Saved games - how to?

[Palpat]

Well, I'm confused.

In AACW, there was a shortcut allowing player to name their saves. It seems gone and all we have is a strange charge menu without much info on the files saved. And I also don't see how I can go back one, two or three turns back...

[minipol]

The naming I have noticed as well. As for returning to a previous save: on the load screen, click on the game and then you'll see a black computer chip
of some sort appearing at the top right. Click on it, then you'll see a blue arrow. If you hover over it, you'll see the tooltip.
This allows you to return to a previous turn. The number of turns you can go back to is limited.

[Pocus]

renaming is done with another button accessible from this CPU chip button.

[ajarnlance]

Make this easier in a future patch/ version please. It shouldn't be this obtuse.

[minipol]

Maybe the reason behind is that you don't need renaming as you can go back a few turns?

[Pocus]

Exactly, the game auto save all your turns and keep the 3 last ones (you can edit this value in a file also, if you want to keep all your turns).

[RELee]

This is much more user-friendly than the old way.

I don't like that.

[Pocus]

Sorry, we will try to obfuscate things better next time

[Palpat]

I, for one, found the older ways more user friendly. You could see your files and stuff...

[John S. Mosby]

The naming I have noticed as well. As for returning to a previous save: on the load screen, click on the game and then you'll see a black computer chip
of some sort appearing at the top right. Click on it, then you'll see a blue arrow. If you hover over it, you'll see the tooltip.
This allows you to return to a previous turn. The number of turns you can go back to is limited.

Just to be clear, I see where you can go back to a previous time slot but then you're locked in to that period and you can't return forward.

Specifically, is there a way you can go back and review a previous time frame and not lose your current game?
The manual recommends not altering the save docs folder.

As you can see, I am reading the manual and using the search button.

[Jim-NC]

There is a way by changing things in the save game folder. The game saves your previous turns a back ups to the current game. If you copy one of those into a new folder, and rename, you can see what happened in the past. You must be careful, however, as if done incorrectly, this can damage your save games.

[GraniteStater]

The only thing I can think of is to copy the save in question to a different directory, using the directory structure. Include all other necessary files and you can very probably Load a game under that. Might have to do some renaming, though. Straight renaming thru the UI doesn't work, you still have the same task, just, literally, under a different name.

[John S. Mosby]

There is a way by changing things in the save game folder. The game saves your previous turns a back ups to the current game. If you copy one of those into a new folder, and rename, you can see what happened in the past. You must be careful, however, as if done incorrectly, this can damage your save games.

I think that's what I'll do if I come to a crossroads and want a save to go back to. I'm still learning this great game and I greatly appreciate both your responses.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Here is how I did it for the Corps Combat Testbed.

I opened up the scenario and played through until I got to the right place and saved it.

Then I used windows explorer to copy the appropriate save folder into a new directory. I then changed the folder name and each of the three files to a new name (keeping the CSA/Union portion of these filenames intact). Then I dragged the folder back to the CW2/Saves directory.

On the Load screen, the new save showed up with the new name alongside the old save, and the saves were identical but with different names. I then used the new version to play and test. The history (previous turn positions) is identical between the two saves, so you can tick backward to wherever you want.

Renaming a save with the CPU Icon automatically changes the file names in question into the correct format. A faster but potentially more confusing method is to make a copy of the save folder in the saves directory (which renames the folder SaveName (1) or something but does not change the filenames). Open the game to the Load screen. You will have two choices with the same names and turns (but the timestamp will differ) because the name displayed in the Load screen is based on the file names, not the folder names. Rename either of these via the CPU icon in the Load screen and voila, the new folder and its files have all the new names in the CW2/Saves directory.

Try whatever you want to in your copy, going back or forward however many moves you want, and when you are ready, Load the original save to get back to your "real" game.

This process is especially worthwhile if you feel like you made a mistake on an earlier turn and want to try something different without losing your current position. Use the copy to go back to that turn and see how new orders turn out. Load the original save if you don't like how it goes.

I suspect that the process is designed to be difficult to encourage Iron Man style play. I am happy with this design decision, though it makes sandboxing somewhat tedious.

I would like to see the Load screen with smaller scenario icons, or even a list view. It can be difficult to find the save you are looking for under the current presentation if you have a lot of saves. I also make a habit of renaming every game at start because the auto-named ones are too similar to each other and hard to tell apart on the Load screen.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Visual instructions for the quicker way:

[ATTACH]27122[/ATTACH]
Copy folder

[ATTACH]27123[/ATTACH]
Looks like this in explorer

[ATTACH]27124[/ATTACH]
Looks like this in the Load screen (timestamps are actually the same for both, got that part wrong in the previous post).

[ArmChairGeneral]

Illustrated instructions:
[ATTACH]27127[/ATTACH]


[ATTACH]27128[/ATTACH]

Make a copy of the save's folder in the CW2/Saves directory.

[ATTACH]27129[/ATTACH]
The Load screen now shows two saves with the same name.

Continued...

[John S. Mosby]

Very informative ACG. Thank you.

I was not aware you could change the file name in documents and then use it in the game. Your second option is easier and looks good. I'm fine with the "Iron Man" style the devs may desire. I was looking for a way to see the difference if for example I invested heavy with Industrialization compared to none at all.

I'm not really looking for a sefety net if I make a mistake...I'd never finish with all the mistakes I'm making now. But I'm learning and it's fun.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Continued:

[ATTACH]27134[/ATTACH]
Using the CPU icon, select one of them to rename.

[ATTACH]27132[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]27133[/ATTACH]

Now there are two identical saves with different names.

In the CW2/Saves folder it will have renamed the folder and files of the save you selected to match the new name. Sometimes you change the name of the original (there is no way to tell them apart in the load screen) leaving you with a folder with the new name and the copied folder with the original name. On the load screen it will not say Copy even though the folder in the directory says Copy. You can rename the folder to the correct name if you like, but it doesn't matter, the Load screen save-name is based on the filenames not the folder name.

[John S. Mosby]

Very informative ACG. Thank you.

I was not aware you could change the file name in documents and then use it in the game. Your second option is easier and looks good. I'm fine with the "Iron Man" style the devs may desire. I was looking for a way to see the difference if for example I invested heavy in Industrialization compared to none at all.

I'm not really looking for a safety net if I make a mistake...I'd never finish with all the mistakes I'm making now but I'm learning and it's fun.

Despite your warning in your signature I'm going to listen to you anyway.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Thanks Mosby, but don't say I didn't warn you!

Also, to clarify something Pocus said earlier, you can change the number of turns of history the save files keep with the Auto-saved Turns slider on the Options-> System screen. The default is 3 and will go up to 12. I have it set it to six, but have never needed to go back that far.