
It's very frustrating.

Everyone would have been fine with CD pushing the release another year or two.
It's pretty much my own fault for expecting them to release the game when it's ready :'(
I'll be wiser next time.

 

[nervo82]

On this note, I've noticed that cars that I've stolen and offloaded have stayed permanent outside of shops. In any other game, they would have been cleared from the save long, long ago.

i've noticied the same thing, the white arch bike that i used to get to the afterlife before the heist is still there after many days.

 

[cIass101]

I took this file, loaded it, crafted 2 Ashura rifles, saved the game under a new slot, loaded this new one and there was no corrupt save file message - everything was loaded correctly. Are you sure it's reproducible via that save file?

I didn't craft here and I did not create a new slot, just went out of the car, look around 360°, overwrite the existing save, close the game client, next time you will load it you should not see an error message but a never ending black screen. If it still loads for you after that could you report the exact size of your save.

I think it loaded fine for you because you created a new slot, I think I have read a report of someone mentioning the size increase was lower by doing multiple different saves, and so on you probably did not reach the 0x800000 limit.

 

[rmac]

i've noticied the same thing, the white arch bike that i used to get to the afterlife before the heist is still there after many days.

Okay so I'm not the only one, has anyone tried creating and dropping items into the world?

 

[igrvks]

If what emersm2 hypothesizes is correct, it isn't about how much you've hoarded so much as how much of the city you've gone into, thus causing items to have to spawn and thus forever more be tracked by your save file ... as well as how much you've crafted to cause the same.

So in addition to not craft too much stuff we also shouldn't explore the map to avoid too much bloat.

 

[DevilSShadoW]

I posted this elsewhere as well but thought I would add it here in case someone here found it in any way interesting or useful.

I have done some of my own testing and experimenting and I think I have come up with a working hypothesis on what is going on with saved items with regard to how they impact file size. Note, this is just a working hypothesis! I haven't done near enough testing to say anything conclusive. This is mostly food for thought and perhaps something for others to base more testing on. Also note that I talk about items mainly but that can be expanded to NPCs and other things in the world.
I did the following experiment a few times in a few different places:

• Entered a brand new area my character had never been and walked around but did not loot or touch anything at all: notable save file size increase
• Looted everything in the area into my inventory: small file size DECREASE from previous
• Broke down everything I just looted into components: very slight file size decrease from previous

Here is how I think item storage in saves works... When you enter a new area for the first time, all items in that area are instantiated into the word and become part of your save for the first time, because now the game must keep track of them and where they are. After entering a location for the first time your save might have something like this:
ItemID:001 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456 Rotation:
ItemID:002 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:003 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:004 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:005 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456

Once you loot everything it might look something like:
ItemID:001 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:002 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:003 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:004 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:005 Location: Main inventory

Once you then delete the item (break it down or maybe sell it to a terminal and wait for it to expire)
ItemID:001 Location: Deleted
ItemID:002 Location: Deleted
ItemID:003 Location: Deleted
ItemID:004 Location: Deleted
ItemID:005 Location: Deleted

It actually makes sense that once an item is instantiated into your save (you get near it for the first time) the game must forever keep track of its ID and location even if you completely delete it. Otherwise, when you return to that area in the future, the game would not know that you have already picked up the item and it would be there for you to pick up again. It also appears that storing that the item as present in your inventory takes less storage space than storing its coordinates/rotation in the world (makes sense) and storing that the item is deleted takes least storage space of all (but it's still there).

This also seems to explain many of the things people are reporting. It would explain why quests that drive you around cause a big increase in your save file size because you are being brought past new areas for the first time and many new items are getting initially created. It could explain why items expiring in a vendor/drop box or getting broken down seem to slightly decrease file size (it's less expensive to store Item:deleted compared to Item:In Drop Box 00017).

It could also explain the differences people who have gone for 100% experience. Perhaps some people who have 100% went very directly from one point of interest to another, where others might have spent a lot of time driving around and instantiating every last bit of Night City.

If this is at all correct, the big takeaway would be that once you visit an area, looting all the stuff in it does not make the problem worse, it actually slightly helps!

