Windows Vista killed my savegames

Ok, in the last few days windows vista decided to upgrade itself without asking me. And now it seems that every single save file for every single game I own has mysteriously disappeared. Some games are even asking for cd keys to be re-entered (mount and blade, etc).

EB was no different. I have lost all my saves, essentially every single faction except 2 or 3 had massive empires. And with most of them I was taking a lead from Fluvius and trying to conquer the whole world with them. Down with that idea now, unless I restart. Thats so many hours of my life gone.

The point of the post is actually to ask if anyone else has recently had vista upgrade to service pack 2 and lose everything? If its not deleted, which I doubt it could actually do, where would the files be relocated to? Seriously, how can the program know to just remove all save files but leave the rest of the programs untouched?

ARGHHH!!!! :bigcry:

think to reformat the desktop, and switch it back into XP.... about $200 is exspensive, but ... :skull:

Windows will not let you install XP if you have Vista, it claims you have a new-er and improved OS, only way to get around it is to partition and thus wreck all OS files, then re-install.

Blxz, I have Vista as well, and I am now glad I turned off Automatic Updates (mostly because I am annoyed that it wanted to update itself every F-ing day even when I only had set it to once a week). As for your games... :no: sorry, I do not know the answer, I can only offer consolence.

You may have date-losses during the integration of an service pack.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

this is why they put the disclaimer in there

If you don't find them by searching, check Recuve a freeware program that helps to find deleted files. Be sure to read the manual, as it may be difficult to understand.

XSamatan

Well, don't know about any date losses or anything like that. I'm not tech savvy enough for all that. Same goes for finding the deleted files. I couldn't really be bothered. Even modding EB to get rid of the giant trees is a bit too complicated and boring sounding for me to try.

I'd rather just start them again, maybe focus on fewer factions and try and complete them. Would be fun to have a series of screenshots of every single faction dominating the world 100%.

Thanks anyway guys.

EDIT: Yeah cute wolf, XP is much better. I am posting this from my XP computer, I actually went and built a new computer about 1 year ago just for the compatibility with so many programs. At least I can post here and play EB at the same time now.

And I play EB only from my XP laptop now... as my stupid cousin installed Windows vista on my high end desktop for birthday "Surprise".... and I can't throw it away because it cost him more than $200.... alas... but at least, even when I can't play RTW without error, M2TW and Its mods are unharmed on vista...

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Originally Posted by Cute Wolf

. as my stupid cousin installed Windows vista on my high end desktop for birthday "Surprise"....

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Happy birthday cousin! I installed a baby-killing OS, how cool is that?
Argh, you didn't kill him, right? And you can always format C:\ and install XP.

He cannot, only way to do so is partition first.

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Originally Posted by Skullheadhq

Happy birthday cousin! I installed a baby-killing OS, how cool is that?
Argh, you didn't kill him, right? And you can always format C:\ and install XP.

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Not entirely Baby killing... as long as my M2TW and CNC3 are untouched... I'll let him live

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Originally Posted by Macilrille

He cannot, only way to do so is partition first.

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Yeah... I hate the way Vista protecting it's own system files.... when I finish my final Project at Univ (as well as my Broken Crescent and Third Age campaigns), I'll uninstall anything, format with linux, and then rewrite with XP.... so I could play EB on max settings again

a little off topic, but:
what puzzles me is that there actually are some people on this planet who use the useless stupid vista out of their own free will...

in my case it's either linux or xp service pack 3. vista developpers should stand trial for "actions aiming to disable private PCs all over the world".

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Originally Posted by Blxz

Ok, in the last few days windows vista decided to upgrade itself without asking me. And now it seems that every single save file for every single game I own has mysteriously disappeared. Some games are even asking for cd keys to be re-entered (mount and blade, etc).

EB was no different. I have lost all my saves, essentially every single faction except 2 or 3 had massive empires. And with most of them I was taking a lead from Fluvius and trying to conquer the whole world with them. Down with that idea now, unless I restart. Thats so many hours of my life gone.

The point of the post is actually to ask if anyone else has recently had vista upgrade to service pack 2 and lose everything? If its not deleted, which I doubt it could actually do, where would the files be relocated to? Seriously, how can the program know to just remove all save files but leave the rest of the programs untouched?

ARGHHH!!!! :bigcry:

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what do you expect? its windows bloated edition. like all bloated corpses, it stinks.

just switch to windows 7 or do as Macrille said. hopefully you won't have that kind of luck.

I'm still using XP, and will not install any furthur window versions on this laptop. I'll just get a second laptop with windows 7.

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Originally Posted by Yarema

a little off topic, but:
what puzzles me is that there actually are some people on this planet who use the useless stupid vista out of their own free will...

in my case it's either linux or xp service pack 3. vista developpers should stand trial for "actions aiming to disable private PCs all over the world".

