F1 2012 Autosave Problem

[Chris]

Is anyone else experiencing the Autosave bug? Whereby, you just can't save anything, and you can only progress as far as you get in one session of playing, and once you quit and reboot, everything that you just did is gone.

So far, I've tried,
- Restarting my career
- Manually saving (which still doesn't save)


Initially I thought it was caused because I edited the ai_vehicle_track for Melbourne, so I put the original file back in, but that hasn't worked either.


Does anyone know of a solution? Or why this is caused?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

I said some not-so-nice things, when I got the savegame bug in the demo...but I'm sure CM will fix it in a patch, just give them some time...oh, wait a minute...hm, ah..never mind

 

[Tadhg MacConeely]

Just had the Steam 'Profile save corrupt'' notice & no amount of file juggling fixed it. 9 races in all run at 50% constantly dodging the flashback bug that creates the smoking engine bug that creates the locked into 1st gear pit exit bug.... Restarted races, restarted careers, repeated randomly & by sheer luck you may complete a whole season... I won't hold my breath though...

 

[Graham Laing]

Referring to TopHerCheese's post above

That's the fix I suggested in the demo, after trying out all the old F1 2011 tricks, which didn't work at the time.

It was a quick and dirty method that got you up and running again, but with NEW profile, losing everything that went before. If you had deleted EVERY file in the 'remote' folder, you could not do anything in the demo, not even start a new profile. You would get a 'No Profile' warning, click OK, and get the warning again, stuck in a loop.

I spent around 4 hours last night trying to fix my full game, as autosave had failed at some time, but I wasn't sure when.

If you are REALLY lucky you can get some of your profile back, at least back to where it was BEFORE autosave failed. Just like F1 2011, the appears to be linked to your controller in some way, though I can't say that conclusively.

I had a bit of luck ...... then a painful failure, let's hope YOU get the lucky bit. Bear in mind that I planned for this event, but still had trouble. I have a script running every hour backing up the whole of the folder above the 'remote' folder (Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\4389737\208500) to my Skydrive. Buried in the 'local' folder will be ghosts (if you have any saved).

I also have disabled the STEAM CLOUD for this game, after all, there is little point in adding **** files to cloud, then managing a manual fix in some way, then have the cloud put that **** back into your game. Sometimes it does do that, without any warning about files not matching, it just says 'synchronising'.

Firstly either backup the 208500 folder or the remote folder before playing around with files.

Here is the bit that I hope works for you, some will recognise it from F1 2011, I have just added a step or to ensure that the controller is disconnected, and can play no part in the procedure.

1/ Disconnect your wheel form the USB port.

2/ Right Click on F1 2012 in Steam > Properties > Updates > Untick "Enable steam cloud synchronization for F1 2012"

3/ Boot the game using your keyboard, using the ENTER key as the START button.

4/ MyF1 > Controller Settings > Manually select the Keyboard as your controller

5/ MyF1 > Click the big Save menu item > Do you see the AUTOSAVE warning?

6/ If YES, it should be fixed. If you don't see it you might have to try the another method.

7/ Close the game and reconnect your wheel

8/ Start the game > MyF1 > Controller Settings > Reselect your wheel (not custom), and then do any button remappings, ffb and other settings that you wish.

9/ Back out to the MyF1 menu, hopefully the autosave warning showed, if it didn't try the big manual Save menu item. If you see it saving, then you should be good to go, and you will have lost anything after the point that autosave failed, but at least not everything.

I was OK at this point, but then I went into the MyF1 > Profile menu item, and disabled autosave. Then from that moment on, the game would not autosave nor manual save. So I repeated 1 to 9 above, but I could not get it working again.


Another alternative, was mentioned above (KellerF1). It uses the files from the 'remote' folder that you backed up earlier (you did, didn't you?). I just added the controller steps below, because I am just convinced there is something in the profiles files, associated with the controller, that is part of this bug .....

1/ Disconnect your wheel (remember Steam cloud is best disabled) and start on the keyboard.

2/ Start the game > Create a new profile > Make sure the new profile has the exact same name as your previous profile. It is up to you if you want to use autosave again, select no to the autosave questions if you want manual save (I certainly do)

3/ When you get into the Garage, escape back out to the main menu (why do they do this, when you haven't had a chance to tweak any settings?)

4/ Tweak a couple of settings, anything will do, and CHECK that autosave works (you get the warning). If you are on manual save, then try the SAVE option in the MyF1 menu. In manual save your will see a red busy symbol displayed. It should all be working, it is unlikely that it doesn't work.

5/ Close the game

6/ Copy all the files back from your backup copy of the 'remote' folder, into your Steam 'remote folder, overwriting everything.

7/ Do not connect your wheel

8/ Start the game on the keyboard

9/ Make sure that the keyboard is selected as the controller in the settings, try changing a couple of minor setting and see if autosave or manual save is working. If all is good, then you can close the game, connect the wheel, start the game up and set it up again from fresh.

