FIX: Save Game Problems
Hi there,
At last I found the problem of the game. (Once again, shame telltale! I was one of your fans)
The problem of game is position of stat file (as lot of people mentioned before in different threads.) Not just changing in place of stat file but also having two different place to save stats at same time.
Lot of people found that there is a "prefs.prop" in "Pack\default" directory at game installation directory. Some others found one in "steamapps". Some people found that there is one in "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" (Where it should be actually) and some even found same folder and files in "Public Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead".
I am going to speak about my version of game now (Steam Version Updated with all four episodes),
It seems that in my computer, game use two "prefs.prop" file. One on "Pack\default" and one in "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" next to save games.
We must know that the game don't use save games as a way to find out where we are in game. Saving slots and even stats are in "prefs.prop" not in save-games.
So all of our problems such as not knowing save games and not moving decisions between episodes,etc are problems of "prefs.prop" file, not save games.
The problem of game is that it save and read "prefs.prop" in different locations (In my case two place. And i think it must be same for most of peoples). So when it saves "prefs.prop" to one place and later want to read it from another place it read older one. or even worse, if cant read other one because there isn't one (In some particular situations it will make game to show black screen. Otherwise it will create missing file or try other one.).
Here is what game do:
"Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead"
Update when: Saving game (checkpoints)
Read when: Moving decisions to new episode
In other word: Read and write by in-game code
"Pack\default"
Update when: Opening game menu + Ending an episode + Saving options + Closing game
Read when: by menu, from when you open your game to when want to select your save slot and so on until opening of actual game
In other word: Read and write by game menu
If not available: If file was not already there, then it will use "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" one. But when game create it for first time then game will use it as first option. This is why we don't have any problem until end of episode one.
What to do in different situations:
According to above description we can guess what to do when a problem occurred. Check below:
S1: No save slot shown (all empty).
A: It happen when you update your game. It seems that it is because of removing "prefs.prop" file from "Pack\default" by setup process. So what you need to do is to copy "prefs.prop" from "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" to "Pack\default".
S2: Save slot seems outdated but works.
A: It is outdated because your process in game saved in "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" version of "prefs.prop" but menu read it from "Pack\default" (which is saved at ending of your last episode), and of course it works even with that situation because when you click continue it will try to read "prefs.prop" from "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead". So what you should to do is to copy "prefs.prop" from "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" to "Pack\default" folder.
S3: I started new episode before closing game but now it is not available in menu and i cant select to continue!!
A: situation is same as above problem but in other order. You must do same thing. Copy "prefs.prop" from "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" to "Pack\default" folder.
S4: Ok I am done with this episode but my decisions wont move to new episode!
A: This is different situation. As i said when you end an episode it will update "prefs.prop" file in "Pack\default", but when it want to read your decisions it read "prefs.prop" file in "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead". So solution is to copy "prefs.prop" from "Pack\default" to "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead".
In other word:
Keep "prefs.prop" files sync. When you see a problem with your save-games, try to check and see if they are all sync. Always copy BIGGER file to other locations. Latest file sometimes has more recent modification date and always must be slightly larger in size too. Just copy and replace smaller versions of "prefs.prop".
Not always this folders:
I know that some times stat file may go to "Public Documents" or "steamapps" folder. This is not a big deal. Just sync them no matter where they are. Always replace old ones with new one and you are done.
MAC USERS:
All information posted here is correct for MAC too but folders are diffrent. You must check this two folder: (Replace YOURNAME with your username.)
EASY LIFETIME SOLUTION FOR NTFS USERS: (Only for Win Vista/7/8)
If you use NTFS as filesystem format for your hard partitions then you can run this line of commends in CMD:
Note: If you didn't installed steam in same drive as windows you must change "%PROGRAMFILES%" to "YOURSTEAMDRIVE:\Program Files" and "%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%" to "YOURSTEAMDRIVE:\Program Files (x86)" in below commends.
Note 2: You better take a backup from your save-games at Public Documents and "prefs.prop" at both steamapps folder and Pack\default folder.
Note 3: This commends will not solve your old problems (they may solve but there is no guarantee. Use it when you solved all your problems and everything is correct. Then it can prevent any other problem.) But if you use them correctly they sure prevent any problem in future.
1. FIX your game using older parts. DONT USE THIS PART IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEM YET.
2. Go to "%PROGRAMFILES%\Steam\steamapps\common\the walking dead\Pack\default" and remove "prefs.prop" if any.
3. Go to "%PROGRAMFILES%\Steam\steamapps" and remove "prefs.prop" if any.
4. Go to "%public%\Documents" and create "Telltale Games" directory if there wasn't any. If it was there, Then empty it. (Move contents to someplace safe)
4. Go to "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\" and move "GameData" to someplace safe if there was any.