Now Enter Crafting...
If the above is true, there are a finite number of things out in the world for you to find, and so the space it takes to store the status of all of those things is also finite and predictable. Unless I am mistaken, this is one of the major differences between this and something like Fallout 4 where the cells eventually reset over time, giving that game the ability to eventually actually forget the state of in world locations, supporting infinite play (and saves). However, when you start making brand new items that were never in the game by crafting, all of those items would be subject to the situation described above. Now, you could potentially have an unlimited amount of things for your save to keep track of.
If crafted items are treated the same, once you create something, like a new gun, the ID and location of that gun now must forever be tracked, even if it's GunID:0043 Location: Deleted. Since crafted items were never placed out in the world, and the game does not need to remember that it shouldn't be out there anymore, I would think the design should be such that when a crafted item is removed from the world it should be fully forgotten. However, it may be that it is treated like any other item and remembered forever, and this might be the real root of the issue.

Things I still want to test:

• Does crafting a stackable item directly into your inventory get tracked individually the moment it is created or not until it is somehow split from the stack (like you craft 10 grenades and sell 1 of them). If they get tracked individually from creation and forever, that is an issue.
• Does upgrading the stats on an existing item through crafting just change the attributes associated with that single item, or does it create a brand new item every time and behind the scenes delete (and still track) the old one. If so that is also an issue.
• Does incapacitating NPCs generate new items as they drop, or are they already created and in existence on their person like a container, and along with this, are items in containers generated on opening the container.

Again, this is all just a working hypothesis at best, I have definitely not done enough experimenting and testing to demonstrate anything with much confidence. I just found it all to be very interesting. Hopefully this is helpful to someone.

To add to the potential validity of, at least, the first point of this post:

I glitched myself into arasaka tower after The Heist in order to get the legendary sword that I initially missed. Noticed that all bodies of killed enemies were still present. The game state of the entire tower was more or less pristine, drops and all. So if nothing else, that entire area's loot and state is indeed saved in my save file.

My save-game file size is currently 4.31MB.
I have 87hours of game time according to GOG Galaxy.
I have pretty much visited almost all corners of the map (I did both delamain's quest and the tarot card quest right after I got them in act 2)
I tend to loot everything and I do mean everything I find, then later deconstruct/sell.
I'm currently lvl 25, street cred lvl 50, still at the beginning of act 2 (after meeting takemura at the diner).
I use my car's storage to keep one of every single item of clothing I come across, noticed that this doesn't have as big of an impact on save size compared to triggering world-state item generation and storage.
I have used the item duplication exploit to duplicate crafting materials. I do not duplicate insane numbers of items, just the exact numbers I need for upgrades.
Of note is the fact that I do not craft (yet), my tech tree is still at lvl 3. I just upgrade my items and armor.
I have, so far, managed to clear almost half the map of all side-activities.

I'm hoping I can manage to clear everything and then beat the main story without running into save corruption. I have made a backup of my main save-game that I plan to use exclusively for beating the main story in case something happens with my current playthrough.

None of this is optimal, I did not buy this game to rush through the story and be done with it, and I most definitely did not buy this game to then be told that I'm playing it wrong.

Get your s**t together CDPR.

 

[rmac]

To add to the potential validity of, at least, the first point of this post:

I glitched myself into arasaka tower after The Heist in order to get the legendary sword that I initially missed. Noticed that all bodies of killed enemies were still present. The game state of the entire tower was more or less pristine, drops and all. So if nothing else, that entire area's loot and state is indeed saved in my save file.

My save-game file size is currently 4.31MB.
I have 87hours of game time according to GOG Galaxy.
I have pretty much visited almost all corners of the map (I did both delamain's quest and the tarot card quest right after I got them in act 2)
I tend to loot everything and I do mean everything I find, then later deconstruct/sell.
I'm currently lvl 25, street cred lvl 50, still at the beginning of act 2 (after meeting takemura at the diner).
I use my car's storage to keep one of every single item of clothing I come across, noticed that this doesn't have as big of an impact on save size compared to triggering world-state item generation and storage.
I have used the item duplication exploit to duplicate crafting materials. I do not duplicate insane numbers of items, just the exact numbers I need for upgrades.
Of note is the fact that I do not craft (yet), my tech tree is still at lvl 3. I just upgrade my items and armor.
I have, so far, managed to clear almost half the map of all side-activities.

I'm hoping I can manage to clear everything and then beat the main story without running into save corruption. I have made a backup of my main save-game that I plan to use exclusively for beating the main story in case something happens with my current playthrough.

None of this is optimal, I did not buy this game to rush through the story and be done with it, and I most definitely did not buy this game to then be told that I'm playing it wrong.

Get your s**t together CDPR.

Starting to seem that everything is being baked into the save from cars stolen, loot left on the ground. Or at least not-consistently cleared. I think about all the garbage you never bother to pick up from NPCs after encounters...