If nothing is working after all this, the you are pretty well screwed, and will probably have to start again from day one.

At this point is is up to you whether to re-enable the Steam cloud.

In my case, I had hourly backup files to use when trying to repair the install, so had more to work with, It did take hours going through them all, and going through the procedures above with each on of them.

As a side note, there are a couple of file in the 'remote' folder that are VERY similar to the ones in F1 2011.

savegame@profile0#gtehxosjz_0

savegame@profile0#gtehxosjz_1

In F1 2011 some people repaired (up to a point) their career profiles by deleting file 0, copying file 1, then renaming the copy as file 0. If that didn't work, then they did the opposite. Delete file 1, copy file 0, rename the copy of file 0 as file 1

When I tried this in the demo ...... yes I got this bug in the demo too ....Grrrrr!

The result when booting the game is 'Corrupted Profile'. So I didn't try it this time in the full game.

I think the theory was that one file was a backup of the other, and both files held your career data. Well. not in this game it seems ......

Right ...... I am off to watch the Singapore Grand Prix Quali, that has just started.

Toodle Pip!

 

[saxoross]

Thanks, that 1st piece of advice has worked but im yet to run a session to see if it works after.

I'm just wondering, say after the session the autosave or manual save isnt working, if I could switch the controller over to keyboard (before closing the game and losing progress) and then it maybe allowing you to save....

 

[Paul Lock]

The TLDR of Gnu UK's post above is :

1. Uninstall F1 2012.
2. Install GSC 2012.

 

[Graham Laing]

Thanks, that 1st piece of advice has worked but im yet to run a session to see if it works after.

I'm just wondering, say after the session the autosave or manual save isnt working, if I could switch the controller over to keyboard (before closing the game and losing progress) and then it maybe allowing you to save....

You do what you have to, and try anything to see if it works. I doubt that changing to keyboard will help when the game is running, because the fact that you changed it isn't being saved at that point in time. It is probably the initialisation of the devices at boot that makes the difference, but then again, I have no specialist knowledge, just guesswork. For instance, I have never tried disconnecting my wheel when the game is running (in the menu), but I might just do that to see what happens, if I lose the save again. I'd probably get a game freeze, but at that point when you have run your race and can't save the game, there isn't much left to lose. (Except your patience)

Every time I start a session now, I am going to hit that Save button, and if nothing happens change something minor and try again. Just to make sure that is is working BEFORE I do any driving.

Throughout the various race sessions, when you use autosave, the game writes out the save file quite frequently, which potentially increase the chances of a failure. This is why I have gone manual, the only time you HAVE to save is just before you shut down the game. It it's at that point you will discover whether the save has gone 'tits up' again. But as least you know for sure. You just have to remember to save game, don't ignore the warnings.

Don't forget that that any custom car setups are also in those save files, as I learned to my cost. I was one of many who thought this whole saving bug debacle was down to GFWL, we couldn't be more wrong

@ Paul Lock

How about :-

1. Leave F1 2012 installed and get what you can out of it ..... and err dream of a fix

2. Leave GSC 2012 installed and play that too

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

Wow, credit to you Gnu for putting in this much serious effort in finding a solution.

If I worked at CM I would feel very ashamed for doing this to paying customers...
I have gone from being a fan of codies products to staying clear of them as of F12012, which is sad, but they simply can't be trusted to give us a working product.

Think that the 2010 version is actually the best of them, it's been going downhill fast after that. Sign over the licence to Reiza I say, they seem to know what they are doing and doesn't slam the door in our face after they got our money.

 

[saxoross]

I ran a session but get the bug afterwards. Even playing around and managing to get to the following GP (saving, exiting and loading the game after each session) it will become unsavable somewhere along the line. What controllers are you guys using? Im DFGT.

 

[Graham Laing]

Wow, credit to you Gnu for putting in this much serious effort in finding a solution.

If I worked at CM I would feel very ashamed for doing this to paying customers...
I have gone from being a fan of codies products to staying clear of them as of F12012, which is sad, but they simply can't be trusted to give us a working product.

Think that the 2010 version is actually the best of them, it's been going downhill fast after that. Sign over the licence to Reiza I say, they seem to know what they are doing and doesn't slam the door in our face after they got our money.

I would love to see what Reiza could do with something like this, but probably they need a new game engine, where they can do their great simulation, but produce the eye candy too.

It will be also be interesting to see how they handle their forthcoming 'Senna - The Game', and how it looks and feels.

@saxoross - Logitech G27 - I had this bug in F1 2011 with the DFGT, but I'd given up on career mode by the time I got the G27. When I say that I think the controller is possibly linked into this bug, I meant at a lower level in the program code, rather than by wheel make or type ........ and it's only a theory

 

[Roy Sutton]

I just started F1 2012 and it said my save was currupt, so i had to start again. Anyway i'm not here to moan and i didn't start this topic to get people to moan, just to ask a question that i hope will help many people out till CM release a patch that i hope fixes this problem.

