auto game saver thing-a-mah-bob?

[stevek1977]

is there something that will auto save after every turn and name the file differently so that it isn't writing over the single auto save file (maybe based on time/date)?

the built in functionality is great, the only problem is that it saves the most recent turn and overwrites what was there on the turn before. what would be great is if you could go back through your previous turns because each one was saved as a different name and not just the single auto save.

maybe something in the xml config stuff that determines the name of the auto save file?

[Laconic]

I don't think so. Autosaves in most games that I know of overwrite themselves. If you hit Ctrl+S and Ctrl+L you can quicksave and quickload, respectively, without having to go into the menu and manually saving, though these also overwrite themselves.

[stevek1977]

well that makes me sad. and it is all your fault!

[HoreTore]

Well, technically, you can make a program that watches the save folder, and every time there is a new autosave, it duplicates it with a new name...

[stevek1977]

Well, technically, you can make a program that watches the save folder, and every time there is a new autosave, it duplicates it with a new name...

i actually thought about writing a batch file that would do that. but then figured it wouldn't be very complicated to just append the datetime to the end of the autosave file when it is written and figured there would be a way to do it...

guess i may need to look into something that runs with the windows task scheduler.

thanks for the responses guys, i do appreciate it.

[Whacker]

I'd say it depends on what you want to accomplish. If you just want something to fall back on for the previous turn, just use the quicksave feature, it works great.

If not and you honestly want a save for every turn, then you're stuck with doing the alt-tab tapdance and manually making saves, or if you can do what hore-tore said and code up with a little memory resident program that'll do it for you. Good luck either way.

[pat the magnificent]

well that makes me sad. and it is all your fault!

i don't what Laconic's problem is... some people are just plain jerks, i guess.

[Nelson]

I see what you're saying, Stevek. I think CA was just trying to prevent the game from becoming a storage hog.

The quick and auto save feature has worked like this since Shogun. It's a good compromise I think between keeping what you want and unbridled save file replication. As you manually name your saves you can see them pile up and delete the old ones. The quick saves won't continue to create ever more files thus chewing up storage. And auto saves won't either.

Of course, you do need to be mindful of quickly overwriting something during the current turn you could want...

[sapi]

What i would love to see in more games is the implementation of a multi-slot quick- and autosave feature (ie you can go back up to, say 3 turns without problems)

[stevek1977]

What i would love to see in more games is the implementation of a multi-slot quick- and autosave feature (ie you can go back up to, say 3 turns without problems)

something like that is exactly what i was looking for.

[Whacker]

What i would love to see in more games is the implementation of a multi-slot quick- and autosave feature (ie you can go back up to, say 3 turns without problems)

Capital idea old bunt! 5-10 slots would be optimal imo. Feature request list time?

[sapi]

Maybe so.

It's built into the source engine, iirc, as well as many others, so i really have no idea why it's not standard practice.

3 - 5 saves takes up no space and would provide a huge peace of mind

[Nelson]

A handful of quick save slots that use very little storage while providing peace of mind?

Brilliant!

[Whacker]

Maybe so.

It's built into the source engine, iirc, as well as many others, so i really have no idea why it's not standard practice.

3 - 5 saves takes up no space and would provide a huge peace of mind

I'm almost inclined to say why not 10? My savegames are clocking in around 1.5 meg each, that's peanuts compared to the what, 13+ gig the game takes up unpacked?? HDD space really shouldn't be an issue these days, and if it is then honestly it's probably time to look at upgrading or getting a 2nd HDD. 300 gig models go for about 80$ if you shop online (don't get Maxtor unless you hate life, your data, and yourself).

[sapi]

5's enough imo, but while we're dreaming the user should also be able to set the number that they want in the options

[stevek1977]

5's enough imo, but while we're dreaming the user should also be able to set the number that they want in the options

but why does it have to be a dream? why oh why?!

[sapi]

It shouldn't be, but that's life, i guess :(