Amanita Design forum

Machinarium => Lost Saved Games? => Topic started by: popsUlfr on October 19, 2009, 10:02:09 pm



Title: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: popsUlfr on October 19, 2009, 10:02:09 pm
What you need to know before continuing (IMPORTANT!):
User "bsoplinger" (thank you!) made me aware of a critical problem in which it occurs that the Application isn't allowed to Save anything at all on your computer. This means Settings and Progress!
By right-clicking on the screen you get to the Adobe Flash Player Settings Tabs, select the little folder icon.
"How much information can local store on your computer?" Make sure the slider is NOT set to none! At least 100 KB or more are needed!

General guideline:
%AppData%=Refers to the Windows ApplicationData folder. Usually found under "C:\Users\{username}\AppData" or "C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Application Data".
{RANDOMWORD}=A random word generated by the Flash Player. There should only be a single folder anyway under "#SharedObjects".
{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}=Path to your Machinarium Directory without drive letter. Usually "Program Files\Machinarium" or "Program Files (x86)\Machinarium" for x64 Systems.

  • For Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7:
Code:
%AppData%\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\{RANDOMWORD}\localhost\{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}\machinarium.exe\Machinarium.sol
To get immediately to the "#SharedObjects" folder, you can try this:
Start > Run (Winkey+R Alternatively) and
Code:
%AppData%\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects

Under Vista, 7 you would find it in
Code:
%AppData%\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\{RANDOMWORD}\localhost\{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}\machinarium.exe\Machinarium.sol
(Note Win Vista, 7: executing the command "%AppData%" brings you automatically to the "Roaming" folder.)
(Note: the ApplicationData folder is hidden by default!)

[/li]

[li]For MAC:
Code:
~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/{RANDOMWORD}/localhost/{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}/machinarium.app/Machinarium.sol

[/li]

[li]For GNU/Linux|Unix:
Code:
~/.macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects/{RANDOMWORD}/localhost/{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}/machinarium/Machinarium.sol
Note: "localhost" might be called "localwithnet" instead
Code:
~/.macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects/{RANDOMWORD}/localwithnet/{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}/machinarium/Machinarium.sol
    [/li]

For users of CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com/) or Browser Plugins cleaning Private Data Please Read this Sticky (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=359.0) otherwise you might lose your Progress! (Backup your Saves!)

Credits:
Original Thread (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=358.0)
StarRoad (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=358.msg1762#msg1762)


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: jc_bromley on October 22, 2009, 10:45:30 pm
I'm not saving games past a  reboot (XP Pro SP3). I've followed the guidelines here & any changes I make to the size  is lost as well. It reverts back to 100 Kb with 5 Kb used.
Really not happy about this i can tell you!

Anyone else have any suggestions?

JC


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Duncan47 on October 27, 2009, 10:22:48 pm
This solution doesn't work with me either (on a mac Os X 10.5.8 ). Please let me play!!


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: popsUlfr on October 27, 2009, 10:25:25 pm
This solution doesn't work with me either (on a mac Os X 10.5.8 ). Please let me play!!

Please be more specific! What doesn't work? You can not save? I really can't guess your case.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Duncan47 on October 27, 2009, 10:38:13 pm
I can save and as long as I don't shut down my computer I am find to recover my save slot. But when I shut down my computer I lose all progress and save slot as if i had never played.  The Flash meter is set above 100 KB, so i don't know what is wrong. I have found the .sol mentioned above still nothing. That's my problem, sorry I wasn't clear enough i was referring to the first post.

Thanks a lot.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: popsUlfr on October 27, 2009, 10:53:42 pm
I can save and as long as I don't shut down my computer I am find to recover my save slot. But when I shut down my computer I lose all progress and save slot as if i had never played.  The Flash meter is set above 100 MB, so i don't know what is wrong. I have found the .sol mentioned above still nothing. That's my problem, sorry I wasn't clear enough i was referring to the first post.

Thanks a lot.

You may look around your control Panel or something looking for an option concerning temp files. Maybe the system handles those files as temporary ones and flushes them all on shutdown. The temp files on Linux are autmoatically flushed, although those saves are not stored in them  :-\


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Duncan47 on October 27, 2009, 11:09:15 pm
hmmm, no hint as to how i should do this on my mac. I guess i'll have to find some time and complete it in a streak  ;).


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: bsoplinger on October 29, 2009, 12:51:17 pm
I'd passed along the hint about the Flash cache setting since I was not saving games. I'm on OS X 10.5.8 same as you. I set mine to the far right where it says infinite (vs the 100K in the hint). Perhaps that's what's needed with OS X. Also I use Firefox vs Safari as my browser. If you use Safari there may be a setting within the browser to clear internet cache or internet temporary files that you'll need to change.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Duncan47 on October 29, 2009, 07:01:12 pm
Nice!!  You just reminded my that I had a add-on running in firefox called "Better Privacy" which removed super cookies such as Flash-cookies when I quit firefox. I disabled it and now everything works find and I can save again. Problem solved for me!

Thanks


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: popsUlfr on October 29, 2009, 07:14:47 pm
Nice!!  You just reminded my that I had a add-on running in firefox called "Better Privacy" which removed super cookies such as Flash-cookies when I quit firefox. I disabled it and now everything works find and I can save again. Problem solved for me!

Thanks

Glad you sorted that out!  ;)


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: ferrycreek on October 31, 2009, 03:05:54 am
Well, I've tried all the ideas here and still no games saved beyond reboot.  My wife and I love the game and have recommended it to others in our family.  They're having the same problem with saving their positions.

We're running IBM laptops/winXPpro with sufficient processor and ram.  I've deleted Adaware, Spybot, and Maxa cookie manager and set Flash to allow maximum memory using the small settings window and the Macromedia preferences panel on their website.  The only addon to Firefox is AdBlockPlus which doesn't effect cookies.  Still no saved positions after reboot.  We need some help with this; it becomes discouraging after five or six restarts from the beginning. 

I have not found the cookie by following the instructions above.  If I know the name and address of the file I could save it elsewhere and replace it after reboot.  Not very elegant, but it would be better than having to start from the beginning everyday.   Any help would be appreciated.  Our family also uses XPpro so it would help us all.  Thank you...


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: ABoretz on October 31, 2009, 07:04:04 am
Still no saved positions after reboot.

This is just a shot in the dark... but, by any chance, are you running any malware utilities that pay attention to your startup configs?
Some program that could be diving in and deleting stuff before bootup (including your saved games)?



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: RockyMarc on October 31, 2009, 09:24:48 am
God damn it wish I knew this before formatting and installing Windows 7 =(
I backed up Machinarium using the Steam Backup system and restored it to find no saved games =(
Damn have to start again now...


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: ferrycreek on November 01, 2009, 04:19:48 am
Here's an awkward work around for WinXPpro.  I haven't been able to discover what's deleting the file, but I can copy it to D:/Archive and then replace it after reboot.  I made two simple desktop batch files; one to copy it from deep in the macromedia tree and one to put it back after reboot.  To make this work I had to change the hidden & read-only attributes of the 'application data\macromedia dir and sub-dir's.

