Re: mass effect saves issue

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@Minacrass wrote:

I also tried disabling my antivirus, and making the security permissions the way You suggested. Like I said, I'm not computer savvy, so I'll try to explain it without sounding stupid. While trying to make the permissions the way You wrote, I left full permission for System and Administrator. I have only one more User there, which has the same name as the Administrator (one is "name (name-PC\name)" and the other is "Administrator (name-PC\Administrator)", and that one I could only either disable everything, or the ones that You suggested to keep, meaning "Read & Execute" "List folder contents" and "Read", but I could not disable other functions while keeping those.

But I tried anyway, I disabled everything there, and also my antivirus. This time, the game seemed to reverse to the freshly installed version, where my settings weren't saved, the cloud saves seemed to be gone ("The latest cloud storage data might not be available" pops out when starting the game) and when I tried saving the game (after watching the intro for nth time) it showed me an error "A problem occurred while saving the game. No game session data was preserved. Please try again".

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It's because of what you did. See, one possibility is that the game don't has the permissions to wrote the save games to your "Save" folder. Normally it should warn you about that. (As it did after you took the permissions of your accounts away.)  

Well at least we know that works. 🙂 

So, to make that clear, disabling permissions was not the idea, read my post again, the different accounts need the permissions I wrote about to have access to that folder.

Reset the permissions to the original state.  

Lets see if I got that right. You have 3 accounts there. "System", "Administrator" and  the "name (name-PC\name)"

Is that right?  

The "System" and "Administrator" accounts should have every permissions set to "Allow" except for "Special  permissions"

IMPORTANT Don't "Deny" permissions, you could lock yourself out of the Folder for good.

The "name (name-PC\name)" account should be your user account, is that right? 

What permissions are listed for that account?

Also, after you set the permissions back, try again to save with disabled Anti-Virus.

Hi again, 

Yes, I have those 3 accounts listed there. Each of them (including the "name (name-PC\name)") at the moment have every permission allowed, and "Administrator" has also the "special permissions". I don't exactly know, how to remove it, because the "allow" part is greyed out, and I can only "deny" (which you told me not to do).  Besides the "special permissions" cannot even be "denied", it's also greyed out.

I checked the "advanced" settings, but since I don't want to break anything, I decided not to mingle there. From what I could see it was either remove the specific account from the permissions, add extra permissions, or again "deny" some of them.

Also, I tried saving with disabled antivirus. It doesn't show me the saving error anymore, but still does not work.

Ok lets make a test. Go to your Save folder, right click > new > Create new text document. After it is created, open it, write something in and save.

Close it and open it again to see if it was saved properly. 

I did that, and it worked properly

Okay, a new thing I noticed. I used the Origin "repair" function again, then I made it "update" and then "repair" again. I kept the save folder open while starting mass effect. The saving still doesn't work, but now in the save folder there were two new files "John00_01" and "John00_QuickSave". The only thing is, those files were 0B, and when I reopened the save folder, they disappeared. 

OK, so write permissions and "read only'" are not the issue.

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Minacrass schrieb:

Okay, a new thing I noticed. I used the Origin "repair" function again, then I made it "update" and then "repair" again. I kept the save folder open while starting mass effect. The saving still doesn't work, but now in the save folder there were two new files "John00_01" and "John00_QuickSave". The only thing is, those files were 0B, and when I reopened the save folder, they disappeared. 

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So the saves are not created as they should be.

Pleas do this: Click the Start menu. Type "folder options" (without the quotes). Click the line "Folder Options" that appears at the top of the Start menu.
A dialogue box with the title "Folder Options" will appear. Click the "View" tab at the top of the window. Click to uncheck the box for "Hide extensions for known file types". Click the "OK" button at the bottom of the dialogue box.
After that check your PC for *.MassEffectSave files again. (Shouldn't make a difference, but this is strange anyway.)

Also check "Drive:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect" folder if there is a "save" folder. (It shouldn't be)

Yeah, just like You said, there were no .MassEffectSave files found on my PC.

Perhaps this is the issue: when I went to "Drive:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\" there was no folder "Mass Effect"

 I run ME1 on Steam, so I don't know under which name Origin saves the files in "Drive:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games" is there a "ME1" or "Mass Effect 1" folder?

I'm not sure myself, but there are no "mass effect" folders whatsoever. Only one other game of mine has a folder in "Drive:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\". 

The only "mass effect" folder is currently in "Drive:\Users\"name"\My Documents\Bioware".

I also ran Mass Effect 2 and 3. They both save properly, and they also have created their respective folders under "My Documents" not in "Program Files (x86)"

Ok, pleas search for a file named "DefaultEngine.ini", (There should be two on your System, one for ME1 and one for ME2) open the one for ME1 with a Text editor, press "STRG + F" Typ or copy "SavePath" (without the quotes) into the Box. > search.

Then tell my what the entire line  "SavePath=...) says.

Edit: Also tell me where this file is located.