 

[Gen_Liu]

I don't know if this is gonna help. My save file is 4.7MB. I've completed the game. Completed all side missions and gigs. I've probably seen 90% of the map. I barley crafted. But I did pickup majority of the items dropped. I don't pick up everything. Like ashtrays, cans etc. Disassembled the items, and upgraded various things. Craft I barley touched because I wasn't really understanding on how it worked. So I've been ignoring it.

This is absolutely helping, thx.
The more infos we have of any scenario (good or bad) related to this bug help seeing a pattern and understand what causes it.

It also help spotting the little details that would be hard to see otherwise.

For example, here, you ended up with a 4.7mb savefile after completing every side/main missions and gigs which seem pretty small to me and since you said you avoided the most useless junks for the most part, those may play a significant role in the bloating process.

I posted this elsewhere as well but thought I would add it here in case someone here found it in any way interesting or useful.

I have done some of my own testing and experimenting and I think I have come up with a working hypothesis on what is going on with saved items with regard to how they impact file size. Note, this is just a working hypothesis! I haven't done near enough testing to say anything conclusive. This is mostly food for thought and perhaps something for others to base more testing on. Also note that I talk about items mainly but that can be expanded to NPCs and other things in the world.
I did the following experiment a few times in a few different places:

• Entered a brand new area my character had never been and walked around but did not loot or touch anything at all: notable save file size increase
• Looted everything in the area into my inventory: small file size DECREASE from previous
• Broke down everything I just looted into components: very slight file size decrease from previous

Here is how I think item storage in saves works... When you enter a new area for the first time, all items in that area are instantiated into the word and become part of your save for the first time, because now the game must keep track of them and where they are. After entering a location for the first time your save might have something like this:
ItemID:001 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456 Rotation:
ItemID:002 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:003 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:004 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:005 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456

Once you loot everything it might look something like:
ItemID:001 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:002 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:003 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:004 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:005 Location: Main inventory

Once you then delete the item (break it down or maybe sell it to a terminal and wait for it to expire)
ItemID:001 Location: Deleted
ItemID:002 Location: Deleted
ItemID:003 Location: Deleted
ItemID:004 Location: Deleted
ItemID:005 Location: Deleted

It actually makes sense that once an item is instantiated into your save (you get near it for the first time) the game must forever keep track of its ID and location even if you completely delete it. Otherwise, when you return to that area in the future, the game would not know that you have already picked up the item and it would be there for you to pick up again. It also appears that storing that the item as present in your inventory takes less storage space than storing its coordinates/rotation in the world (makes sense) and storing that the item is deleted takes least storage space of all (but it's still there).

This also seems to explain many of the things people are reporting. It would explain why quests that drive you around cause a big increase in your save file size because you are being brought past new areas for the first time and many new items are getting initially created. It could explain why items expiring in a vendor/drop box or getting broken down seem to slightly decrease file size (it's less expensive to store Item:deleted compared to Item:In Drop Box 00017).

It could also explain the differences people who have gone for 100% experience. Perhaps some people who have 100% went very directly from one point of interest to another, where others might have spent a lot of time driving around and instantiating every last bit of Night City.

If this is at all correct, the big takeaway would be that once you visit an area, looting all the stuff in it does not make the problem worse, it actually slightly helps!

Now Enter Crafting...
If the above is true, there are a finite number of things out in the world for you to find, and so the space it takes to store the status of all of those things is also finite and predictable. Unless I am mistaken, this is one of the major differences between this and something like Fallout 4 where the cells eventually reset over time, giving that game the ability to eventually actually forget the state of in world locations, supporting infinite play (and saves). However, when you start making brand new items that were never in the game by crafting, all of those items would be subject to the situation described above. Now, you could potentially have an unlimited amount of things for your save to keep track of.
If crafted items are treated the same, once you create something, like a new gun, the ID and location of that gun now must forever be tracked, even if it's GunID:0043 Location: Deleted. Since crafted items were never placed out in the world, and the game does not need to remember that it shouldn't be out there anymore, I would think the design should be such that when a crafted item is removed from the world it should be fully forgotten. However, it may be that it is treated like any other item and remembered forever, and this might be the real root of the issue.

Things I still want to test:

• Does crafting a stackable item directly into your inventory get tracked individually the moment it is created or not until it is somehow split from the stack (like you craft 10 grenades and sell 1 of them). If they get tracked individually from creation and forever, that is an issue.
• Does upgrading the stats on an existing item through crafting just change the attributes associated with that single item, or does it create a brand new item every time and behind the scenes delete (and still track) the old one. If so that is also an issue.
• Does incapacitating NPCs generate new items as they drop, or are they already created and in existence on their person like a container, and along with this, are items in containers generated on opening the container.

