All saved game slots empty

[Summo]

I'm running Windows 7 64 bit, played Machinarium for hours yesterday and got quite far.  I was saving regularly using different slots, and yet when I loaded it up today, all my saved game slots are empty!

I've had a look in the Machinarium program folder and can't find anything that looks obviously like a saved game.  Can anyone help?  Does anyone know where the saved files might be, and so whether I need to move them to another location before they can be loaded?  I'd hate to have to start back at the beginning so soon!

Any help very gratefully received.

[paracloudcaste]

Yes, same problem here!    One peculiarity: 1st reload of game after trying to save = no save slots; 2nd reload of game after trying to save again = save slots appear (and Resume Game); 3rd reload after saving a bit more = no save slots.  Subsequent reloads and trying to save have resulted in no save slots, so one time was a fluke.  Also, this problem did not occur with the Demo.  Could the previous installation of the Demo be interfering with this full version? 

I'm running OSX 10.6.1 on a MacBook.  

Any solutions or attempts at solutions to this problem will be immensely appreciated. 

[popsUlfr]

For Windows 7 all your settings and saves for the game are saved in

Code:

C:\Users\{USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\{RANDOMWORD}\localhost\{PATHTOYOURMACHINARIUMINSTALLDIRECTORY}\machinarium.exe\Machinarium.sol

{USERNAME}=your username
{RANDOMWORD}=not sure if it's really random but mine is "EE95AWMA", there should only be one directory under "#SharedObjects" so not a problem.
{PATHTOYOURMACHINARIUMINSTALLDIRECTORY}=something like "Program Files (x86)\Machinarium"

If you're using a private file data cleaner like CCleaner be warned that it will clean it all without mercy so you're gonna lose your progress if you don't pay attention.

Not sure for MAC but I know that in Linux it would be in your "/home/{USERNAME}/.macromedia/Flash Player" etc...
It should keep the same directory structure on all platforms.

[StarRoad]

Extending from what popsUlfr said

Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
   Start > Run (Winkey+R Alternatively"

Code:

"%AppData%/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/"

Mac

Code:

"~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/"

Linux/Unix

Code:

"~/.macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects"

Once you're in the #SharedObjects directory for your associated Operating System it's the same for all of them
There will be a single random folder in the #SharedObjects folder and from there we'll go to

Code:

{TheRandomFolder}/localhost/Program Files/Machinarium/

(program files will probably be different depending on your operating system)

From here we'll find a "Machinarium.sol" in which you can backup just incase something goes wrong.

[jm2k7]

  thanks for the suggestion of the save, now for those of ccleaner.

1. Open ccleaner.
2. Options
3. "Exclude"
4. Add Folder
5. Search the save path, eg C:\Users{USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\{RANDOMWORD}\localhost\Program Files\Machinarium\machinarium.exe
check if the box is in | *.* |
6. Accept
5. Ready now can use ccleaner and do not erase your saved game.

[paracloudcaste]

Thank you!  I think you may have solved it!  You mentioned that the saves are in Flash Player preference, and well, I have this addon in Firefox named BetterPrivacy, and it rids of Flash Player bits that web sites use to track and data mine, and it is deleting machinarium saves along with the bad, it seems (for confirmation, in the folder referenced)!  Disabling this addon seems to solve the problem (every time I closed Firefox, it deleted stuff in the Flash Player folder).  So, anyone with this problem, watch your addons in Firefox!   

[Summo]

If you're using a private file data cleaner like CCleaner be warned that it will clean it all without mercy so you're gonna lose your progress if you don't pay attention.

Gah!  That'd be it then!

Thanks so much for getting to the bottom of this.  I'll add an exclusion in CCleaner and start the game over.

Unless anyone has a save game they'd be willing to share?  I'd just defused the bomb.  I suspect this might be asking too much, though.

Thanks again!

[pissedoff]

 
I'm very upset about this issue. I think you should have warned people about this by sending emails - at the very least - on this topics. If you had by yesterday, I wouldn't have had this nice surprise today. You should have done it immediately, while working on fixing the problem without user intervention.