Here's my path to Machinarium.sol(savedpositions)
C:\Documents and Settings\1\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\KWL39E7Q\localhost\Program Files\Machinarium\machinarium.exe.  Everything below 'Application Data' was Hidden & Read Only.  Even Xcopy /H wouldn't copy until I changed the attributes.

Finally, I don't have to start over everyday.  I hope the developers can devise a safer place to store 'savepositions'.  It's a great game and I hope they're working on a sequel.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: popsUlfr on November 01, 2009, 11:57:50 am
I made a fairly simple Batch file that automatically backups your save in the Machinarium directory. On start it copies it to your save path in the case it has been overwritten since reboot. You only need to launch it and the game gets started. After exit the save is backuped. Right now it only works if you installed the game through the supplied installer as it looks for the registry values. I only tested it on Win 7 64 and 32bit but I don't think the registry keys would get stored elsewhere. You could also manually edit the entry variable with your path to the game if the script doesn't work.

For batch scripts not using the registry, see this post. (http://machinarium.net/forum/index.php/topic,463.msg3119.html#msg3119)

IMPORTANT: You need to execute the script as Administrator otherwise it will not be allowed to write to disc! (on Vista, 7 you can do that by right-clicking on the file and selecting 'Run as administrator')

Open Notepad and copy paste the code below in it. File > Save As > From the drop down menu 'Save as type' choose 'All Files (*.*)' and append to the filename a '.bat' e.g. 'machinariumsavebackup.bat' > Save
You can run it from anywhere.

Code:
@echo off
cls
cd /D "%SYSTEMROOT%"
echo admintest > admintest
if exist admintest goto admin
echo Administrator Privileges not granted.
echo Batch needs to be run as Administrator in order to backup Saves.
echo.
CHOICE /M "Continue anyway"
if errorlevel 2 goto end
if errorlevel 1 goto noadmin
:admin
del admintest
:noadmin
cd /D "%AppData%\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects"
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%a in ('dir /B') do @SET randomword=%%a
if "%processor_architecture%"=="x64" goto 64bit
if "%processor_architecture%"=="AMD64" goto 64bit
if "%processor_architew6432%"=="x64" goto 64bit
if "%processor_architew6432%"=="AMD64" goto 64bit
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%a in ('REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Machinarium" /v UninstallString') DO @SET entry=%%b
if not "%entry%"=="" goto nextstandard
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%a IN ('REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" ^|Findstr /I "{*}"') DO CALL :keycheck %%a
goto nextdaedalic
:64bit
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%a in ('REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Machinarium" /v UninstallString') DO @SET entry=%%b
if not "%entry%"=="" goto nextstandard
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%a IN ('REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" ^|Findstr /I "{*}"') DO CALL :keycheck %%a
goto nextdaedalic
:keycheck
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%a in ('REG QUERY "%1" /v DisplayName') DO @SET displayname=%%b
if not "%displayname%"=="Machinarium" goto end
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%a in ('REG QUERY "%1" /v InstallLocation') DO @SET entry=%%b
goto end
:nextstandard
set apppath=%entry:~0,-11%
goto postregistry
:nextdaedalic
set apppath=%entry:~0,-1%
:postregistry
if not exist "%apppath%\machinarium.exe" goto nomachin
set "savepath=%AppData%\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\%randomword%\localhost\%apppath:~3%\machinarium.exe\Machinarium.sol"
if exist "%savepath%" goto next2
cd "%randomword%"
mkdir "localhost\%apppath:~3%\machinarium.exe"
:next2
cd /D %apppath%
if not exist Machinarium.sol goto nosol
copy /V /Y Machinarium.sol "%savepath%"
:nosol
machinarium.exe
copy /V /Y "%savepath%" Machinarium.sol
goto end
:nomachin
echo.
echo 'machinarium.exe' could not be located!
echo Make sure you installed the game with the official installer.
echo.
pause
:end

EDIT: Another one once executed brings you directly to the the save folder. Intended to work with installed game. I'm pretty sure it will fail if you never started the game once. You don't need to run it as Administrator.
Code:
@echo off
cls
cd /D "%AppData%\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects"
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%a in ('dir /B') do @SET randomword=%%a
if "%processor_architecture%"=="x64" goto 64bit
if "%processor_architecture%"=="AMD64" goto 64bit
if "%processor_architew6432%"=="x64" goto 64bit
if "%processor_architew6432%"=="AMD64" goto 64bit
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%a in ('REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Machinarium" /v UninstallString') DO @SET entry=%%b
if not "%entry%"=="" goto nextstandard
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%a IN ('REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" ^|Findstr /I "{*}"') DO CALL :keycheck %%a
goto nextdaedalic
:64bit
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%a in ('REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Machinarium" /v UninstallString') DO @SET entry=%%b
if not "%entry%"=="" goto nextstandard
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%a IN ('REG QUERY "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" ^|Findstr /I "{*}"') DO CALL :keycheck %%a
goto nextdaedalic
:keycheck
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%a in ('REG QUERY "%1" /v DisplayName') DO @SET displayname=%%b
if not "%displayname%"=="Machinarium" goto end
FOR /F "tokens=2,*" %%a in ('REG QUERY "%1" /v InstallLocation') DO @SET entry=%%b
goto end
:nextstandard
set apppath=%entry:~0,-11%
goto postregistry
:nextdaedalic
set apppath=%entry:~0,-1%
:postregistry
if not exist "%apppath%\machinarium.exe" goto nomachin
start explorer /root,"%AppData%\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\%randomword%\localhost\%apppath:~3%\machinarium.exe"
goto end
:nomachin
echo.
echo 'machinarium.exe' could not be located!
echo Make sure you installed the game with the official installer.
echo.
pause
:end

EDIT2:added some lines to the registry backup script to be CCleaner and possibly other Private file cleaner safe.

EDIT3:updated registry backup script. Now it can determine if it was executed as admin and display a message accordingly. Also added support for the german Daedalic version.
Updated jump to save folder script to be compatible with the german Daedalic version and display a message if no install was found.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: notec on November 02, 2009, 08:27:22 pm

  • For MAC:
    Code:
    ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/{RANDOMWORD}/localhost/{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}/machinarium.exe/Machinarium.sol


MacOS doesn't have .exe files. Perhaps you mean machinarium.app


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: popsUlfr on November 02, 2009, 08:32:17 pm
Oh my God, how could I not see that? Thank you notec for pointing it out!
That's what happens when you copypasta :P
I fixed also the Linux path.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: popsUlfr on November 02, 2009, 09:25:59 pm
Continuing from my batch post: http://machinarium.net/forum/index.php/topic,463.msg3073.html#msg3073

Here's a maybe safer one, you need to drop it in your machinarium folder (where your machinarium.exe resides) otherwise it will print a message.
Also needs Administrator privilege to write. It does the same as my first one, backups after exit and recovers save on start.