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Mine came with Vista. I have no extra cash to up/down grade. Want to help? Donate. :help:

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Originally Posted by Yarema

a little off topic, but:
what puzzles me is that there actually are some people on this planet who use the useless stupid vista out of their own free will...

in my case it's either linux or xp service pack 3. vista developpers should stand trial for "actions aiming to disable private PCs all over the world".

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What puzzles me is that there are people considering to go back to XP even then. It's so fricking long in the tooth that it basically expects you to have a floppy drive.

Oh, you don't have 3.5Mb floppies lying around for the inevitable SATA drivers you will need? Oh, you don't actually know the exact SATA/AHCI drivers you will need for your specific harddrive? Oh, you find that they stopped making XP drivers for this new hardware you will own by the time you get round to do that jump backwards? Oh, you find that they stopped shipping XP? Oh... Oh, well.

... And that is before the enjoyable experience of watching the directory layout on the system partition. Oh my...

What? You didn't ever know about the floppies and the drivers and the mess? You just got it pre-installed, pre-configured, with a load of adverts?

... I guess watching from the BIOS how the system clock ticks away the seconds of battery life left in it should prove fun too.

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Originally Posted by Tellos Athenaios

What puzzles me is that there are people considering to go back to XP even then. It's so fricking long in the tooth that it basically expects you to have a floppy drive.

Oh, you don't have 3.5Mb floppies lying around for the inevitable SATA drivers you will need? Oh, you don't actually know the exact SATA/AHCI drivers you will need for your specific harddrive? Oh, you find that they stopped making XP drivers for this new hardware you will own by the time you get round to do that jump backwards? Oh, you find that they stopped shipping XP? Oh... Oh, well.

... And that is before the enjoyable experience of watching the directory layout on the system partition. Oh my...

What? You didn't ever know about the floppies and the drivers and the mess? You just got it pre-installed, pre-configured, with a load of adverts?

... I guess watching from the BIOS how the system clock ticks away the seconds of battery life left in it should prove fun too.

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Seriously guys. Stop dreaming and start living. If your PC came with Vista, don't burn cash buying 7, and don't be idiots and try to pirate. If yours came with 7, give yourself a pat on the back. If certain apps don't work, too bad.

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Originally Posted by Tellos Athenaios

What puzzles me is that there are people considering to go back to XP even then. It's so fricking long in the tooth that it basically expects you to have a floppy drive.

Oh, you don't have 3.5Mb floppies lying around for the inevitable SATA drivers you will need? Oh, you don't actually know the exact SATA/AHCI drivers you will need for your specific harddrive? Oh, you find that they stopped making XP drivers for this new hardware you will own by the time you get round to do that jump backwards? Oh, you find that they stopped shipping XP? Oh... Oh, well.

... And that is before the enjoyable experience of watching the directory layout on the system partition. Oh my...

What? You didn't ever know about the floppies and the drivers and the mess? You just got it pre-installed, pre-configured, with a load of adverts?

... I guess watching from the BIOS how the system clock ticks away the seconds of battery life left in it should prove fun too.

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Wow, I rarely see someone go to such a length to say they don't like something.

Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that vista was one of the most useless OS they made in a long time maybe only topped by Windows ME. Unslavageable to the point that they just went and made Windows 7 before ironing out all the bugs in vista.

At least the crappyness that was XP was patched to the point that it became one of the best OS they have made.

Actually, anyone use windows 7? Is it any good?

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Originally Posted by Blxz

Actually, anyone use windows 7? Is it any good?

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Sadly, not with EB, at least not for me, I'm actually playing EB on a silly VISTA laptop to get performance

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Originally Posted by Blxz

Wow, I rarely see someone go to such a length to say they don't like something.

Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that vista was one of the most useless OS they made in a long time maybe only topped by Windows ME. Unslavageable to the point that they just went and made Windows 7 before ironing out all the bugs in vista.

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That old myth gets long in the tooth as well. :gah: Windows 7 == Vista with some updates. To be sure, some much needed updates but still. The only reason people loathed Vista so much is that OEMs were happy to slap Vista on everything (and no it isn't mans most amazingly lightweight & versatile OS; so yes that was pure pain for many) and that hardware drivers were not initially widely available. However the simple fact that you can grab a Vista driver (WDM 1.0) and use it to drive hardware under 7 (WDM 1.1) just goes to show how much has remained the same. Despite the backwards compatibility, you could not assume that XP would happily use NT 4.0 drivers.

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At least the crappyness that was XP was patched to the point that it became one of the best OS they have made.