Where is the savegame files located?

 

[felipinhogiro]

i have the same doubt here

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

Guys, there is a thread about this already...

http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/autosave-problem.56434/

 

[Graham Laing]

Guys, there is a thread about this already...

http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/autosave-problem.56434/

I was just about to say say, "Why are you linking back to the beginning of the same thread?", then just realised in time that Bram must have merged some posts from another thread.

But you had me going for minute

 

[Jan-Olov Johansson]

I was just about to say say, "Why are you linking back to the beginning of the same thread?", then just realised in time that Bram must have merged some posts from another thread.

But you had me going for minute

Yeah

 

[Graham Laing]

As an addendum to all the stuff above, the manual save is still working fine, all I lost in the end was P3 in China, but at least everything else is there.

So I would highly recommend disabling autosave and use manual save only, it's probably safer.

The magic word is "probably" here, not "definitely"

 

[saxoross]

So when it stopped saving did you go back to the most recent save that worked, do the session again and save succesfully?

What you don't want is for it to stop working after a long race of which you can't save.

 

[Graham Laing]

Yes, more or less.

I started a new career.

I went back through my saves, installed the files, and did the keyboard/controller thing above. So once I had a got it working, I immediately set the game to manual saves, and saved it out again. I was lucky that I had a save that could be used, I had many to choose from because of the hourly saves.

It only took time because many of the hourly saves are the same files as the previous backed up files, because I hadn't been playing the game for many hours, and didn't know at what point it all went wrong.

I am not smart enough to write any script than can check the file creation date of a bunch of files, and only backup if the file date has changed.

There is a chance that if you have only one set of files to work with, and you start a new career, then use those files, and do the keyboard/controller thing, it might just work. There isn't many options when it comes to recovering your career, so it's worth a try just in case it works for you.

EDIT: I did that P3 @ China about 30 mins ago. I have just booted the game, and it says next session Q1. So all is good

 

[Roy Sutton]

I will try manual saves, and i think its time to also think about backing up the savegames. Don't want to have to keep doing all the setups over and over, its bad enough having to start the cereer again.

 

[Manalys]

I'm Quite confused, as there seem to be 2 problems linked to the autosave thingy.

1. Autosave doesn't save, and game starts back to your previous save.
2. Profile save is corrupt.

The latter happened to me. I haven't touched anything in the hopes there might be something that might help as I've gone pretty far in career and online rank, and don't really wanna do it all over again.
Went on to my game, at 6pm and bam, there it was, I tried accessing my profile and turns out my profile is corrupt.

Now I'm quite a klutz at fixing these kind of things, so I'd be grateful if someone could explain for which savebug those nicely thought out methods work ;D, and what exactly I should be doing to get back my data before the corruption .
Thank you all in advance, I hope something gets figured out soon...

 

[Graham Laing]

You only have a limited choice of options. Unfortunately if there really is a corrupt file in your profile, it also means that the file that is stored on the Steam Cloud is corrupt too, assuming that you have closed Steam at some point, as that is when Steam synchronises the files with the cloud. I don't really see much point of the Steam Cloud to be honest

Personally, if I were you I would disable the cloud.

Make copy of the Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\4389737\208500\remote folder and place on on your desktop.

Disconnect your wheel

Start the game on keyboard and create a new profile using the same driver name as you used before, and ALSO disable autosave (you will be asked about autosave)

As it's a new profile you will be taken to the YDT, just get back to the main menu ASAP

Change a couple of basic settings, go to the MyF1 menu and click SAVE. If you see it saving, a red rotating busy symbol (you will for sure as it's a new profile). That's the 1st stage done. (Your profile save files have now been over-written)

Close the game, and copy the remote folder contents (on your desktop) back into the Steam remote folder, and over-write all you new profile files.

Start the game with your keyboard (no wheel connected yet), and hopefully your profile is there and you do not get the Profile Corrupt warning. If it is corrupt, you're screwed, and you might as well create a new profile again, and start your whole game and career from scratch.

If you do get into the game, go to the MyF1 > Profile Menu and disable autosave again (it will be back now). Come out of that menu (or tweak another minor item from another menu) and hit the manual SAVE button. If it works you should be good to go .... You can also check the current state of your career and see what you have lost.

Close the game, connect your wheel, start the game, select the default wheel available to you (whatever one your using), and tweak the wheel settings to your taste.

Go back to the MyF1 menu and hit the SAVE again. It should still work.

Carry on playing until it happens again Hopefully less likely with manual saves.

Next time you play, you can test that the save works, before you race. Do your race or sessions, tweak any setting you like, just make sure that you hit the save button when you have finally finished with the game.

Good luck .......

Damn ... did I just write all that again? ....... I must be mad!