Code:
@echo off
cls
set machindir=%CD%
cd /D "%SYSTEMROOT%"
echo admintest > admintest
if exist admintest goto admin
echo Administrator Privileges not granted.
echo Batch needs to be run as Administrator in order to backup Saves.
echo.
CHOICE /M "Continue anyway"
if errorlevel 2 goto end
if errorlevel 1 goto noadmin
:admin
del admintest
:noadmin
cd /D "%machindir%"
if not exist machinarium.exe goto nomachin
cd /D "%AppData%\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects"
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%a in ('dir /B') do @SET randomword=%%a
set "savepath=%AppData%\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\%randomword%\localhost\%machindir:~3%\machinarium.exe\Machinarium.sol"
if exist "%savepath%" goto next
cd "%randomword%"
mkdir "localhost\%machindir:~3%\machinarium.exe"
:next
cd /D %machindir%
if not exist Machinarium.sol goto nosol
copy /V /Y Machinarium.sol "%savepath%"
:nosol
machinarium.exe
copy /V /Y "%savepath%" Machinarium.sol
goto end
:nomachin
echo.
echo 'machinarium.exe' has not been found!
pause
:end

EDIT: Same as my 2nd batch it takes you directly to your save directory. This one doesn't use the registry path, so you have to drop it in the same folder as your 'machinarium.exe'. No admin privileges required.

Code:
@echo off
cls
if not exist machinarium.exe goto nomachin
set machindir=%CD%
cd /D "%AppData%\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects"
FOR /F "tokens=*" %%a in ('dir /B') do @SET randomword=%%a
set "savepath=%AppData%\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\%randomword%\localhost\%machindir:~3%\machinarium.exe"

start explorer /root,"%savepath%"
goto end
:nomachin
echo 'machinarium.exe' has not been found!
pause
:end

EDIT2:added some lines to the backupscript to be CCleaner and possibly other Private file sweepers safe

EDIT3:updated no registry backup script. Checks if run as Admin.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: thrawn on November 07, 2009, 06:46:17 am
Woot! Thanks a billion for the batch file(s)  ;D. Time was I used to whip up stuff like that for Jedi Academy all the time. My brain has atrophied  :-[.

One question though - why do you call the latest script 'safer'? It's not like you're writing to the registry in the first one, just reading from it eh?

GG!


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: popsUlfr on November 07, 2009, 10:13:24 am
Woot! Thanks a billion for the batch file(s)  ;D. Time was I used to whip up stuff like that for Jedi Academy all the time. My brain has atrophied  :-[.

One question though - why do you call the latest script 'safer'? It's not like you're writing to the registry in the first one, just reading from it eh?

GG!

Sorry, I see that is a bit misleading. By 'safer' I mean it will work in any cases because it doesn't take the pathes from the registry which is not that reliable. I mean you could just extract the content to your drive without installing and it will work nonetheless ;) ( As long as you drop it in your game directory)

I've covered the regsitry pathes for the Standard, German version. I don't have the ones for the italian, russian ones. For those the second one is recommended.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Mongo on November 11, 2009, 06:44:09 am
I downloaded Machinarium on October 31 and I really like most things about it. So, I am sorry that my first message here will be about something negative, but I have to say it:  I have never before played a professionally made game that is so likely to lose all game-saves. It's a beautiful game, but the game-save system is ugly.

I tried to take precautions. I set my Flash cache to 10 Mb. I set up the folders to exclude in CCleaner. I told BetterPrivacy to protect the Machinarium files. And for nine days, that seemed to work. Today, I found that all of my saves are gone. All of those hours are lost.

CCleaner still knows it should exclude a folder, but the old "RandomWord" folder under #SharedObjects is gone today. Something decided to delete the old one and replace it with a new, different "RandomWord" folder today. Did BetterPrivacy do that? Flash? No idea...

So, now I'll start over again from the beginning. Looks like I'll need to use a script to make backups of the saved games before and after each session. I hope I will enjoy it enough to work my way back to where I was last night -- that will take several hours. And I can look forward to another 20 or 30 games of gomoku again -- oh goodie!  (Sarcasm...)

It just seems completely insane that I would have to go to such lengths to prevent my saved games from being lost. I have been playing computer games for decades, but I have never seen a saved-game system this fragile. It's really a shame. Please rethink your saved-game system. Seeing a beautiful game like Machinarium crippled by such a bad system is like seeing a beautiful woman with a huge hairy mole on the tip of her nose.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Sandy Trunks on November 11, 2009, 07:06:03 am
Seeing a beautiful game like Machinarium crippled by such a bad system is like seeing a beautiful woman with a huge hairy mole on the tip of her nose.

Sexist pig!   :P



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Mongo on November 11, 2009, 08:25:17 am
If you prefer, substitute the phrase "a really handsome man with a huge bleeding pimple on the tip of his nose." Unless you are a man with a huge bleeding pimple on your nose and you are really sensitive about it, of course, in which case you should substitute "a human or human-like organism of unspecified (if not undetermined) sex with a differently-configured tip of its nose or nose-like facial protuberance, not that there is anything wrong with that."

Or, to avoid any reference to humans and their attributes, here are other similes that might serve:

Like a beautifully cooked beef steak that has a gob of the cook's phlegm on top.  (Could be problematic for vegetarians or vegans, however...)

Like a beautiful BMW with wooden wheels. (Sorry, BMW and/or wooden-wheel enthusiasts...)

Like the Taj Mahal covered in vinyl siding.  Like a sonnet of Shakespeare with every fifth letter removed. Like a Chopin Nocturne played by me. And so on...   ;)

I stand by my original point, though. A game that is so beautifully designed in almost every other detail deserves a game-save system that is at least average or better. I hope that doesn't hurt anyone's feelings.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: bgthigfist on November 11, 2009, 07:11:49 pm
I stand by my original point, though. A game that is so beautifully designed in almost every other detail deserves a game-save system that is at least average or better. I hope that doesn't hurt anyone's feelings.

I agree.  This is the first game I ever pre-ordered in my life, and it's the first game I have gotten from an 'independent' developer.  I have never edited my registry or know how to run batch files, and I don't think I should have to learn just to make sure my saved games don't disappear.  Could this be something that's patched?  At least include a 'back up saved games to 'my documents' folder' or some such option.

The game is wonderful by the way.  I was stuck on the 5 in a row puzzle for weeks and gave up to go play more Fallout 3, but came back to it yesterday and got by it.  The game world is so engaging, I'm playing against my weaknesses, but losing my saved games and having to re-do puzzles that are difficult for my brain is irritating.



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Mongo on November 15, 2009, 06:37:38 am
{From Reply #17 in this thread...}

Here's a maybe safer one, you need to drop it in your machinarium folder (where your machinarium.exe resides) otherwise it will print a message.
Also needs Administrator privilege to write. It does the same as my first one, backups after exit and recovers save on start.


The script following this line seems to be working reliably for me. Thanks for providing it.