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Don't get me wrong. XP was a good job. For its day & age. It was actually designed on a reasonably secure basis, but in practice the security checks & balances were undermined by a number of less security conscious decisions. Such as assuming that you are an Administrator and that of course everything you do is as the Admin God intended, such as assuming that if something contain executable code and you attempt to run it then naturally it is supposed to be run; even if you did not know that you do these things (e.g. installing trojans by opening an e-mail attachment).

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Actually, anyone use windows 7? Is it any good?

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Yes I do. Not much since I only use it to play games & watch movies (i.e. not very often). From what I saw it should run EB just as fine as Vista did given the same hardware, perhaps a notch faster since Windows 7 includes some improvements in the graphics & windowing pipeline. Given the same hardware this means a lot depends on hardware and drivers.

Umm, guys, the tech forums is the other way. :sweatdrop:

Well, the OP still does not have his problem solved is what I am saying, so we should probably do that first...

Anyhow, I think the OP should try rollback (I am pretty sure Vista has the option, but on my computer, Kasperky Internet Security does that). Rollback pretty much reverts your sytem to an earlier state (you can customise the date you want to rollback to). Also, you can check your RTW Folder, then go to the EB Folder, where you will find the 'saves' folder (on my computer it is C:\Rome - Total War\EB\saves). If there are no saves there, than rollback/system restore (I believe that is what it is called on MS OSs) is your only option.

But really, you should be backing up your computer. I know few people do it, especially regularly, but personally, I back up all my savegames as well as few other vital files on a 32 GB flashdrive every other week. My computer as a whole, however, has yet to be backed up :shame:. I should really do it soon, although with Kaspersky Internet Security, malware should not be a problem for me.

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Originally Posted by Aemilius Paulus

Umm, guys, the tech forums is the other way. :sweatdrop:

Well, the OP still does not have his problem solved is what I am saying, so we should probably do that first...

Anyhow, I think the OP should try rollback (I am pretty sure Vista has the option, but on my computer, Kasperky Internet Security does that). Rollback pretty much reverts your sytem to an earlier state (you can customise the date you want to rollback to). Also, you can check your RTW Folder, then go to the EB Folder, where you will find the 'saves' folder (on my computer it is C:\Rome - Total War\EB\saves). If there are no saves there, than rollback/system restore (I believe that is what it is called on MS OSs) is your only option.

But really, you should be backing up your computer. I know few people do it, especially regularly, but personally, I back up all my savegames as well as few other vital files on a 32 GB flashdrive every other week. My computer as a whole, however, has yet to be backed up :shame:. I should really do it soon, although with Kaspersky Internet Security, malware should not be a problem for me.

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OP I don't see how Vista can kill your savegames. Vista is no different than XP or 7 or any godforsaken Micro$oft OS. I don't know where everyone here gets their ludacris ideas about Vista. I personally run the damn thing and it runs fine. I've had no problems, and EB runs sweetly.

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Originally Posted by vartan

OP I don't see how Vista can kill your savegames. Vista is no different than XP or 7 or any godforsaken Micro$oft OS. I don't know where everyone here gets their ludacris ideas about Vista. I personally run the damn thing and it runs fine. I've had no problems, and EB runs sweetly.

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Well I get the idea from the fact that the only thing to change over the course of a few days was a vista service pack upgrade. It didn't even ask me if I wanted to do anything; just shut me down in the middle of another game and restarted. I lost that entire play session as well. Then it finished updating and 'bam'. Systemwide issues with every single game installed there that I have checked so far. I don't want to sound overly nerdy but thats 165 games (yes I just counted then). Actually I didn't count steam games, but thats about 6 games and just checked then; strangely they have not been affected at all. All the saves are intact...hmm?

Truth be told I have no idea how vista could do anything of the sort. Maybe its just reset some settings, maybe its moved some files around, or maybe the whole world is out to get me and is trying to shit on me. Who knows? I reckon its gone for good, and I can deal with that. I'll start again, the system itself is fine once you get used to its little tics and things. EB runs fine with minimal load-up time and almost no lag ever.

Anyway, no one else has had this happen, I consider my post answered.

If they are deleted, they are only "deleted" in the way windows deletes things...that means you can restore them by using software like Recuva, which I linked before.

XSamatan

http://ntfsundelete.com/

Wow nice to hear of a disciple:clown:

But really,which factions were they?

I dont know anything about bringing back deleted/corrupted files. I hope these other nice fellows can help you out!

I had the same once when my XP computer had a hardware problem and everything got deleted (Makedonia). Since then I keep copies of saves on external drives. I know it is too late now but in the future make some backups!

I now also own a win7 laptop besided the usual XP computer. WIndows 7 (32bit) runs EB fine. It runs even faster, no problems, works great!