Again, this is all just a working hypothesis at best, I have definitely not done enough experimenting and testing to demonstrate anything with much confidence. I just found it all to be very interesting. Hopefully this is helpful to someone.

Oh wow, that's a hell of a testing and what you explain make sense.
It give more weight to certain theory that was already going but also bring some interesting new elements. Like, for example, instantiating items in an area without picking them up may be worst than loot everything and dismantle/sell.

 

[DevilSShadoW]

Starting to seem that everything is being baked into the save from cars stolen, loot left on the ground. Or at least not-consistently cleared. I think about all the garbage you never bother to pick up from NPCs after encounters...

funny enough, I saw a big boost in filesize (about .40mb) last night after I actually started leaving loot on the ground instead of picking it up/deconstructing
Now, this is obviously just an observation and the increased filesize could be caused by a bunch of other factors, but that was the only major gameplay deviation that I have made. Until I did this it would usually only increase in smaller increments.

We really need a statement from CDPR on this issue, if not an actual fix ASAP.

 

[pagefault404]

I posted this elsewhere as well but thought I would add it here in case someone here found it in any way interesting or useful.

I have done some of my own testing and experimenting and I think I have come up with a working hypothesis on what is going on with saved items with regard to how they impact file size. Note, this is just a working hypothesis! I haven't done near enough testing to say anything conclusive. This is mostly food for thought and perhaps something for others to base more testing on. Also note that I talk about items mainly but that can be expanded to NPCs and other things in the world.
I did the following experiment a few times in a few different places:

• Entered a brand new area my character had never been and walked around but did not loot or touch anything at all: notable save file size increase
• Looted everything in the area into my inventory: small file size DECREASE from previous
• Broke down everything I just looted into components: very slight file size decrease from previous

Here is how I think item storage in saves works... When you enter a new area for the first time, all items in that area are instantiated into the word and become part of your save for the first time, because now the game must keep track of them and where they are. After entering a location for the first time your save might have something like this:
ItemID:001 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456 Rotation:
ItemID:002 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:003 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:004 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456
ItemID:005 Location: x-123, y-234, z-456

Once you loot everything it might look something like:
ItemID:001 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:002 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:003 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:004 Location: Main inventory
ItemID:005 Location: Main inventory

Once you then delete the item (break it down or maybe sell it to a terminal and wait for it to expire)
ItemID:001 Location: Deleted
ItemID:002 Location: Deleted
ItemID:003 Location: Deleted
ItemID:004 Location: Deleted
ItemID:005 Location: Deleted

It actually makes sense that once an item is instantiated into your save (you get near it for the first time) the game must forever keep track of its ID and location even if you completely delete it. Otherwise, when you return to that area in the future, the game would not know that you have already picked up the item and it would be there for you to pick up again. It also appears that storing that the item as present in your inventory takes less storage space than storing its coordinates/rotation in the world (makes sense) and storing that the item is deleted takes least storage space of all (but it's still there).

This also seems to explain many of the things people are reporting. It would explain why quests that drive you around cause a big increase in your save file size because you are being brought past new areas for the first time and many new items are getting initially created. It could explain why items expiring in a vendor/drop box or getting broken down seem to slightly decrease file size (it's less expensive to store Item:deleted compared to Item:In Drop Box 00017).

It could also explain the differences people who have gone for 100% experience. Perhaps some people who have 100% went very directly from one point of interest to another, where others might have spent a lot of time driving around and instantiating every last bit of Night City.

If this is at all correct, the big takeaway would be that once you visit an area, looting all the stuff in it does not make the problem worse, it actually slightly helps!

Now Enter Crafting...
If the above is true, there are a finite number of things out in the world for you to find, and so the space it takes to store the status of all of those things is also finite and predictable. Unless I am mistaken, this is one of the major differences between this and something like Fallout 4 where the cells eventually reset over time, giving that game the ability to eventually actually forget the state of in world locations, supporting infinite play (and saves). However, when you start making brand new items that were never in the game by crafting, all of those items would be subject to the situation described above. Now, you could potentially have an unlimited amount of things for your save to keep track of.
If crafted items are treated the same, once you create something, like a new gun, the ID and location of that gun now must forever be tracked, even if it's GunID:0043 Location: Deleted. Since crafted items were never placed out in the world, and the game does not need to remember that it shouldn't be out there anymore, I would think the design should be such that when a crafted item is removed from the world it should be fully forgotten. However, it may be that it is treated like any other item and remembered forever, and this might be the real root of the issue.