Would it be possible to add equivalent code to the program itself via a patch? I'm not a Flash programmer -- sorry if that is a naive question.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: logicalstep on November 15, 2009, 04:30:47 pm
Hi,

Firstly, great game!

I downloaded it using steam and I have it installed on my laptop and on my home pc, I'd love to be able to swap the save game between them without all this hassle. Is there a script for that? or shall I make an app ;)

Many thanks

Logicalstep


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Agent24 on November 27, 2009, 01:32:00 am
Really cool game, It's what I wished all flash games could be: something longer than 5 minutes!

But on the other hand, I think flash is not the best way to make a standalone game like this.

Especially since I was about halfway through and then I lost all my saves by using CCleaner :'( (I had no idea it would wipe them all out)


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Gwythion on December 06, 2009, 03:45:43 pm
This is a really beautiful game. I was thrilled to see another game from the Samorost stable. It's great fun.

However, it's a big disappointment to return to it today and find all the saved slots are empty and I have to start again.

Although I was able to quit and resume yesterday while my Mac 10.4 was still switched on, on startup today it's all gone.

I checked the Flash memory setting as suggested, and it's fine.

Would it be possible to code a little app outside Flash that works with Macs to save the games? (Like the Windows batch file above)


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: ambulatory on January 04, 2010, 08:27:19 am
My game saves are gone too, twice now I've lost my progress  :'(
At the moment there are 2 saves left out of 4, these are only early saves.
The last 2 saves, 3 and 4, quite advanced in the game, are gone!  >:(

I am on an iMac 24", OS X 10.5.8 - 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4 Gb Ram

I can't find .sol anywhere.

The game is beautiful but I can't continue playing if my saves are being lost.

If you are going to provide a patch a couple of things are needed:
1. a reliable and safe save location and technique
2. a way of backing up saves to another location, a memory stick for instance

Good luck and work hard!

Meanwhile I am playing Halo, again ...



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: bgthigfist on January 11, 2010, 07:12:58 pm
It would be cool if the game would let you specify the location of your saved games folder, that way I could let Dropbox synchronize my saved games between my laptop and my desktop.


Title: Mac savegames, Where are they?
Post by: ambulatory on February 02, 2010, 06:41:28 am
 >:( OK, there are solutions for PC users, but what are we Mac users supposed to do.

This is a beautiful game but the save game process is flawed.

As its a Flash game, surely the save solution should be in writing the correct actionscript code.
And as its been suggested in other posts this should be to an external location, NOT the Library location, preferably to the folder containing Machinarium, from where it can easily be backed up.

I have never been able to find my saves at ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/{RANDOMWORD}/localhost/{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}/

Neither machinarium.app nor Machinarium.sol come up in a file search.

I am using an intel Mac on which I have a Windows partition, perhaps I should run Machinarium in that environment?
Trouble is I'm not sure the version of Machinarium I've purchased would run in Windows.

I wish there was some kind of trace application (as there is in programming software) that would allow me to see where the saves are going.

I really hope you fix this for Mac users.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: ambulatory on February 09, 2010, 11:07:24 am
;D I finally finished Machinarium! No lost saves, over a period of days so computer was turned off each time and saves were there when I switched on again.

 :D Thank you Amanita Design for a really cute game, when are you making a sequel?

Still can't find saves location though, weird.



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: M.Hulot on February 20, 2010, 03:01:40 pm
I've been playing the game – which I am nuts about – for several months now, savoring it.  It's a beautiful escape from everyday normal, stress-filled living.  I have gotten pretty deep in, though I don't know how close I am to finishing.  It's always saved my games until today when I went to play.  I have changed nothing.   I am a Mac user and I know nothing about game design or the file structures and wouldn't begin to know how to execute any of the fixes discussed previously.   

What can I do to fix this?  That is, IF I decide to go through all those many hours I had invested to get to where I was.  Pleasurable hours, yes, but like someone else, I got really stuck on the tic-tac-toe – for several sessions (weeks) – and finally got lucky.  I don't need to go through that again!  I don't seem to have any of the folders I have read about in the thread.  Just a bunch of folders with 2-digit (0 or 1) numbers, all containing "exec" files.

Please lay it out simply for me.... Thank you.

P.S. Is there a way I can buy the Samorost soundtrack?  I downloaded the game but never got the soundtrack.   


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Lamkin on February 21, 2010, 02:19:12 am
...I got really stuck on the tic-tac-toe – for several sessions (weeks) – and finally got lucky.  I don't need to go through that again!  I don't seem to have any of the folders I have read about in the thread.  Just a bunch of folders with 2-digit (0 or 1) numbers, all containing "exec" files.

Please lay it out simply for me.... Thank you.

P.S. Is there a way I can buy the Samorost soundtrack?  I downloaded the game but never got the soundtrack.
Those folders you'd read about aren't in your Machinarium folder—they're buried quite a few folders deep within the Library folder of your Home folder. However, I'm not sure that locating them will even be helpful.
One thing you can do in order to help prevent losing your saved games again is to launch the Machinarium application and then click anywhere on the screen while pressing the Control key. You'll see a little menu pop up. Click on "Settings." Make sure you select the tab along the bottom which shows an icon of a Manila folder with a green arrow. Set the little slider to 1 MB or more.
(https://p187.p2.n0.cdn.getcloudapp.com/items/qGullO7x/Manila.png?source=client&v=3d931fb963c895e4b9ab319e986db61e)


Now, as far as solving the tic-tac-toe game, some yahoo named Lamkin posted a solution on this very forum that may help you out:
https://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=701.0
And I'm not sure why you'd never received a link to download the Samorost2 soundtrack along with your link to download the game itself, but I believe at one time the soundtrack was offered separately. Perhaps you'd purchased the game several months ago? Of course, if you were supposed to receive it, I'd suggest e-mailing "support -at- amanitadesign.com" and asking them about it. And if you weren't supposed to receive it (because you'd purchased the game several months ago), then I'd suggest purchasing the game + soundtrack again from Amanita's site, as that's still cheaper than buying the soundtrack from iTunes. Er...I hope all of that makes sense. ;o)


Mod Comment: Thank you (yet again) Lamkin!  ;D  I just modified the support@ address you gave to thwart email harvesters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_address_harvesting).  ;-)


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: rafoo fighter on March 08, 2010, 06:25:02 pm
Guys, I wasn't aware of that problem with CCleaner and I lost my saved games. Can anyone spare their saved games so I don't need to start all over again ? I was at the Arcade Cabinet trying to win some money. Thx
(I'll pm my email address)


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: mbsquared on April 07, 2010, 12:53:23 am
I'm sorry but I am really frustrated.  I played yesterday after buying the game for a number of hours and made it a good way into the game (finished both arcade games) and I started up the game today and my saved game wasn't there.  If I can't find the game I'm not sure I'll go back and go through the game although I really enjoyed it the first time I think I'll be too frustrated to do it again.