I never had Vista, I avoided it like a disease. When I think about Vista, I always think of this video:

http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/4234...4f/vista_.html

Hopefully you find some peace with AS (which I have just started too!)

~Fluvius

I never had Vista, I avoided it like a disease. When I think about Vista, I always think of this video:

http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/4234...4f/vista_.html

That was an awesome video

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Originally Posted by Vasiliyi

I never had Vista, I avoided it like a disease. When I think about Vista, I always think of this video:

http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/4234...4f/vista_.html

That was an awesome video

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Yes, the video is very much humorous, but don't be silly. Vista has its holes, and it may not be a stunning success, but the only thing older than complaining about how much Vista supposedly sucks is bitching (IIRC, in this context, the word is not vulgar) about how crappy and bloated each new OS is. They panned MS-DOS as a rubbish as well as bloatware, and they hated XP, calling it a broken hypochondriac (except one that really did get actual infections). Some things just never change. Keep being that way, Vasya, and soon you will be like a bloke who claims 'even nostalgia is not what it used to be' or like that geezer who still claims MIDAS is still the best OS... :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Aemilius Paulus

Yes, the video is very much humorous, but don't be silly. Vista has its holes, and it may not be a stunning success, but the only thing older than complaining about how much Vista supposedly sucks is bitching (IIRC, in this context, the word is not vulgar) about how crappy and bloated each new OS is. They panned MS-DOS as a rubbish as well as bloatware, and they hated XP, calling it a broken hypochondriac (except one that really did get actual infections). Some things just never change. Keep being that way, Vasya, and soon you will be like a bloke who claims 'even nostalgia is not what it used to be' or like that geezer who still claims MIDAS is still the best OS... :laugh4:

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LMFAO @ MIDAS reference. Lock this already!

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Originally Posted by Fluvius Camillus

Wow nice to hear of a disciple:clown:

But really,which factions were they?

I dont know anything about bringing back deleted/corrupted files. I hope these other nice fellows can help you out!


Hopefully you find some peace with AS (which I have just started too!)

~Fluvius

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Well, it was pretty much all of them. I had given up on Rome and Baktria coz it had already been done. I had no Epirus or Carthage game or averni game. And my saba game had just run into a persistant CTD that I just couldn't get around. Other than that every other empire had at least 1 third of the world.

I don't rush quite as fast as you do though. So they were not nearly as fast as yours. I was at about the same time as when you finish a campaign.

Sounds like I will have to speed up and get the AS one done before you do though.

As for getting the files back; I have given up. I would rather let them go and just start afresh. Some of my empires were unstable anyway; I find sweboz suck once you get too far out of their homelands.

@Blxz

But which one was the biggest?

Well don't make the mistake that I do the campaigns that fast to be "Teh Best Blitzer". I just like to play this way, I do roleplay, especially with AS and Baktria. I could have done it even faster, I can prove that. However I won't because it wouldn't be fun (even) for me, I play the way I like it, the reason I paused Pontos and Arverni is because everything is so perfect in the campaign, I dont want to ruin it by blitzing to the end. I won't play AS any faster if you try to beat me. I can only wish you the best of luck! Keep me posted on your progress if you like then I'll do the same.

~Fluvius

There was a guy in the EB II Forum a month or so back who complained the game was too easy after having conquered the world in 25 years on VH/VH if I recall correctly, you can go and look. That must be ultimate Blitzing...

Back to an interesting tidbit about XP-Vista-7. The guy programming the infinitely complex World in Flames- Computer is still using XP...

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Originally Posted by Fluvius Camillus

@Blxz

But which one was the biggest?

Well don't make the mistake that I do the campaigns that fast to be "Teh Best Blitzer". I just like to play this way, I do roleplay, especially with AS and Baktria. I could have done it even faster, I can prove that. However I won't because it wouldn't be fun (even) for me, I play the way I like it, the reason I paused Pontos and Arverni is because everything is so perfect in the campaign, I dont want to ruin it by blitzing to the end. I won't play AS any faster if you try to beat me. I can only wish you the best of luck! Keep me posted on your progress if you like then I'll do the same.

~Fluvius

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My largest was probably either the Sauro's with everything east of Rome or possibly the Saka with almost the entire top half of the map. Each had roughly 130 cities. Something about the nomads is easy for me. Maybe its the cheating horse archer stacks I use.

As for blitzing, I in no way have your talent. I only generally have 2 or 3 field armies and just seige almost all towns to starvation. I like to go at my own pace. Although lately I have been away from the net at my other house. Been doing a very successful Koinion Hellenon (sp?) game on my other computer...the XP one =).
Really, in the end I was just impressed by your completed maps that it made me decide to try and amass a collection of every single faction. I think I'll leave the AS to you for now while I try and complete KH.

Definately keep me updated, either in this thread or preferably via PM.