I mean, the game is really great, I loved it, but this is the kind of stuff that undermines your credibility as a software house. I could never imagine something like this to happen, also because every flash developer knows that flash preferences can't be trusted (that's way I supposed, in the first place, you had thought about some way involving external XML files to store progresses, and I didn't bother to make "safe copies" of the savegames or to even take a look at how it worked).

One last note: I run WinXP, I do have installed CCleaner, but i haven't used it lately, nor I cleaned in any way browser or general cache since I installed the game. Maybe it's just for flash preferences settings (out of space?).
Hope it'll help in finding a solution.

BTW, should any one have savegames to share, I'd be grateful: I had just entered the elevator (the one past the big robot guy with child), and I'm not eager to go all over again through it.

[popsUlfr]

For clarity I've made a new sticky that should be less cluttered and straight to the point (criticise me if that's not the case!)
http://forum.amanita-design.net/index.php?topic=463.0

[pissedoff]

Thank you, of course it's straight and clear.
I'd suggest you, if I may, to email the customer anyway (I suppose you have all the email adresses of who bought the game from your website): I hadn't accessed the forum before I had this problem.

[bsoplinger]

In another thread where I had a problem with the menu not showing so I couldn't save games another member posted that he didn't realize there was a menu because the game automatically saved his game when he quit and offered a resume choice when he started again...

I never saw that. Then I saw this thread, wondered if they are related somehow. Longer story short...

At least on my Mac, if the Flash preferences are to not have temporary files then you will have no saved games. Even when you look in the save slots, even if you try them and they seem to work in the same session as when you save them. I had to go to the Flash Player preferences (right click) and then the tab with a file folder on it. I changed my setting from 0 to unlimited and now my saved games in the slots are there *and* the game has a resume option on the main window. Life is good now

[dune]

Thank you!  I think you may have solved it!  You mentioned that the saves are in Flash Player preference, and well, I have this addon in Firefox named BetterPrivacy, and it rids of Flash Player bits that web sites use to track and data mine, and it is deleting machinarium saves along with the bad, it seems (for confirmation, in the folder referenced)!  Disabling this addon seems to solve the problem (every time I closed Firefox, it deleted stuff in the Flash Player folder).  So, anyone with this problem, watch your addons in Firefox!   

You don't need to disable Better Privacy in its entirety.
With Machinarium running, switch to a Firefox session. Open up Better Privacy's options. In its "LSO Manager" tab, you will see an entry for machinarium.exe. Highlight the entry and hit the "Prevent Automatic LSO Deletion" button.
Better Privacy will now leave Machinarium's Flash settings alone, but continue to sweep away the bad stuff.

[Zabigdog]

I don't have much experience in the finer points of using Flash apps. I too seem to have lost everything. I reinstalled 3 times because of display problems (I would get to a black screen, with sound, and the lower menu would be accessible while the top menu with inventory and hints was visible but not usable). I had the option to 'resume game' when I restarted and was delighted to see it had all my slots saved. Then tonight I came back to play more and they were all gone. My computer seems to have restarted while I was out. I've been reading and trying to follow the guides for finding the .sol file; I've located one that seems to be timestamped around the right time, but don't know how to access it. I've tried a few obvious things...

I love this game very much and was perfectly happy to spend 1/3 of my weekly grocery budget on it. :-) But tonight I'm a bit discouraged to find that even being game to try to fix the problem, I need a level of knowledge that is just way beyond me.

Can anyone help walk me through trying to load up that file? And/or explain how I can save and re-use the saved slots in some safer way? I realize you all are probably all experienced Flash folks but I'm thinking it's reasonable to ask for some handholding under the circs. Thanks....

[Ijustwantaplay]

Me too  I just don't understand why am I doing a search for What??? to Exclude Machinarium.sol file??? I just don't get it. Haven't used CCleaner since I know it will delete my saves.  Running Windows Vista here. I don't know what my random word would be.

[rozov]

Solution -
start the game
right click anywhere on the screen
select "Settings"
change local storage to be big enough to save the game (I just used unlimited, but I think 10MB should do more then fine)