I think it's ridiculous that this is a problem, the game is so beautiful and fun to play but losing your game!  I checked the flash settings and it was set to handle saving 1MB so that's not the problem.  I looked in the ~library (I'm on a mac) and found the file:
Code:
~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/{RANDOMWORD}/localhost/{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}/machinarium.app/Machinarium.sol
but I don't understand what I'm even supposed to do with that.  I'm just someone who wanted to enjoy playing a game, I don't think I should have to be a programmer or otherwise more knowledgeable about computers to enjoy this.

Please help.  This would be a disappointing ending to what was such a lovely beginning.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Lamkin on April 07, 2010, 03:27:55 am
Prior to losing your saved games, had you—for whatever reason—moved the Machinarium folder? Not the application itself, but the entire folder? 'Cause I had lost my progress once immediately after I'd done that. If not, then I honestly have no idea what might have happened. (Perhaps you'd mistakenly cleared the cache or cookies for Flash...I dunno.)
And, aside from backing it up every so often, I don't believe there's anything else you're supposed to do with the .sol file. Of course, all of your saves are now gone, so backing up the file won't be helpful at this point. ;o)

...However, I would be willing to e-mail you my Machinarium.sol file if you want. (I have the game saved right up until the part you've described.)


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Lamkin on April 07, 2010, 06:19:46 am
I have never been able to find my saves at ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/{RANDOMWORD}/localhost/{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}/

Neither machinarium.app nor Machinarium.sol come up in a file search.
Well, while a Machinarium.sol file did show up for me in Spotlight's results, it wasn't the one that I was looking for, i.e., it wasn't the one that is needed. The .sol file that is needed is hidden, or invisible, therefore you will not find it when performing a file search (or by using Spotlight). Nope, you'll have to dig for it yourself, which is easy enough until one gets to this part:

{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}/machinarium.app/Machinarium.sol

At this point, you'll need to:
1. Navigate to the Machinarium application that is nested somewhere within your localhost folder. (Mine, for example, was in: localhost/Applications/Games/Amanita Design/Machinarium.)
2. Control-click on said Machinarium application and then choose Show Package Contents in order to see the hidden/invisible Machinarium.sol file.
3. Make a copy of the file and save it somewhere on your hard drive so that you can revert back to it if you lose your progress again.

My apologies if that's confusing. Plus I realize your comment was posted a couple of months ago, but I'd only just figured this out earlier tonight. (And I double-posted because I thought splitting these two posts would be less confusing.)

By the way, Machinarium.app won't show up in a file search because the .app extension is hidden.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: trickyricky on April 15, 2010, 07:02:07 pm
I tried all the suggestions I could find on this Forum. None worked.

This did...

Open CCleaner>Options>Cookies>... then find machinarium.net under the column on the left called 'Cookies to delete' ....highlight machinarium.net...and then add it (with the -> button) to the 'Cookies to keep' column on the right.

Ricky


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: jdsandara on February 22, 2011, 11:56:19 pm
edit: nevermind, I just found the other topic that has the save.exe file, teaches me to search the forum and not just google. :)



I have the same problem of losing my saved games.  I copy and saved popsUlfr's batch file into the directory with the machinarium.exe (in fact it's right below it), and ran it as administrator, but I keep getting a message that machinarium.exe was not found. ???

I'm using windows7 and installed it through Steam (could that be why?)

Not sure what I'm doing wrong, any suggestions?



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: ElseerRadak on April 17, 2011, 07:33:58 am
Hello All,

I bought the game via impulse, not steam. I am using Windows 7 sp1 x64 and My games are located at:

%appdata%\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\#machinarium.net


I suspect steam may be the same thing but cant prove it (I use steam as well but impulse had a really nice sale on this game a few days back)

HTH

Elseer R


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: federer on May 07, 2011, 12:51:16 pm
Hello All,

I bought the game via impulse, not steam. I am using Windows 7 sp1 x64 and My games are located at:

%appdata%\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\#machinarium.net


I suspect steam may be the same thing but cant prove it (I use steam as well but impulse had a really nice sale on this game a few days back)

HTH

Elseer R


May be you have installed it correctly, that's why this issue is occurs.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: angrymachinarium on July 21, 2011, 07:24:47 pm
Hi all :)

I bought this game 3 months ago, and had not time to play it until today. The game world and graphics work is really really nice, but there are some annoying problems with the gameplay.

- If you missclick and an animation starts, there is no way to stop it, you have to watch the animation through (again and again).
- Mouse events are sometimes inaccurate and activates wrong items.
- Some puzzles are not in any way tied to the storyline and their solutions are annoyingly nonobvious.
- The game forces you to play and win a game of tick tack toe with an in-game character. I find this annoying, I did not buy an adventure game to play tick tack toe, I bought it for playing through an interesting storyline.
- Lost savegames, grrrr.

After playing the game for hours today I had to shutdown my Mac and go shop some food. After firing up my Mac again I found that all the hard work I did to advance in the game is gone. My savegames are no longer there  >:(

This in unacceptable. I will not waste my time in an unprofessional product like this. I have other games to play.

I had my doubts when I found out that this game was built on flash. Even though it makes it nicely crossplatform, I believe flash is not cut out to be a platform for desktop games.

Sorry to be so harsh, but the game had great promise and losing the savegames was such a big disappointment. After finding out there is no fix my disappointment turned into frustration.

If you play the game only in short periods, the gameplay might take weeks. You only need to lose your savegames once and all that work is gone and you need to start the game from beginning :(

Flash: 10.0.32.18
OS X: 10.6.7
Computer: MacBook Pro (15", 2011)

AngryMachinarium.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: angrymachinarium on July 21, 2011, 11:43:35 pm
Hi again :)

Found a workaround.

On OS X the savegames are saved in the flash preferences directory. The username is part of the path, in my case where my username is "mika" the path is:

"/Users/mika/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects"

When you first start Machinarium, flashplayer creates a randomly named directory inside this directory for Machinarium savegames. In my case the whole path to the savegame folder is:

"/Users/mika/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/YNPGTTHK"

Flashplayer itself of something else sometimes deletes every file from:

"/Users/mika/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects"

So what you need to do is to navigate to the above directory using Finder, click the randomly named directory (in my case "YNPGTTHK") to make it active and duplicate it with the keyboard command: CMD + D.

Next you need to move the duplicated directory outside of its parent directory, otherwise it too might get deleted when you reboot. Drag the duplicate to:

"/Users/mika/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player"

!!!!!!! The duplicate needs to be done before you quit Machinarium !!!!!!!