Things I still want to test:

• Does crafting a stackable item directly into your inventory get tracked individually the moment it is created or not until it is somehow split from the stack (like you craft 10 grenades and sell 1 of them). If they get tracked individually from creation and forever, that is an issue.
• Does upgrading the stats on an existing item through crafting just change the attributes associated with that single item, or does it create a brand new item every time and behind the scenes delete (and still track) the old one. If so that is also an issue.
• Does incapacitating NPCs generate new items as they drop, or are they already created and in existence on their person like a container, and along with this, are items in containers generated on opening the container.

Again, this is all just a working hypothesis at best, I have definitely not done enough experimenting and testing to demonstrate anything with much confidence. I just found it all to be very interesting. Hopefully this is helpful to someone.

Whew, what a read.

There's going to be a lot of extensive testing necessary for any of this to be confirmed. So far we have not even confirmed if the bloat caused by missions is consistent if you reload and replay. Not only that, but, i've mentioned previously to try and replay missions that have multiple paths differently and save at the end of those missions and compare the save file size to see if the path you choose somehow affects the file size increase.

What your post also does is creates a hypothesis that, if one were to start a new game, do nothing but main missions and explore, but not any gigs or NCPD events or anything, then the bloat by the end of the game should be significant because your player data is keeping track of all of those areas and all of those items.

One problem with this hypothesis is the Uint16 maximum of 65,536 itemIDs. That's even if they're using Uint16, which I am not sure they would have felt a reason to change this to Uint32 when upgrading the REDengine from 3 to 4. Let's just say they're still using Uint16. If what this hypothesis is suggesting is accurate, the more you explore, the more itemIDs you'll consume. We would have possibly found someone who ran into that 65,536 limit by now. Well now that I think about it, we've had one PC user in the post who had a corrupted save at 4MB and I don't think anyone really took a look at it to determine if it was an itemID overflow or a corruption like we're seeing with the 8192KB file limit cut off.

I'll always repeat this, but, at this point, we can't discount anything because we know so little about how the game tracks the player data and it's relationship to the save file. Now, I can answer one of your questions, about subdued enemies.

I play a netrunner/gunslinger with a lot of tech for opening doors and tech weapon damage. When trying to use hacks like weapon glitch on someone outside of combat, you get an error message saying that the target is not armed, but, not all targets would give that error because out of combat they would have a weapon in hand (from what I remember). When taking people down, either with stealth or using System Reset (both methods don't trigger a combat state in the victim) the enemy wont drop a weapon. Now, I save scum, so I'm constantly replaying combat scenarios so I can get the most optimal outcome, so I know these enemies are armed. I've alerted them in the past, yet when you take them down, no weapon drops. Nor is a weapon lootable from their body. So, it's possible that enemies that die in a combat state will become containers that generate weapons when they are defeated, but I don't believe the game would have already generated a weapon for that enemy until it was killed.

Every looter/shooter I have played so far has what's called a drop table. If you've played MMOs, you'll know what I am talking about. It's basically a file that says "When enemy X dies, pull loot from table Y and drop random item Z from table Y" In the case of cyberpunk, when spawning in items, you wont do it by itemID like in fallout or skyrim. Because CP is RNG based, they have a generic item name instead, for example generic_revolver_1. When the enemy enters a combat state, what I suspect is happening is the game will give the enemy an appropriate weapon from a table. So there might be a table for each gang, and "when enemy X enters combat, assign random weapon Y from gang table Z" When the enemy dies, it takes that random weapon that was assigned, and drops it using something close to an additem command. So "When enemy x using weapon y dies, spawn weapon y" and the game takes care of the rest because it's RNG based.

So even if you spam the same command "additem generic_revolver_1" you'll almost never get the same revolver twice. Which will then consume an itemID.

I've gotten a bit off topic here. Point is, I agree with you in that there's likely something bigger going on behind the scenes than we realize with player data, and extensive testing is going to be necessary to figure out what it is. Either that or someone's going to have to get chummy with a developer. That's the only way I see us getting any concrete information about what is actually causing the bloat. I like your hypothesis, it's in line with some of the information we have.

Good post.

Edit: Even if it wasn't in line with the information we have, it's still a good post and I would still like it.