5. Now press WinKey+R and type CMD.
6. Use below commends and type them in CMD window.
Win Vista/7/8 32 Bit:
Win Vista/7/8 64 Bit:
Tell me about any miss-information or new investigation results.
Hope this one solve your saving problems.
P.S: It seems that "corrupt file", "black screen" and other problems are not related to location of "prefs.prop" but to validation (and integrity) of data saved in it and save-games. I don't know how to fix them but always try to keep a copy from your save game via ingame menu (Play on slot 1 for example and copy to slot 2 after finishing an episode each time). I can confirm that a problem in one slot wont effect other slots until whole "prefs.prop" become corrupt which is unlikely.
P.S2: You better keep a backup of "prefs.prop" every time you change it.
At last I found the problem of the game. (Once again, shame telltale! I was one of your fans)
The problem of game is position of stat file (as lot of people mentioned before in different threads.) Not just changing in place of stat file but also having two different place to save stats at same time.
Lot of people found that there is a "prefs.prop" in "Pack\default" directory at game installation directory. Some others found one in "steamapps". Some people found that there is one in "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" (Where it should be actually) and some even found same folder and files in "Public Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead".
I am going to speak about my version of game now (Steam Version Updated with all four episodes),
It seems that in my computer, game use two "prefs.prop" file. One on "Pack\default" and one in "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" next to save games.
We must know that the game don't use save games as a way to find out where we are in game. Saving slots and even stats are in "prefs.prop" not in save-games.
So all of our problems such as not knowing save games and not moving decisions between episodes,etc are problems of "prefs.prop" file, not save games.
The problem of game is that it save and read "prefs.prop" in different locations (In my case two place. And i think it must be same for most of peoples). So when it saves "prefs.prop" to one place and later want to read it from another place it read older one. or even worse, if cant read other one because there isn't one (In some particular situations it will make game to show black screen. Otherwise it will create missing file or try other one.).
Here is what game do:
"Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead"
Update when: Saving game (checkpoints)
Read when: Moving decisions to new episode
In other word: Read and write by in-game code
"Pack\default"
Update when: Opening game menu + Ending an episode + Saving options + Closing game
Read when: by menu, from when you open your game to when want to select your save slot and so on until opening of actual game
In other word: Read and write by game menu
If not available: If file was not already there, then it will use "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" one. But when game create it for first time then game will use it as first option. This is why we don't have any problem until end of episode one.
What to do in different situations:
According to above description we can guess what to do when a problem occurred. Check below:
S1: No save slot shown (all empty).
A: It happen when you update your game. It seems that it is because of removing "prefs.prop" file from "Pack\default" by setup process. So what you need to do is to copy "prefs.prop" from "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" to "Pack\default".
S2: Save slot seems outdated but works.
A: It is outdated because your process in game saved in "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" version of "prefs.prop" but menu read it from "Pack\default" (which is saved at ending of your last episode), and of course it works even with that situation because when you click continue it will try to read "prefs.prop" from "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead". So what you should to do is to copy "prefs.prop" from "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" to "Pack\default" folder.
S3: I started new episode before closing game but now it is not available in menu and i cant select to continue!!
A: situation is same as above problem but in other order. You must do same thing. Copy "prefs.prop" from "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead" to "Pack\default" folder.
S4: Ok I am done with this episode but my decisions wont move to new episode!
A: This is different situation. As i said when you end an episode it will update "prefs.prop" file in "Pack\default", but when it want to read your decisions it read "prefs.prop" file in "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead". So solution is to copy "prefs.prop" from "Pack\default" to "Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead".
In other word:
Keep "prefs.prop" files sync. When you see a problem with your save-games, try to check and see if they are all sync. Always copy BIGGER file to other locations. Latest file sometimes has more recent modification date and always must be slightly larger in size too. Just copy and replace smaller versions of "prefs.prop".
Not always this folders:
I know that some times stat file may go to "Public Documents" or "steamapps" folder. This is not a big deal. Just sync them no matter where they are. Always replace old ones with new one and you are done.
MAC USERS:
All information posted here is correct for MAC too but folders are diffrent. You must check this two folder: (Replace YOURNAME with your username.)
/Users/YOURNAME/Library/Application Support/Telltale Games/TheWalkingDead/prefs.prop
/Users/YOURNAME/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/the walking dead/TheWalkingDead.app/Contents/Resources/Pack/default/prefs.prop
EASY LIFETIME SOLUTION FOR NTFS USERS: (Only for Win Vista/7/8)
If you use NTFS as filesystem format for your hard partitions then you can run this line of commends in CMD:
Note: If you didn't installed steam in same drive as windows you must change "%PROGRAMFILES%" to "YOURSTEAMDRIVE:\Program Files" and "%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%" to "YOURSTEAMDRIVE:\Program Files (x86)" in below commends.
