windows 8 delete saves

[captaind12]

Just got win 8 and want to delete saves. Can't find saves!! Please show me the way... I am playing civ 3 original (vanilla?)

 

[Quintillus]

This is a fairly common problem with newer versions of Windows, but the fix should be relatively easy - re-installing it to somewhere that isn't C:\Program Files. From last month's similar case:

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.

If that still doesn't work, hopefully someone else has another idea, as I went with the more drastic approach and switched back to XP, and don't have Vista/7/8 at home anymore.

If all you want to delete the saves, and everything else is OK, see earlier posts in this thread.

 

[Puppeteer]

I have occasionally toyed with the idea of trying to create a tool to sniff out and report VirtualStore issues with Civ III on Vista through Win8. Until then, try copying and pasting each of these locations into a Windows Explorer address bar and see if there is data under them. If so, this may be where your save files are hiding.

32-bit Windows:

%localappdata%\VirtualStore\"Program Files"\"Infogrames Interactive"

64-bit Windows:

%localappdata%\VirtualStore\"Program Files (x86)"\"Infogrames Interactive"

If there is data under there, look under saves, ptw\saves and/or conquests\saves .

Or maybe just start at the VirtualStore root and see what's in there:

%localappdata%\VirtualStore

 

[Puppeteer]

Well, I was inspired to whip up this VirtualStore detector. It is supposed to tell you if you have VirtualStore folders that might interfere with your game folders. I've only tested it on my PC so far, and I know I don't have VirtualStore folders for my Civ3 files. If I coded it right it may tell you if you have VirtualStore folders and where they are. This would be a good place to look for your missing saves.

If I coded it wrong all it does is read stuff, so it should just error out and shouldn't harm anything.

Here's what it tells me for my PC:

VirtualStore folder detected at C:\Users\jim.AD\AppData\Local\VirtualStore

Detecting if we are running 32-bit, otherwise assume 64-bit:
64-bit

Reading install paths from registry...

Your CivIII install location:
c:\users\games\civ3
There is no VirtualStore detected for this folder.

Your PTW install location:
c:\users\games\civ3\Civ3PTW
There is no VirtualStore detected for this folder.

Your Conquests install location:
c:\users\games\civ3\Conquests
There is no VirtualStore detected for this folder.

Press any key to continue . . .