Witcher 3: possible 5MB save file size limit issue?

[swyfter]

Greetings all! I have recently been playing my definitive playthrough of the Witcher series, and while playing Witcher 3 and aiming for 100%, I ran into a troubling issue.

Somehow during the course of my playthrough Ive played long enough to balloon my save file to 5MB. From brief anecdotes Ive found here and there that Ive been able to find while Googling, this seems to be a rare issue but Ive yet to find a solution. After you reach 5MB, weird things begin to happen, the most noticeable being newly acquired items disappearing from inventory, quest NPCs not appearing, etc,

What have you tried?
--Clearing merchant inventory doesnt seem to have much affect on file size (and would be very tedious without automation)
--Ive tried the rune/glyph glitch fix (store everything in stash, change zones, come back, reequip)
--ItemID overflow fix: used the recommended mod to reset my ItemIDs and fixed all duplicate body parts.

Are you able to reproduce this reliably?
Yes, progress and complete quest A until crossing 5MB. Try to go do Quest B. Reload game between objectives and quest NPC disappears.//// reload earlier save //// progress in quest B until completion and cross 5MB. Go try to do Quest A and the quest NPC disappears after reloading the save between quest objectives. Quest B can also be broken if i reload it in the middle after crossing 5MB. Quest A doesnt cross until it finishes.

Each time, the game will play perfectly fine until I pass the rubicon of 5MB even testing those fixes separately. If I never reload a save, the game will play through just fine. However, ive still 15 main quests to complete in BaW and I wouldnt be able to finish in one sitting without reloading

And so i come to you, valiant forum surfers, to see if anyone else has heard of this issue and <crosses fingers> a possible resolution. Im very sad to be losing a 300hr playthrough at the 96% mark. If I cant find a fix, Ill probably come back in a few years and try again =/

Thanks for coming to my TED talk and I greatly appreciate any guidance and advice!

=======================================
"How did you manage to get to 5MB?!"

I explored and looted every POI, did every main and side quest, listened to every dialogue choice and traded so, so, so much loot (which may have been the biggest culprit), and all without fast traveling to boot lol. I also have 3400 manual saves accumulated. Who knew being thorough would nip me in the bum.

 

[SigilFey]

1.) Are you using any mods, or have your ever used any in the past. If so, you may be up a serious creek.

Far as I know, the size limit of a saved game is hard coded in. Not sure if there's a way to fudge it, but there should be ways to mitigate it.

• Empty Geralt's inventory. Sell absolutely everything that you're not intending to use. Then do the same with the stash.
• If you're spending any time fighting mobs for fun or materials, it's probably time to move on and finish up the main quest. Every time some element of the game needs to be saved, the numbers associated are getting bigger and bigger.
• Avoid traveling to White Orchard, Skellige, etc. from this point onward unless the story specifically takes you there.

I would guess that the lion's share of that bulk in your save file will be inventory-related, though. Cleaning it out should help a fair bit.

 

[Huspertux]

Hi i had the same problem.... i have solved it for me with a small mod i have made. It removes 95% of the glyph/rune and shemas (not witcher shemas or questshemas) and some junk from the loottables... then i use a mod from nexus (delete sold items from dealers) too.... Well it dont repair a savegame, but it help if you start a new game....

If you want i can upload my mod on nexus or steam so you can use it too...

sry for my englisch it is not my motherlanguage.

 

[swyfter]

oh wow! thank you so much for the offer! I would greatly appreciate if you'd let me test it out, I can download it from Nexus, if thats convenient for you.
How much were you able to reduce the file size by using your mod?

PS Which mod did you use to clean up the merchants? I cant find the correct search terms to narrow it down lol

 

[Huspertux]

Clear Sold Items (Next-Gen only)

Automatically deletes junk you just sold to a merchant.

www.nexusmods.com

This mod delete everithing at the most dealers, but not exotic ithems if you want to delete everithing
go to ClearSoldItems.ws
and change:
if( inv.IsItemQuest(soldItems) || qual >= 4 )
to:
if( inv.IsItemQuest(soldItems) /*|| qual >= 4*/ )



--------------
My mod i will try to publish on nexus tomorrow (in Germany it is middle of the night)^^ i have never publish something on nexus i must first read what i have to do. After WO my gamesizefile is ca. 10% smaller

Post automatically merged: Jan 15, 2025

omg nexus need rarfile or zip to publish i dont know what to do....

Is download on steamworkshop possible for you?

 

[swyfter]

Steam Workshop will be just fine! Thank you!

www.7-zip.org if you ever need to make zips, rars etc.

 

[Huspertux]

OK is upload at steamworkshop....


If you use the "Random encounter Mod", (i use it too), then set container refil off.... i think this option blow up your savefile too... one other helpful mod is:

Fix Stuck Quest Items - Next-Gen

Quest items will no longer get stuck on the left pane of the inventory.

www.nexusmods.com

So can you delete questitems after the quests too...

1. i use my mod,
2. change ReR settings to no container refil
3. use clear sold items mod
4. use fix stuck items mod
5. i sell everything what i dont need from the beginning of the game...

result: ca. 10% smaller gamesavefile, its enough to finish the last quests.

Post automatically merged: Jan 16, 2025

https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2881
i use this mod since a long time too... Because geralt get rich as hell over time i like a poor geralt so make the ecoenomy much more sensible.... i think this mode reduce the savefile too, but i cant say how much, because i use this mod for a longer time. it is an old mod, but it works at Next gen.