Note 2: You better take a backup from your save-games at Public Documents and "prefs.prop" at both steamapps folder and Pack\default folder.
Note 3: This commends will not solve your old problems (they may solve but there is no guarantee. Use it when you solved all your problems and everything is correct. Then it can prevent any other problem.) But if you use them correctly they sure prevent any problem in future.
1. FIX your game using older parts. DONT USE THIS PART IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEM YET.
2. Go to "%PROGRAMFILES%\Steam\steamapps\common\the walking dead\Pack\default" and remove "prefs.prop" if any.
3. Go to "%PROGRAMFILES%\Steam\steamapps" and remove "prefs.prop" if any.
4. Go to "%public%\Documents" and create "Telltale Games" directory if there wasn't any. If it was there, Then empty it. (Move contents to someplace safe)
4. Go to "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\" and move "GameData" to someplace safe if there was any.
5. Now press WinKey+R and type CMD.
6. Use below commends and type them in CMD window.
Win Vista/7/8 32 Bit:
mklink "%PROGRAMFILES%\Steam\steamapps\common\the walking dead\Pack\default\prefs.prop" "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead\prefs.prop"
mklink "%PROGRAMFILES%\Steam\steamapps\prefs.prop" "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead\prefs.prop"
mklink /D "%public%\Documents\Telltale Games\the walking dead" "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead"
mklink /D "%public%\Documents\Telltale Games\GameData" "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead"
mklink /D "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\GameData" "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead"
Win Vista/7/8 64 Bit:
This will solve your problem. You don't need to do any thing. Just play and Windows will force game to save pref.prop in same place always.mklink "%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Steam\steamapps\common\the walking dead\Pack\default\prefs.prop" "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead\prefs.prop"
mklink "%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Steam\steamapps\prefs.prop" "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead\prefs.prop"
mklink /D "%public%\Documents\Telltale Games\the walking dead" "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead"
mklink /D "%public%\Documents\Telltale Games\GameData" "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead"
mklink /D "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\GameData" "%UserProfile%\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead"
Tell me about any miss-information or new investigation results.
Hope this one solve your saving problems.
P.S: It seems that "corrupt file", "black screen" and other problems are not related to location of "prefs.prop" but to validation (and integrity) of data saved in it and save-games. I don't know how to fix them but always try to keep a copy from your save game via ingame menu (Play on slot 1 for example and copy to slot 2 after finishing an episode each time). I can confirm that a problem in one slot wont effect other slots until whole "prefs.prop" become corrupt which is unlikely.
P.S2: You better keep a backup of "prefs.prop" every time you change it.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
It may be on "steamapps" folder.
You can test your luck by copying from My Document to Pack/default and see if problem solved. Otherwise you need to locate second "prefs.prop" by searching.
Thank you for this. Was stuck repeating episode 2 and when I would stay in the game to try to and finish it and go to episode 3, it would revere all my settings to default and tell me that none of the others were available to play yet. Following this worked. Sad that a player had to figure this out rather than TellTale doing their job but it's much appreciated none the less.
Sure it must. But you need to locate all file locations. They may be different with what we wrote here.
I don't know if OSX support symbolic link too or not but if it can then you can use NTFS solution too. (Linux support that but i am not sure about mac)
* EDIT: Read Mac part in my first post.
Do a search in windows for prefs.prop two folders will appear, you has to be sure that the two are the same file (identical time).
Do a backup of the two, and replace one for the other if this doesnt work revert the process and try replacing the files the other way.
Do this everytime you enter the game.
Do you played an episode completely?! Before ending one episode you should not have any problem. What is your problem currently?
Worked for me, I am playing on a Mac OS X.
Actually it made one file "newer" when just opening the game and closing it after I saw that the savegames cannot be right and it still was the one with the old savegame information. So I suggest what ClavoARG said.
Thanks for your post. My problem was solved with it.
@toecutter1978: If there is only one file so you must have no problem. (What is your problem with save games now?) If you have any, try to copy it to other place and see if any thing changed. Not likely but.
Up yours Telltale.
I tried to copy it to /Pack/default but hasn't worked for me
Ok, I made savegame folder backup. Found this topic, copy pref-file to game/pack/default but still nothing. And I guess I know why. When I open game first time game changed pref file. And now pref-file have last change date is today (and very possible that this is "clean" file now). So, looks like I lost my saves:( No, there are 64 save files, but this didn't look useful now.
