help! i cant load save files anymore!

[rayman158]

please tell my how to fix it! say how to fix it or ill suicide!

[balmung03]

whoa, whoa. hold on. don't kill yourself over a game, that's just idiotic. here are a few situations which would make you unable to load saves.

 

Situation: When I start SA, there are no save files listed for me to load.

Fix: Are there save files in your San Andreas User Files folder? If so, they need to be named as such: GTASAsfX.b (X denotes the save file number, it should be any number from 1 to 8)

Are there no save files in your San Andreas User Files folder? If this is the case, you have either deleted them or moved them elsewhere. Try a search of your computer for files named "GTASAsf", not including the number or extension, and it should find any save files that you may have accidentally moved. If that doesn't work, maybe you deleted them. If you deleted them in the game, they are gone for good. If you deleted them while browsing the User Files folder, and haven't emptied your recycle bin since deleting them, they should still be in there. Simply restore the files and resume playing.

 

Situation: When I start SA, there are save files listed for me to load, but when I try to load them the game crashes.

Fix: One of two things have happened here: either the save file is from the wrong version of the game, or you've installed/uninstalled a script mod.

If you bought the game fairly recently, then you have version 2.0 of the game (on the main screen of the game you will see "2.0" displayed in one corner of the screen). If you tried downloading a save file from somewhere else that was a version 1.0 file, then they are uncompatible and therefore you cannot use it. Given your description, this isn't your problem, but I'm listing it anyway.

If you've just recently downloaded and installed or uninstalled a script mod (a mod that involves you replacing the main.scm and script.img files found in the data\script folder in your SA game files (usually installed in the program files folder during installation), then this is probably the problem. Once you alter the main.scm and/or script.img files, the save files from before become incompatible. If you had a savefile before and then installed a script mod, then your other save will be unplayable until you put the original main.scm and script.img files back. If you wanted to play using that mod, you'll have to start a new game.

If you had just uninstalled a script mod, the save file is only compatible if you are using that mod, so it will not work with the original script files. The only way to fix this is to reinstall the mod. If you wish to play using the original script files, you will have to start a new game.

Examples of script mods are hot coffee, n00bmode, spaceeinstein's all in one mod, SANGA mod, etc.

 

There is one more problem that could prevent you from loading a save file, and that would be due to it being corrupted. I have never encountered this problem before, but it is possible. On platforms like PS2 and Xbox, it tells you not to unplug the memory source or shut off the game when saving, so if you do things like that while saving your game (resetting your computer, stopping your hard drive), the file will become corrupted. Now, those things are kinda hard to do on purpose at just the right moment, so perhaps a power surge coming through while you're saving would be a better way of saying it. There may be other instances where your save could be corrupted, so my advice is to always make two saves of the same game, and when you save, choose one file the first time and another file the next, and alternate. This way, if you ever run into trouble with the most recent file, at least you have a backup that shouldn't have a problem with it.

 

Albeit long, I hope this helps. Perhaps I should try and make a post of this and get it pinned.

[sanandreasisfun]

You know, these situations tend to be much easier if you provide us with more details.