If the next time you start Machinarium you find your savegames missing, quit machinarium, make another duplicate of the previously duplicated savegame directory and drag the second duplicate to directory:

"/Users/mika/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects"

When making duplicates, Finder adds the string "copy" to the filename, be sure to remove all these extra characters from the directory name before starting Machinarium, otherwise Machinarium won't be able to find your savegames.

angrymachnarium (not so angry anymore, just a bit annoyed by all this (grinding theeth)) :)


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Alex on July 22, 2011, 12:22:02 am

@angrymachinarium,
Sorry you had to go to all that trouble.  There is a LOT of helpful info scattered throughout this forum and sometimes it's easy to find and sometimes you've got to figure out the best SEARCH (http://machinarium.net/forum/index.php?action=search) term to use to help you find that info!  (and sometimes it helps to count to 10 before you let yourself get so angry that you miss the obvious...  ;) ;D )

Three threads down from General Machinarium Topics (http://machinarium.net/forum/index.php?action=collapse;c=4;sa=collapse;sesc=f228fd655e39dbf9c2592bbc11c11b02#4) we have an entire thread you may find helpful called Shared Machinarium .sol Files (http://machinarium.net/forum/index.php/board,13.0.html).  In there you'll find a MacFAQ (http://machinarium.net/forum/index.php/topic,1095.0.html).

As for Flashplayer deleting files, the very first post in the "Where are my Savegames? (http://machinarium.net/forum/index.php/topic,463.msg2228.html#msg2228)" thread reads:

"By right-clicking on the screen [this is after you've started the game] you get to the Adobe Flash Player Settings Tabs, select the little folder icon.  "How much information can local store on your computer?" Make sure the slider is NOT set to none! At least 100 KB or more are needed!"

Hope that helps.



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: angrymachinarium on July 22, 2011, 01:21:55 am
Hi Alex :)

And thank you for your reply :)

I wan't to play the game and I also wan't my game saving to be reliable, so I wrote a small shell script to start Machinarium and automatically make and restore savegame backups. Use at your own risk :)

Copy and paste the text below to a text file and save it to the Desktop with the name: Machinarium.command
Make the script executable by giving this command in the terminal window: chmod 755 /Users/$USER/Desktop/Machinarium.command

Start Machinarium by double clicking on the Machinarium.command. Never start Machinarium directly from the Applications folder, if you do, your savegames will not get backed up and might get deleted.

Code:
#!/bin/bash

# Flash sometimes deletes all Machinarium savegames.
# Use this script to start up Machinarium and it automatically restores your savegames from backup before running the game.
# When the game ends, the script automatically backs up all savegame files.

echo

cd /Users/$USER/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player

if [ ! -e "SaveGameBackup" ] ; then
mkdir "SaveGameBackup"
else
# Restore savegames from backup
echo "Restoring last savegames from backup" ; echo
rsync -rt -E --delete /Users/$USER/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/SaveGameBackup/ /Users/$USER/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/\#SharedObjects/
fi

# Start the game
/Applications/Machinarium/Machinarium.app/Contents/MacOS/Flash\ Player

# The game has ended, copy savegame files to backup
echo "Copying savegames to backup" ; echo
rsync -rt -E /Users/$USER/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/\#SharedObjects/ /Users/$USER/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/SaveGameBackup/


# If you wan't this script to automatically copy Machinarium savegames to your Dropbox folder,
# uncomment the line below and replace the last string with the full path to the (existing) Dropbox folder you wan't to store the savegames in.
# Note that the last character in the path must be a forward slash /
# rsync -rt -E /Users/$USER/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/\#SharedObjects/ /PATH/TO/MY/DROPBOX/FOLDER/


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: angrymachinarium on July 23, 2011, 12:04:43 am
Hi :)

I just finished the game, what a lovely experience :)

I wish the company would have ironed out the savegame problems, and I wonder why they did not, they have had two years to fix it.

My savegames disappeared almost every time I rebooted, even though I had Flash local storage set to unlimited. I used the (OS X) script described in my previous post to run the game, and it restored my savegames from backup every time before running the game if the savegames were not there.

I wonder why the company making the game has not made a fix for the savegame disappearance problem. It is not that hard to solve, even I could make a quick hackish but working fix in 30 minutes.

HappyMachinarium (the user formerly known as angrymachinarium :).


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: CyberSkull on August 05, 2011, 06:15:52 am
Thanks! This seems to have fixed it for me as well.

(10.5.8 PPC)


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: ThePold on August 09, 2011, 04:43:00 pm
 :(  So fun to play, and then such a bad save system.

I am running XP, with no CCleaner.  My saves survived a reboot, and then disappeared after I closed Machinarium.

I'm not a computer expert - so please help me out. 

Please give step by step instructions for installing and running the script above.  I don't know how to open a terminal window, I'm afraid.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Alex on August 09, 2011, 10:33:23 pm
Quote from: ThePold

Please give step by step instructions for installing and running the script above.  I don't know how to open a terminal window, I'm afraid.


That script was written for (and only runs on) the MAC operating system.  

Try this instead:  in the very first post (http://machinarium.net/forum/index.php/topic,463.msg2228.html#msg2228) of this thread it says...

By right-clicking on the screen [while the game is running] you get to the Adobe Flash Player Settings Tabs, select the little folder icon.  "How much information can local store on your computer?" Make sure the slider is NOT set to none! At least 100 KB or more are needed!

Give that a try and let us know if that solves your vanishing saved games problem.



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Mortavius on August 12, 2011, 05:48:09 pm
Hello folks,

First off, great game.

Secondly, save problem.  Obviously, or I wouldn't be posting here.  I'm not going to belabour the point; I'm sure you're aware of the issue. 

My question is this.  I don't use CCleaner or anything like that; the closest thing I have is Microsoft Security Essentials.  I haven't seen anyone mention anything about it on the forums; does anyone know if it does the same thing as CCleaner?  I can't seem to find any options about Cookies in it's settings. 

I've checked my Adobe settings, and it always defaults to 100 KB, even if I set it to unlimited.

I still can't seem to keep a save game.  Any suggestions?  I've been able to locate the directory that my saves are kept in, and I can see the .sol file there, so it looks like the save is still there.  But it won't show up in game.

I'm hoping that someone is able to help; I love this game, but I can't keep playing it when my saves continue to disappear.  I'm sure you understand.

Thanks for any and all help you can provide!


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: solarmande on August 15, 2011, 11:24:51 am
So...after QUITE a while and no clear replies, here is what I found for myself:

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\LETF3MZ9\localhost\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\machinarium\Machinarium.exe\Machinarium.sol

Obviously this is in Windows, but I am running windows 7 to be more specific.

Now for me, Steam (and flash) is installed on my D: drive, which is I believe part of why this is SO long...but wow.  Even so.  How ridiculous is it that the save file is so deeply embedded in 15 (FIFTEEN!!) folders!?

Anyway, for anyone else searching (and/or if you're willing to just do the copying yourself or if for some reason the batch file isn't working for you or you don't want to use it) for this file, I hope it helps.  For a bit more clarity, it should be in your %users\default folder on your windows drive, and then in the roaming\macromedia\flash folder, however deep (though most of these folders have only one file within them)


****I REALLY hope the Machinarium developers patch this problem, it seems quite a few people are having it and it could really ruin an otherwise excellent game (and reputation).****


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: hobiesimons on September 15, 2011, 04:56:45 pm
I am brand new to machinarium and having a problem saving games.
I am using a Mac with Lion.
I did the standard purchase through the app store.
I have read through the posts and verified the flash settings.
I cannot find the library path specified in the posts.
I cannot find the .sol file.
Can we get a single post that is not as cryptic to fix this issue?
How about a game update to fix the issue once and for all?