Afraid, I didn't have desire to replay game again, at least for now. Burn out, I guess.
I dunno, maybe there are some sort of savegame editor for TWD?
Ok. Let's start ep.5. Good luck to me
For some reason the final Episode 4 prefs.prop gets saved into the Episode 4 folder causing the problem. At least i found the file there and when i used it to copy it over the two files talked about here it enabled me to continue my game.
Create backups first to be save!
Copy it from "the walking dead 4" to the two loactions named in that tutorial and you should be able to use your ep 4 savegames to start ep 5. Worked for me.
I'm having my first encounter with the save bug now, with the 5th episode. I have two saves that are supposed to continue to episode 5; one of them keeps taking me to the penultimate checkpoint in Episode 5 (and it keeps doing so even after I just now finished the episode from that point; I can't seem to be able to proceed to Ep 5), and the other save just makes the game crash when I try to start episode 5. I have tried syncing the two prefs files according to the instructions.
Oh and there is no prefs.prop file in my WalkingDead104 folder. It's the Steam version, FYI.
edit: I switched around with one of the different prefs files that I had backed up and looks like I got it fixed, more or less; I may have synced the wrong version of prefs.prop earlier (the smaller version ended up being the one that worked). I am not jumping from joy yet but hey, as long as it works.
edit2: OK I'm not sure if it's perfect because somehow (ep 4 spoiler)
It isn't fair, Telltale. You can't make me care like this only to have the game freak out on me like this at the very end.
I was able to play episode 5 fine, but when my brother started playing on a new file he got to the end of episode 1, and couldn't carry his decisions over.
I seem to have 1 prefs.prop file inside my documents folder, but not in the game folder itself, and copping it doesn't seem to work.
Could this be caused by having multiple save files?
Edit: never mind, turned out the decisions were remembered, but for some reason the game didn't think it was. Just continuing worked fine
Of course your fix worked but before then I couldn't even get the game to start on Win8. Apparently you need a .dll placed into the install directory if you're using a controller. http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=697804 worked to fix that (or pointed me in the right direction).
This game is a total mess. Luckily it's good enough to bother but Telltale really needs to clean up their act on the PC.
on the 1st episode it says continue
so i press continue it then takes me to the second episode where it says play i click play and it says generate story decisions for skipped episodes i have not skipped any episodes so i press no so i got back to episode one it still says continue i click it it takes me to episode 2 and the same thing happens when i click play it asks me to generate decisions for skipped episodes is this meant to happen ?
if its not i only have one pref file and thats in my documents/TellTale/TWD no idea what to do
I'm guessing in episode 4 or 5 somewhere you did a "fix" to store the saved data inside the proper folder but forgot to catch a few references in the code that still point to the old file.
So... my problem and how it was fixed (for posterity)
Problem:
1. play game through end of episode 4, start ep5 for a few chapters.
2. exit game (11-23-2012)
3. load game up and saved game menu says it's from 10-20-2012.
4. load saved game up and i'm still in chapter 4.
Solution:
1. Made backup of following directories:
-
- C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead
2. Overwrote C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead\prefs.prop with
3. Load game
4. menu properly shows saved game from 11-23-2012
Edit:
5. for good measure I deleted
6. loaded game up again and saved game is still correct one.
Someone please sticky the OP's thread.
My proposed solution for telltale based on what I think the problem is:
1. Write some code to search the known directories that could have the prefs.prop file in it
2. Find the one that is farthest in the game
3. Copy it(overwrite) to the proper directory
4. Delete any other versions.
Having a very similar issue. I lot all my previous save files due to a HD meltdown (I know, I know... back up my files. I do now). So, today I started a new playthrough and played the first 4 episodes... Zero issues. Ep.4 credits end, the game goes back to the main menu... I go to start Ep.5 and then the game crashes to a black screen... I wait and wait... nothing happens... I end up ctrl-alt-del'ing back to desktop. When I restart the game it goes to windowed mode, makes me reset the resolution... but now all my saves are gone!?!?
I tried to follow your advice... BUT my pref.prop is in the right place, I think, C:\Users\______\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead, and nowhere else. It doesn't matter if I copy it to "game/pack/default"... nothing works!?
This is a great game... and it's been issue free for me until today... but now I'm pretty f'n annoyed. WTF!?
But you can check how game works, Follow this post,
Download Process Monitor
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645
Open it. Disable Registry, Network and Process Monitor from toolbar, let only File monitor active.
Open Filter Menu (CTRL+L) and add this two filter:
Process Name Begins With WalkingDead Include
Path contains pref Include
And click Ok. Open game and see what files game try to read from what locations. It will show you even if there is no file there.