Issues after 11.35 update - no save files

[TallicadaZ]

Hi,

Looking for a bit of advice please. I'll try to be as specific as I can, but I'm not overly technical :-S

I'm running FPSE with SCPH1001.bin and have been running FF7 quite happily for the last cpl of weeks.
I was playing earlier, then the latest update came and now my game is goosed.

I was running on openGL, with two save files as well as using current in game saves.
Now my save states are gone, as well as my in game save

Is this to do with the new save state location? I've tried looking for the FPSe folder in directory but I can't see it. My phone isn't rooted, if that makes a difference..

Not sure where else they could have gone, and pretty pissed as I'd clocked up a fair amount of time on the saves.

Any suggestions or more info needed?

Thanks in advance,

[schtruck]

i think you have set savestate path from misc menu then this mean savestate was save into the directory you defined initially.

now you have to set this directory another time due to changes and you'll recover your savestates

take the new version 0.11.36 which fix a problem on this part

[TallicadaZ]

I still can't get it to work... I already updated to the newest version

I have set the savestate path to my directory and found two save states (well I presume it was the ones I originally had even though the timestamps are the same and more recent than my save) - but when I try to load them in Open GL, it asks that I switch to SW mode.
When I switch to SW mode, one loads a very old save (when I was using SW mode to play, before I restarted and used OpenGL) and the other doesn't load at all.

If I could just get my in game save to work, I would be happy...

For the memcard save, I have tried Settings > Select memcard 1 > (/mydirectory) memcards and still nothing... the in game saves are empty (tried in OpenGL and SW modes, just in case)

I'm pretty stumped now... I've spent hours copying files into directories, trying to change the pathways for the savestates and memcard saves and still nothing... Resigning to the fact that I have lost these now

[bluezeak]

This is my understanding of how it works - though I could be wrong...

The new update copied the internal savestate and memcard directories to /sdcard/.fpse

notice that it's ".fpse". This means it's a "hidden" folder. If you're using a browser to search for files / browse files, you have to make sure it's set to 'view hidden directories'. Otherwise you won't be able to see it. I thought FPSE's file browser could see that directory.

The way I had my fpse setup, I was NOT using the builtin savestate and memcard path. When fpse was upgraded, it copied those directories over, including 2 memory card files, but they were blank. I had my savestate and memory card files in a different directory. After the upgrade I just had to point fpse to them, and I was good to go.

Were you using a different folder for you savestate and memory cards? If so, you should only need to point fpse to it, and you should be fine. If you weren't, fpse should have copied the 'built-in' files to the new location, you shouldn't have had to do anything. Worse case, you would just point fpse to /sdcard/.fpse.

The situation you describe sounds like you're using OLD files. maybe you used to be using those files, but at some point fpse got setup to point to it's internal files.

Another location you can check is /sdcard/fpsebackup. This is where fpse copies the internal files it's using when you go to menu, misc, backup.

Finally, use an app like 'astro' to search your sdcard for .mcd files. also, make sure it's really your sdcard. For me, I have to use /mnt/sdcard-ext, others have to use /mnt/extsdcard. if you have both an 'internal' sdcard and an 'external' sdcard, search both.

Let us know how it goes...

[TallicadaZ]

Hey Zeak,

Thanks for the reply.
I kinda figured by reading other posts that may be the cause...

I didn't setup a pathway for the savestate files when I first started using it. I did however start using SW mode, then switched to OpenGL - the original SW mode savestates disappeared, which was never an issue, and I created two new savestates when running OpenGL (not sure where they saved to tbh) - but I also regularly used in game saves.

I've moved the two savestates from the hidden '.fpse' folder to a new folder and pointed the fpse to there for savestate and mcd saves (noting the pathway being sdcard/XXX rather than mnt/sdcard/xxx) - For the savestates, they both request a change to SW mode, one loads my old save (mentioned above) the other doesn't work at all.
The mcd saves don't load either (or appear in game), although I can see them in the fpse config when I point them to the folder. :-S

Perhaps this has been my own doing and I've somehow overwritten the files! I honestly don't know I'm afraid... Although I always presumed the .mcd saves would work, and am baffled why they won't load...