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Lamkin on September 15, 2011, 07:28:12 pm
I am using a Mac with Lion.
I cannot find the library path specified in the posts.
I cannot find the .sol file.

http://machinarium.net/forum/index.php/topic,1095.0.html
Or, to save you a click...
For Mac users, the file path is:
Code:
{YourHomeFolder}/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/{RandomSequenceOfLettersAndNumbers}/localhost/
{PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}/Machinarium.app/Machinarium.sol

Once you've navigated to the Machinarium.app* file that is nested within your localhost folder, you will need to Control-click on it and then choose "Show Package Contents" in order to see the hidden/invisible Machinarium.sol file.

* Note that this is separate from the Machinarium application that's in your Machinarium folder.
Also, for those who might not be aware, Mac OS X comes factory-set to hide most file name extensions, so you'll only be seeing the .app file name extension if you've chosen Finder→Preferences and turned on "Show all file extensions."


I have a feeling that where things get tricky for people is when they get to {PathToYourMachinariumInstallDirectory}. I dunno. Let me know if you need more help, hobiesimons.
As for fixing the issue of lost saves, I'm not really sure why it's happening for Mac users. I think that resetting Safari is one cause. But you can always keep a backup copy somewhere of your current .sol file in case you lose your progress again.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: hobiesimons on September 16, 2011, 05:33:02 am
I have the "Show file extensions" turned on.
I don't know if I am totally missing something or what but I have scoured my finder window and I am not finding the file path mentioned in the post.
I have located the /library/preferences path but there is no macromedia.
I have also checked the Users path and nothing resembling anything mentioned in a previous post.
I have definately figured out to not clear out the cache files for any browser otherwise the saved games are lost.
While making sure not to clear out cache from the browsers, I am at risk until I figure out this code issue.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Lamkin on September 16, 2011, 07:38:41 am
I have located the /library/preferences path but there is no macromedia.
And you're looking in your home folder, correct? Users/{HomeFolder}/Library/Preferences?


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: hobiesimons on September 16, 2011, 02:18:41 pm
I think so.
Attached is a screen shot of my finder window.

(http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/ae23/ABoretz/Machinarium/hobiesimonsPDF.jpg)
Mod Comment: Took the liberty of embedding your PDF as we have limited storage space. ~A


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Lamkin on September 16, 2011, 05:07:32 pm
Where the heck is your Library folder? =o0
Hmm...did some googling:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20082044-263/os-x-lion-where-did-my-library-go/
Seems it's hidden in Lion. (I'm still running Snow Leopard. ;o) That article I linked to will tell you how to either unhide it or find it. Then continue on the file path, sir. =o)

I'll update the Mac (.sol file) FAQ to include this info.

Please post back to let us know what happened.



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: hobiesimons on September 16, 2011, 06:26:25 pm
Go it.
Thanks


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: beantricks on October 13, 2011, 09:22:39 pm
Ok, been on every forum I could find and finally found that I needed to right click on the game screen to correct the "hardware accelleration" and memory size (increase to 10MB).  Ran great and saved for a couple of days.  Then yesterday without turning off my PC (windows XP) I lost all my slots just by quitting game.

I'm not savy enough to add any codes and it took me two hours to find the .sol file when I was first having trouble last week.  Probably that long again if I had to find it a second time. What do I do with the level files I have found on-line?  Or is there really something I can do on my computer to get it to save and not delete?

Rick


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Alex on October 13, 2011, 11:28:25 pm
Quote from: beantricks link
Ok, been on every forum I could find and finally found that I needed to right click on the game screen to correct the "hardware accelleration" and memory size (increase to 10MB).

10MB?!  Usually 100KB is enough for the cache.  (you could try bringing that back down to 100KB and see if there's any change)

Or...

As a Windows user you have two options in the event you keep loosing saved games:

>  Download and use the saves.exe program (which will copy your saved game ".sol" file someplace safe and allow you to reload before you restart the game)
Link: http://web.archive.org/web/20101220070209/http://machinarium.net/download/saves.exe (http://web.archive.org/web/20101220070209/http://machinarium.net/download/saves.exe)
Where it's discussed here on the forum: http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=809.msg5951#msg5951 (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=809.msg5951#msg5951)

>  Read up about the machinarium.sol file, in this thread (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=1274.0).  And then learn how to actually swap out or replace your machinarium.sol file here (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=1097.0).  It's not difficult; it's just a matter of copy/pasting a machinarium.sol file into a specific directory on your XP.

~Alex


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: reddragyn on May 01, 2012, 07:32:01 am
 ;D thank you so much! i was flipping out over this issue an thought "i'll check the forums"
and there was the solution, without have to dig and search. i am so relieved you can't even imagine.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: iclarkso on November 28, 2012, 02:18:37 am
I think I finally figured it out.  Using IE9 may be the problem.  Everytime I close IE9 it wipes out my saved games.  I made Firefox my default browser and unchecked the options box to delete browsing history everytime I close the browser.  So far So good.  Try it and let me know if this helps. :D :D


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Alex on November 28, 2012, 06:01:17 am
I think I finally figured it out.  Using IE9 may be the problem.  Everytime I close IE9 it wipes out my saved games.  I made Firefox my default browser and unchecked the options box to delete browsing history everytime I close the browser.  So far So good.  Try it and let me know if this helps. :D :D

Thanks for posting iclarkso!  Yes, you are correct about IE9 wiping out saved games.

This had been mentioned in the "Windows7 users of IE9 losing saved games?" thread... but I guess that title made it appear that the problem was ONLY encountered on Windows 7 machines and it's likely that many IE9 users overlooked that thread because of the poor wording.

The thread has now been renamed as the "Windows IE9 users losing saved games? (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=3564.0)" thread.  Thanks for making it obvious that we needed to clarify that for folks looking for a lost saves solution!

~A


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: PokéManiac2471 on November 29, 2012, 06:36:45 pm
I remeber I'd just completed Machinarium on Windows XP, a week later the save was gone... I was absolutely gutted...  :(


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: iclarkso on December 22, 2012, 03:05:13 pm
 Ok Folks, none of the remedies work.  However you will be happy to know there is a workaround.
1. Go to control panel and click on WINDOWS UPDATE  
3. Click on CHANGE SETTINGS
4. Change from AUTO UPDATE to one of the other options just as long as it isn't set to auto update.
If not your compute will update and restart causing the loss of your saved games.
5. Make sure you have no other applications such as AVG, Spybot or any other application that automatically updates.

