Missing Saves

[Strong Reaction]

Really strange, I just started running windows 7 & thought Id try to run civ3 conquests. I had a little trouble getting the right adjustments for the my wide screen monitor, but that really isn't the problem, though its related. I finally tweaked the monitor settings to get the look I wanted, which included switching the windows compatibility mode to " run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows XP service pack 3".

I had started a game NOT running the game in compatibility mode, but when I switched it the save game was not available. Weird, so I went into the files...Program files (x86)/Infogrames Interactive/CivIII/Conquests/saves and there were no save games. So I switched to compatibility mode and started a new game. When I looked for the save games in the program files they are there.

So bottom line if you do not set the game to run in the XP compatibility mode you cannot access the save games via the program files. I wanted to continue the original game I started but I cannot access it. In fact I have no idea where it is stored. Traditionally its stored in the program files, but like I said its not there. Anyway, if someone knows how to retrieve old save games in Win 7 I would be interested to know how to do it. I know this post is a bit convoluted but please bear with me its a strange problem. As it sits right now I just started a new game, but I was doing so well in the other game

 

[Moosezilla]

try searching .sav??

 

[Everkane]

Something similar happened to me when I had to reinstall my windows (without format the HD). Is apparently ignored all the saved files and something funny happened too, when I tried to search the .sav files from the game itself some directories which doesn't even exist anymore was shown, like the game couldn't support this change in the OS.

I didn't go too far into this issue because the saved games weren't that important at that moment, but I believe when an OS is changed the main directory of .sav files is erased. I may be wrong because it seems to make no sense, but that's pretty much what happened to me.

 

[Theov]

administrator settings or 'show hidden files' settings?

Just save a game as 'findme' and search for that one. Make sure to include all files in the search.

 

[Strong Reaction]

try searching .sav??

Yes!, Found it!

 

[Strong Reaction]

administrator settings or 'show hidden files' settings?

Just save a game as 'findme' and search for that one. Make sure to include all files in the search.

1st thing I do when I install or reinstall on OS is tick the show hidden folders box in the folders options. I tend to use mods on most of the games I play.

 

[Strong Reaction]

Something similar happened to me when I had to reinstall my windows (without format the HD). Is apparently ignored all the saved files and something funny happened too, when I tried to search the .sav files from the game itself some directories which doesn't even exist anymore was shown, like the game couldn't support this change in the OS.

I didn't go too far into this issue because the saved games weren't that important at that moment, but I believe when an OS is changed the main directory of .sav files is erased. I may be wrong because it seems to make no sense, but that's pretty much what happened to me.

I think your situation is the closest to mine. I actually rebuilt my pc, new motherboard etc. so this was a clean install of the operating system. Its really strange though. When the game is run in win compatibility mode there is easy access to the sav. files but as soon as you run a game without the compatibility mode on the sav. games are inaccessible from the traditional files.

I knew the sav. file was somewhere so when I did the sav. search, as suggested above, I found the file copied and pasted it to (program files x86) and it now shows up in my windows xp compatibility mode games. Cool

Anyways, thanks guys for all the suggestions!

 

[darski]

Once you get to you Save file you can 'create a shortcut' and place it on the desktop. I found that very convenient for getting there quickly. it cuts out 4 steps to get there.

 

[Quintillus]

This is happening because of something called Virtual Store in Windows Vista and later. Basically, when programs try to save to C:\Program Files, C:\Program Files (x86), C:\Windows, and perhaps a couple other folders, Windows tells them that the save was successfully, but it actually saves it to a different location (the one you found when searching). The idea of this is that it makes it harder for viruses to save things there that could cause problems for your programs, but more often it ends up causing problems for programs that need to be able to write there in the first place.

IMO the best solution to this is to install Civ3 somewhere not in C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86). Installing it somewhere like C:\Civilization III should solve the problem.