[bluezeak]

A couple people have said they had issues with losing their memory cards, so I'm going to paste some more info here to help investigate the problem.

The update was supposed to copy the memory card and save state files from their default location (/data/data/com.emulator.fpse/files/ <memcard> and <savestate>) to the new path (/sdcard/.fpse).

If you already had your files in a different location before the update, you should just need to point fpse to them (menu, misc, memcard / savestate - for savestae after choosing the directory you push the 'back' button on your phone). That's what I did, it worked great.

If your saves and mem cards were in the default location, as I said, they should have been copied to the new location.

To verify the contents of your mem cards:
[list]
method one
- in fpse make sure the system option 'fast boot' is turned off (this step can be skipped)
- create a file named test.iso (using an application like 'astro')
- when asked to load a game, point to test.iso
- this will force fpse to load to the bios screen

method two
- in fpse make sure the system option 'fast boot' is turned off (this step is required)
- load a game in fpse
- menu, eject, don't choose a game, just push the 'back' button on your device
- menu, quit, restart (this simulates starting the playstation with no disk)
- this should force fpse to load to the bios screen
- may
[list]

Once in the bios screen, you can check the contents of your memory card. Verify if they have data - or if they're truly blank.

If they're not blank, but the save games are not able to be loaded - frankly I'm not sure what to do. I would suspect corruption. Let's talk about that when we see that that's the issue.

If they are blank - what happened to your memory card?? Let's double check the files fpse should be using now. The new location is /sdcard/.fpse. You can't browse to it to choose the memory card manually from inside fpse because it's a 'hidden' folder. I recommend using a tool like astro to copy the files that are there to a new location, then configure fpse to use those cards, and check again to see if they have content on them. When you browse to them with your file manager tool, make sure you have it see to 'view hidden files/folders'. After copying the files to a new location, configure fpse to use them. Choose menu, misc, memcard & savestate - push the 'back' button on your device after chooing the savestate directory -, then choose 'set as default'. If your first check showed no data on the memory cards, this one probably won't either.

Next check - the files may still be in the default location (/data/data/com.emulator.fpse/files/ <memcad> and <savestate>). You will need to copy them to a new location. You will need root access to your phone to do so. If you're able to do this, after copying the files, configure fpse to use them. That being done, load up a game and see if it has your saves and/or use the methods above to check the contents of the memory cards.

If that doesn't work... last resort would be to search your device for .mcd files (memory card files). use an application like astro to do so - or, plug your phone in to your computer and search the sdcard from there (on my phone when I plug it in to my computer I get two new drives, one for the 'internal' sdcard, and one for the 'external' - i.e. the real - sdcard). If you have root access you can search the whole phone, not just the sdcard

Unfortunately I can't help testing too much since my saves and mem cards were already in a different location so the update didn't affect me.

[TallicadaZ]

Hi Zeak,

I've checked the PS BIOS screen and it doesn't recognise the .mcd files, despite me being able to see them in Astro and pointing FPSe to them using a manually created folder. I would suspect they are corrupt.

I've tried replicating this with a new game and it's all working fine, so I would imagine the .mcd and savestates have been corrupted somewere along the way?

I'm not sure what else can be done, so I'll scratch these files and start something else.
Im sure if I used an external filepath to keep my saves in, It would have been ok... So any advice to prevent this happening again (despite turning off FPSe auto update!)

Thanks for all the input btw!

[bluezeak]

schtruck put this change in specifically to prevent updates from causing problems in the future. when fpse gets updated, or if you have to reinstall, the save game files do not get affected. sadly, something happened to you when they files got copied from the oiriginal location to the new location. but ... in the future, and new updates or reinstalls will not affect the save games in the /sdcard/.fpse location.