Now for the REALLY simple part.  Start Machinarium and play til your hearts content and save your game.  Do not quit your game!  Simply toggle your desktop from Machinarium to your normal desktop by doing this:
A. Press the windows key.  You will find that bottom left of your keyboared.  You will identify it by looking for the key with the windows logo.  Press the windows key.  With your finger still on the windows key press the tab key.  Continue pressing the tab key ( with you finger still on the windows key) until you see your desktop.  Your game will still be running in the background.  It won't take up much resources and will allow you fo play the complete game.
B. One last thing.  Before you toggle to your desktop to do whatever us nerds do. Lower the game volume to Zero so you will not be disturbed.
Thats it!  Enjoy 8)


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Alex on December 22, 2012, 09:32:22 pm
Thanks for posting your input on this topic iclarkso!
What version of Windows OS are you running?

Quote
...none of the remedies work.

Not even the saves.exe program (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=809.msg3903#msg3903) that Amanita Design's programmer Oldes built?  ( it may seem klunky but it worked perfectly each and every time I've tried it )


Quote
...toggle your desktop from Machinarium to your normal desktop by doing this:
A. Press the windows key....

I think you're confusing the Alt+TAB (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=alt-tab) to toggle between open browser windows or applications with the "WindowsKey + d (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=windows%20key%20%2B%20d)" to immediately get to the desktop.

By the way, if you use IE9 on your machine there's a chance that your saved games are being deleted by that.  Quote: "When IE9 closes all temp files are removed.  Flash files included." source: http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=3564.msg10523#msg10523 (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=3564.msg10523#msg10523)



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: iclarkso on December 24, 2012, 06:03:43 pm

I am very familiar with the keys on my keyboard.  I am a computer forensics specialist for God Sakes.
I am running windows 7.  I removed IE 9 and installed firefox.  This did not remedy the situation.  I tried all the fixes mentioned by everyone on this site and nothing worked.     This is the simple workaround.  Seems these days everyone wants to do everything the hard way.  Let your game run in the background and toggle just as I said and you will finish your game.  If you are running and older OS or an old pc this will work just fine. If you are running Windows aero on your desktop, the windows key and tab very nicely displays all your windows more effeciently than the alt = tab keys. At least I think so. Try it and I think you will like it.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Alex on December 24, 2012, 08:17:35 pm
Quote from: iclarkso

I am very familiar with the keys on my keyboard.  I am a computer forensics specialist for God Sakes.  I am running windows 7....


Thanks!  I'm running XP so I didn't know that the windows + tab key on Windows 7 has different qualities.

Quote

I tried all the fixes mentioned by everyone on this site and nothing worked.


The saves.exe program (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=809.msg3903#msg3903) DOES work... provided one uses it.
In fact, as you're a specialist in computer forensics you could REALLY help us out here by checking out the BAT file (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=3564.msg10523#msg10523) that was provided by RD to see if it might actually be a more pleasant way of accessing the saves.exe program.  My knowledge of BAT files is minimal at best and no one else has stepped up to offer us an evaluation of the merits of RD's contribution.

Otherwise, happy holidays and a healthy New Year to you and yours!
~A


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: BitMaiden on January 07, 2013, 04:26:24 pm
So, is there no way to recover the savegames after they have been lost? :(


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Alex on January 07, 2013, 08:23:17 pm
Quote from: BitMaiden
So, is there no way to recover the savegames after they have been lost? :(

Sorry, no.  Once your savegames file has been erased it is for all intents and purposes unrecoverable.  But if you're playing the game on Windows, Linux, or the Mac OS you can load one of our pre-saved levels stored in the Shared Machinarium .sol Files (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?board=13.0) thread.



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: BitMaiden on January 08, 2013, 04:30:45 pm
Quote from: BitMaiden
So, is there no way to recover the savegames after they have been lost? :(

Sorry, no.  Once your savegames file has been erased it is for all intents and purposes unrecoverable.  But if you're playing the game on Windows, Linux, or the Mac OS you can load one of our pre-saved levels stored in the Shared Machinarium .sol Files (http://amanita-design.net/forum/index.php/board,13.0.html) thread.

Aaaah, that's great. Thanks!


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: skidpro on January 21, 2013, 08:27:38 pm
no no no

no path in CCleaner as stated
DxDiag attached (I cannot include msinfo32 as the file is too big)

C:/Program Files (x86)/Machinarium/Machinarium.exe
web link
Unist
folders 0-12

any help as I want to play it
TA

skidpro


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Quidam on September 09, 2013, 04:40:12 am
I see lots of elaborate solutions here. Seems as there are some clever people reading this. It seems that Firefox is what is clearing the saved games from my computer. I am not as clever as all of you so I just created a user account that I use for the game. I switch accounts to use the rest of my programs, then go back to the user account that is set aside for Machinarium. It has worked for me every time.
I am not very far into the game yet, but I enjoy it alot.


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Piper496 on March 05, 2016, 06:47:55 pm
My save games also keep on deleting themselves. I put the slider option up to the highest it can go, play, and it's all fine. Then I exit and come back later. It's still fine. But I've been busy so I haven't been able to go on for a while but today is one of my free days. I was excited because I was nearing the end! But then the first loading screen that says "Play new game" greeted me instead of the "Continue" one.
Any suggestions? This is infuriating and is the 3rd time it's happened!


Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Alex on March 05, 2016, 07:31:39 pm
Quote from: Piper496
My save games also keep on deleting themselves. I put the slider option up to the highest it can go, play, and it's all fine. Then I exit and come back later. It's still fine. But I've been busy so I haven't been able to go on for a while but today is one of my free days. I was excited because I was nearing the end! But then the first loading screen that says "Play new game" greeted me instead of the "Continue" one.
Any suggestions? This is infuriating and is the 3rd time it's happened!

Have a look at the Shared Machinarium .sol Files (http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?board=13.0) topic "Where players can retrieve all 24 game levels for WinXP/Vista/Win7 also Mac and Linux."

Follow the step by step directions to substitute your current (useless) saved game file with one of the pre-saved .sol files we've provided in the "Machinarium .sol Stash".  You can then continue at or near the place where you left off before your saved games were wiped.



Title: Re: Where are my Savegames?
Post by: Approkill on August 29, 2016, 08:35:24 pm
Well, I've tried all the ideas here and still no games saved beyond reboot.  My wife and I love the game and have recommended it to others in our family.  They're having the same problem with saving their positions.

We're running IBM laptops/winXPpro with sufficient processor and ram.  I've deleted Adaware, Spybot, and Maxa cookie manager and set Flash to allow maximum memory using the small settings window and the Macromedia preferences panel on their website. buy phen375 http://ohdivinehealth.com/phen375-reviews/ (http://ohdivinehealth.com/phen375-reviews/)  The only addon to Firefox is AdBlockPlus which doesn't effect cookies.  Still no saved positions after reboot.  We need some help with this; it becomes discouraging after five or six restarts from the beginning.  

I have not found the cookie by following the instructions above.  If I know the name and address of the file I could save it elsewhere and replace it after reboot.  Not very elegant, but it would be better than having to start from the beginning everyday.   Any help would be appreciated.  Our family also uses XPpro so it would help us all.  Thank you...

it's great to hear a family loved to play this game but yea this issue still isnt making everyone happy. Anyone who can save us from this issue? Please keep us posted