Deleted progress

[Captain_D]

For some reason, when I started FTL (through steam) yesterday all my progress was gone. No ships, no achievements, instead just a message as if this was the first time I hap launched FTL. Does anyone know how this has happened? And can it be fixed?

Here is a little more information: so mostly I am running the game offline, however I do sometimes reconnect with steam to have a cloud backup. However I can't get steam to download the save version I have on steam, for some reason, it keeps saying it can't synchronize. I tried re downloading the game to trick steam, that didn't work either.
I can see the FTL stuff I have on the steam cloud is about 3.64 KB, is that enough to contain the saved infomation? or is the version I have on the steam cloud corrupted?

Do you think the problem can be solved or do I need to start from scratch?

Any responds are much appreciated.

[kartoFlane]

I don't really know if your profile can be saved, but in case it cannot, at least you won't have to restrart from scratch completely -- you can use the profile editor to try and rebuild your profile.

[Matthew]

kartoFlame's link to the fan-made profile editor should at least help you restore your progress.

We're still trying to sort out the causes for this. It's something that's pretty rare and is unlikely hit you more than once. Unless on the off chance it was Steam's Cloud syncing that caused it, in which case I'd recommend you disable Steam Cloud for FTL. Terribly sorry about this, I know how frustrating that could be.

[Captain_D]

Thanks for the replies.
So my old file is gone. That is okay I just wanted to hear about it. I suppose FTL is not the worst game this could happened in. I am still not sure whether I want to to just start over from scratch or recreate my profile using what karto wrote.
I am just happy that I am unlikely to experience this again

[shadowcrust]

It's something that's pretty rare and is unlikely hit you more than once.

Happened to me twice so far, but under strained circumstances - once the computer turned too hot and shut down, and once recording a video of the run probably took all space on the harddisk, forcing a hard restart as well (although the game was quit properly, at least no error message appeared, before restarting).

If it happens a third time, I'll feel very, very special.

I am still not sure whether I want to to just start over from scratch or recreate my profile using what karto wrote.

I started AE twice from scratch, it gives you a good excuse to fly more with the Kestrel and you can achieve 100% victory rates.

[The Legacy]

I found early on that the game's progress and game data is saved under Documents > My Games > FasterThanLight. If you copy both files and save them somewhere safe, if it happens again, you can simply copy and paste, and your entire progress (up to the point of when it was saved) will be recovered.

Of course, you can use this to save your progress while doing a playthough, giving you a chance to reload from an earlier time if you make a mistake. However, that will remove some of the challenge of the game. How you use this knowledge, is up to you.

[Matthew]

@shadowcrust: The crash leading to a wipe is another bizarre one that, as far as I know, is new to the Advanced Edition. Which is odd since nothing about the system has really changed that would cause that. The Legacy's suggestion of backing up progress is a good idea if your computer is often victim to hard shutdowns like that. If you have another crash mid game, can you go grab the profile and save files to send to me (techsupport@ftlgame.com) before launching FTL again? I haven't been able to get an example of what exactly happens to the files in that situation and can't repeat it on my end.

[shadowcrust]

I very much hope the crash-and-wipe never happens again, as I took precautions now and have bought a cooling pad and won't record videos of my flights anymore...

On the other computer with Classic FTL, I had several mid-game shutdowns, as the battery is totally out and if you touch the power connector, power is immediately gone. Never lost my profile, though. Difference to the AE wipes was also another operating system pre-AE (Windows 7), now I play on Linux.

*If* it happens again, I will send you the profile.

[shadowcrust]

As you said there's no difference between the system of Classic and AE FTL, maybe it's actually the OS that's making the difference here?

I just remembered this post, where the poster claims that fsync or sync is not properly called - maybe that's connected to the profile wipes, as the profile files are not properly saved to disk in strained circumstances or some such? Just a wild guess.

[Jad.3]

So, still no patch?
Not only my progress in FTL AE was lost after quit-bsod crash, even my web-based game I was playing got wiped. Is this what I get for actually purchasing the game?