Okay, so I found the file, found the text. I'm copying the whole paragraph just in case: 

+Extensions=sfm
+LocalizationPaths=..\BIOGame\Localization
SavePath=..\BioGame\Save
+SuppressMeansUnsuppress=False
DisableLogging=False

The "DefaultEngine.ini" file was in my separate drive (so not the one I have my Windows 7 installed on), in the destination which I chose for Origin to install my games, which is:

"Games" folder\Origin\Mass Effect\Biogame\Config

In case You wish for a comparison, this is how the "SavePath" paragraph looks like in the file for Mass Effect 2:

[Core.System]
MaxObjectsNotConsideredByGC=80000 // Set for PC by debugf(TEXT("%i objects as part of root set at end of initial load."), NumAlwaysLoadedObjects);
// BIOSTART - Brent Scriver - April 18th, 2007 - Add cutdown paths
+CutdownPaths=..\BIOGame\CutdownPackages\BIOGame\Content
+CutdownPaths=..\BIOGame\CutdownPackages\BIOGame\__Trashcan
+CutdownPaths=..\BIOGame\CutdownPackages\BIOGame\Script
// BIOEND
+Paths=..\BIOGame\Content
+Paths=..\BIOGame\__Trashcan
// BIOSTART - February 9, 2006 - Blake Grant
+Paths=..\BIOGame\TestContent
// BIOEND
+Extensions=sfm
+Extensions=pcc
+LocalizationPaths=..\BIOGame\Localization
SeekFreePCPaths=..\BIOGame\CookedPC
SeekFreePCExtensions=pcc
SavePath=..\BioGame\Save
+SuppressMeansUnsuppress=False
DisableLogging=False
bEnableStreamingLog=FALSE
CookPaths=..\BIOGame\Content\Maps
// BIOSTART - October 16, 2009 - Devin Doucette - Verified scripts
VerifiedScriptPaths=..\BIOGame\VerifiedScript
// BIOEND

Do you run a original English copy or do you use a other language?

Change the line in the editor from "SavePath=..\BioGame\Save" to "SavePath=..\BioGame" save the file > Try saving the game.

I bought the game during my studies in Finland (I've moved to London UK since then), but all the games I bought there were always in English. My Origin language settings are on "English GB".

I changed the line in the editor, unfortunately still doesn't work.

Seems like my case is very persistent hahaha! :D

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Minacrass schrieb:

Seems like my case is very persistent hahaha! :D

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Too Right!

IMHO the problem is about your file structure.

So you have a “C:\ drive for Windows and a normal “Program Files (x86)” folder there, and a second drive (probably) “D:\” with a “Game” folder.

I would suggest the following:

1. Make a backup of all save games from your Origin Games (just in case)
2. Close Origin (Right click on the Origin symbol in the task bar > close
3. Create a folder directly into the root (direct under the Drive letter) of your second drive and name that folder “Program Files (x86)” (without the quotes.)
4. Create a folder named “Origin Games” (without the quotes.) inside the “Program Files (x86)” folder you just created.
5. Relocate the folders inside your "Games" folder\Origin” folder and the folders inside the “Origin Games” folder of your “C:\” drive into the new “Origin Games” folder.
6. De install Origin from the Windows Control Panel.
7. Reboot
8. Make sure there are no “Origin” folders in “C:\Program Files (x86)” in “C:\Users\(your user name)\AppData\Local” and in “C:\Users\(your user name)\AppData\Roaming”
   To see the last two: Go to Control Panel > Folder Options > View.
   To show hidden files and folders, mark "Show hidden files, folders, and drives".
9. Reinstall Origin, Into the "Program Files (x86)” folder you just created. (on your second drive) Make sure you have the newest version.
10. Open Origin, in the Menu top left corner click “Origin” > “Application settings” > “Advanced”
11. Under “Your Games will be installed to the following location” Origin should already have the correct path to the “Origin Games” folder you created above. If not, set it manually.
12. Inside Origin, go to “My Games” right click on the games > Repair Game. (Origin will only download a few files.)
13. Try the ME 1 save function.

I did everything according to Your instructions 🙂

During the installation of Origin, it showed me some error about "incorrect path" or something like that (I'm sorry, I don't remember anymore), but the software installed nonetheless.

Unfortunately the saving in ME1 still doesn't work...

Well actually after re-installing Origin in the new folder, it only let me "download" the game (which didn't actually download it, just installed), and then I used the "repair" function. After that the DefaultEngine.ini file was back to it's original state (meaning the saves didn't work with that).

I also tried changing that one line the way we tried before, but the saving still doesn't budge T_T

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Minacrass schrieb:

Well actually after re-installing Origin in the new folder, it only let me "download" the game (which didn't actually download it, just installed)...

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Yay, sorry about that, it was late here.

Lets try something different. Please go to your in game settings (At the start screen > Options > settings > Gameplay.) Disable "Auto Save" > Apply > Test

If it not works restart the game > Test, restart again sett "Auto Save" back on > Test > Restart > test.

If that not works, create a "Save" folder under your "second drive:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect\BioGame" folder > Test.

Second thought. In your windows Explorer, right click on your Documents icon in libraries, in the windows left top corner under "documents library" > includes: X locations, click on "x locations", in the windows that opens, is your "C:\user\your user name\Documents" folder the "default save location"?

I'm sad to say neither of those solutions worked...

It's so weird, because I have played alll 3 Mass Effect games on my laptop already, just before I would use the CD version of ME1 and 2, but now for convenience I have bought the Origin version, and suddenly it won't work ☹️

Did you see the second post?

Also, is there a "Bioware" folder in the root of your  "C:\" drive or anywhere else on that drive other than in  "C:\user\your user name\Documents"?

Sorry, I just saw the second post.

Yes,  "C:\user\user name\Documents" is my default save location. Should I add the new "save" folder location I made in the other drive, and make that the default?

And no, there are no other "Bioware" folders in my C: drive. Only in "My Documents"

Did post a third question, see above.

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Minacrass schrieb:

Sorry, I just saw the second post.

Yes,  "C:\user\user name\Documents" is my default save location. Should I add the new "save" folder location I made in the other drive, and make that the default?

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It's worth a tray, but crate a "My Documents" folder in the root of your second drive and make that too your "default save location" folder. And be aware that the Windows save dialogue will always point you to that folder if it is the "default save location". I am not entirely sure if windows 7 will attempt to move the files from your old "default save location" to the new one.