Autosave not Working?

[BunnyCat]

Meh.

I downloaded the .sol file from here so that it would get me past the bird thing. Then I played for three hours and got a lot further along.

I had been using alt-ctrl-del to exit Machinarium, because my netbook screen doesn't show the save button. That had never been a problem before because the game Autosaved.

Well, I exited with alt-ctrl-del as usual and... tah-dah! NONE of my progress was recorded! I tried again with another hour of play... and the same thing happened.

Any guess how I can fix this? I'm not sure why the new .sol file would have changed anything.

[Lamkin]

NONE of my progress was recorded! I tried again with another hour of play... and the same thing happened.

So you were right back at the bird, correct? Or do you mean back at the very beginning of the game? My guess is it's the former. But either way, that does suck. Not sure what's happening...

[BunnyCat]

Right back to the bird.

[Lamkin]

Hmm... The game still automatically saves for me when substituting the downloaded file. Could you do me a favor, BunnyCat? Put your .sol file somewhere else and restart the game so that a new .sol file is created. Only progress past, say, the first screen, and then attach that particular .sol file here. I'd like to see whether or not this is a platform issue.

Edit: Oh, and in the meantime, if you tell me where you'd played up to and what items you had, etc., I'll gladly send you a new file so that you are at least able to finish the game.

[BunnyCat]

I'll do that for you later tonight. (I'm working right now... errr, supposed to be.)

I won't put you through having to replay things for me. I'll have fun playing it over again.

Thanks for your help.

[BunnyCat]

Here's my first "save". Right at the very beginning.

The autosave works now that I'm running a game that started on my own computer.

[Lamkin]

Well, it's not working for me; I see no 'Resume Game' option at the main screen, and I should be seeing one.

I'm stumped as to how the save slot I'd created for you works fine, but you're ability to autosave is gone. I was able to autosave using your .sol file after I'd chosen to start a new game.
I'm also curious to see whether or not sharing a file has any effect on the ability to save a game in one of the slots.

I had been using alt-ctrl-del to exit Machinarium...

One last thing is that perhaps you'd be able to autosave if you were to use alt-F4 instead of alt-ctrl-del, because alt-ctrl-del force-quits the game on Windows, and if I force-quit the game on my Mac (using Command-Option-Esc), any progress I've made will not be saved. Still, force-quitting the game had worked for you before. Confusing. =op

[ABoretz]

Well, it's not working for me; I see no 'Resume Game' option at the main screen, and I should be seeing one.

BunnyCat's .sol didn't give me a "Resume Game" either.   
Would you try again, please, BunnyCat?  Play through a ways - like just after the trowel railroad track puzzle - save and post your .sol here and we'll take another try at it.

This is good!  Problems are good.  If we can figure out all the tweaks needed to save solid .sol files we'll be able to leave a cache of them here on the forum to help stuck players over all the toughest puzzles in the game!      

[Lamkin]

I had been using alt-ctrl-del to exit Machinarium...

One last thing is that perhaps you'd be able to autosave if you were to use alt-F4 instead of alt-ctrl-del, because alt-ctrl-del force-quits the game on Windows, and if I force-quit the game on my Mac (using Command-Option-Esc), any progress I've made will not be saved. Still, force-quitting the game had worked for you before. Confusing.

Just want to make sure that that's a correct assumption I've made: that if you use ctrl-alt-delete in Windows to quit a frozen program, you will lose any unsaved data. I don't know that much about Windows.


Also, Aboretz...when playing the game from my 'Fallen Bird' .sol file, is your progress autosaved after quitting the game using alt-F4? And is your progress autosaved when you quit the game from the menu?

[Lamkin]

Play through a ways - like just after the trowel railroad track puzzle - save and post your .sol here and we'll take another try at it.

Yes, but BunnyCat can't save. =op =o)
I suggest playing through a ways and quitting using Alt + F4. ;o)

[BunnyCat]

Here's a .sol file that's been played through the first stage.

I haven't tried ending with alt-F4. I honestly didn't know about it-- if that tells you have completely clueless I am when it comes to dealing with computers. I knew that alt-ctrl-del usually ends a program without saving, but the autosave had come through for me until I downloaded Lamkin's game.

I'll try quitting Lamkin's .sol file in F4 and seeing if it saves my changes.

[Lamkin]

OK, that one worked fine for me. And I was able to autosave after progressing, too. =o) Thanks for sending the file.

[BunnyCat]

Huh. *scratches head*

Now it works when I quit with alt-F4. I'm not sure if it's the change in how I'm exiting or what... But I'll replay everything later.

God, I need to catch up on work. Thanks again for your help, Lamkin.

[ABoretz]

Here's a .sol file that's been played through the first stage....
I'll try quitting Lamkin's .sol file in F4 and seeing if it saves my changes.

This one worked for me too.  (leave it to a MAC person to tell a Windows person how to do things    )

But I'd like to clear up something that Lamkin reminded me of in a recent post.  BunnyCat, you originally wrote that you can't save because your "netbook screen doesn't show the save button", but is that still the case?  The .sol files you're getting from Lamkin are at 80% window sized, which is the solution someone (I think it was jst65) came up with so that netbook users *could* access the bottom menu.  Next time you're playing Machinarium have a look at the bottom of the screen.  You should be able to access the pop up menu now.

Also, Aboretz...when playing the game from my 'Fallen Bird' .sol file, is your progress autosaved after quitting the game using alt-F4? And is your progress autosaved when you quit the game from the menu?

I'll test this weekend and post an update.
Update: Quitting the game with alt+F4 saves my progress to the point where I execute that command.  When I "Resume Game" I'm returned to that same point. 

[Lamkin]

BunnyCat, you originally wrote that you can't save because your "netbook screen doesn't show the save button", but is that still the case?  The .sol files you're getting from Lamkin are at 80% window sized, which is the solution someone (I think it was jst65) came up with so that netbook users *could* access the bottom menu.

If you're referring to this thread, it looks as if no solution was ever found. But perhaps that's not the right thread....I don't know. =op