Crisis in the Tranquil Valley! The Mystery of the Disappearing Saves.

We all know that feeling....you're happily plugging away at your game o' the moment--maybe you're maneuvering your squad of alien blasting badasses into the perfect location in XCOM 2...or maybe you're settling into your cozy Stardew Valley bed after a hard day of farming.  That's when disaster likes to strike...when your defenses are down.  Then up pops a window telling you that your game has crashed.  Huh?  That's weird.  You start the game back up again figuring that it's just a minor blip only to find that, after 77 hours of gameplay, your saved games are gone from the loading menu.  What...the...living....efffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!?!  My farm isn't done!  I'm only one step from completing the community center!  My house can still be upgraded!  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  The idea of starting from scratch is completely overwhelming.

I have had this weird string of bad luck with games this year.  XCOM 2 had a bug that would corrupt your saves if you encountered chrysalid pods (this bug has since been fixed, but it sidelined my campaign for a few weeks while 2K was patching together a hotfix).  I was more than 40 hours into the game when I was promptly halted.  Now another save game bug had struck my beloved Stardew Valley.  The most important thing to remember in these type of situations is 1.) Don't throw anything computer related!  Probably, don't throw anything.  2.) Stay clam and Google the problem 3.) The Steam forums are also usually helpful.

After some cursory searching I discovered that others have also encountered this issue.  If you find yourself in this situation it can (hopefully!) be remedied.  I managed to restore my 77 hour save after some finagling of the save files.  Phew!  I am going to try to walkthrough the steps I took just in case someone else encounters this problem--FYI, this problem is a known issue.  The sole developer, ConcernedApe, actually fixed the save of one individual and will hopefully look into this problem.

Step 1--Locate the folder with your save files.  Open the start menu and/OR enter %APPDATA% in the search bar.  I made sure that it said to search for a folder/file.  Once you've found it, open the folder that says Stardew Valley.  Then, open the "saves" folder.  Inside the "saves" folder should be a folder labelled "charactername_184923746" (it's a bunch of random numbers).  If you open that folder you should see your actual save files.

But, before you go any further, MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR CHARACTER FOLDER THAT CONTAINS YOUR SAVE FILES!.  I saved mine onto my desktop for easy access.

Step 2--Copy the code from your current character from the old save file.  Once you open the "charactername_12983829389" file you should see several files listed.  When I opened mine I saw 4 different files.  Two files were named "charactername_1928849849_old" and "charactername_12898494_STARDEWVALLEYTMP".  The other two are called "save data" and you can ignore those.

Open the "charactername_1237872382_old" file using Notebook.  Copy all the code that shows up.  It's a lot...the easiest way is to click on "edit" and choose "select all" and then right click and copy it.

Step 3--Start a new character, skip the intro, and wait until the "your progress has been saved" message pops up.  Re-start the game.  Create a new character--you aren't going to be playing this character so just put some random stuff in for the naming screen.  Once you've skipped past the intro story it should save your progress.  Exit out of the game once you've saved your progress.

Step 4--Navigate back to your save file.  Now, when looking in the "saves" folder, you should see a new folder for the new character that you just created.

Step 5--Copy your original character data over the save file info for your new character.  Open up the folder with your new character's data (it should be called newcharactername_38483478374)  Located the file that says "newcharactername_1278738738" and open it with Notebook.  Select all the code on this file and then hit paste to replace it with the code from your original character.  Make sure you go to "file" and hit "save" before exiting out!

Step 5--Re-start the game and load.  You probably still won't see a profile for your old character.  Instead, you should see a profile for your new character.  Click on the profile for your new character.  Your game should start up on the last day of your old character.

Following these steps worked for me and I was, thankfully, able to recover my game.  Oddly, a few days later a profile started showing up for my old character on the loading screen.  Weird.  My game originally crashed because another program was trying to inform me that my video card drivers had an update.  The only other time I have had Stardew Valley crash was also caused by a recent update related to either Windows 10 or my video card.  That time I had no problems.

Even though this fix worked for me, I have read that other people have had their saves completely disappear.  This won't work unless you can find your save files and copy the code onto a new profile.

I really hope other Stardew Valley players out there are able to avoid this problem.  It can be quite frustrating and panic inducing to be thoroughly enjoying a game only to have all your hard work disappear.

Stardew Valley Diary

It's official...my Stardew Valley farm has survived for an entire year!  I have also managed to almost befriend everyone in Pelican Town thanks to my manic gift giving.  There are still a few villagers who I haven't figured out--Caroline and Gus are generally unimpressed with any gifts that I give them.  Sebastian was a tricky one for quite awhile until I semi-accidentally stumbled upon his likes while looking up information on certain fish.  Hint:  One of his big "likes" is fish related.

In my first year my farm has grown to include a variety of animals.  Chickens, ducks, cows, and goats provide me with eggs and milk.  Duck eggs don't seem to have any special purposes but can be incubated to expand your number of ducks (which I would recommend as purchasing a duck costs 4,000 gold).  Once your ducks have become friendlier with you they will start dropping duck feathers which you can sell.  Goats are a nice addition as they provide milk that can be used to make goat cheese.  Certain villagers really dig goats cheese and it's one of the artisan items that sells for a good amount.  Keeping your animals happy will result in greater productivity--chickens will lay regular and large eggs and cows will do the same with milk.  Large eggs and large milk produce higher quality cheese and mayonnaise which sells for slightly more than the lower quality versions.

Non-farming time is best spent fishing or exploring the mines.  As you move deeper into the mines the enemies hit harder and the rocks get tougher requiring you to expend more energy to find the exit on each level.  I would recommend upgrading your weapon as much as you can afford and also making it a priority to upgrade your pickaxe.  Once you've done those things it will be considerably easier to deal with the enemies and rocks that populate the higher levels in the mine.  Eventually you will reach the bottom and receive an item that apparently has some use (which I have only partially figured out).  The tougher levels of the mine contain gold bars and more plentiful mineral deposits.

After you've caught the numerous fish you need to fix the fish tank in the community center continuing to fish may seem useless.  Don't stop fishing!  Once you have achieved a certain level of farming you will unlock high-quality fertilizer which requires sap AND fish.  Depending on how many crops you want to grow each season it is a good idea to keep a large stockpile of fertilizer.  Balancing your tasks between fishing and chopping down trees will keep you solid on the fertilizer front.

My farm has grown to include fruit trees and animals.

Planting and maintaining crops has become much easier with the ability to use gold bars to craft sprinklers.  Each sprinkler will water the eight squares surrounding it.  Watering crops is a breeze and no longer sucks up the whole morning!  Now to find a good source or iridium to make the sprinklers that will water 24 squares....

Finding someone to marry also turned out to be completely worthwhile.  Once you've earned at least eight hearts with a specific person you can purchase a bouquet.  Giving this bouquet as a gift announces your romantic intentions and unlocks the last two hearts of a relationship (only available bachelors and bachelorettes have this option).  There is a cute little cut scene where you hang out on a date with your sweetheart.  When you reach ten hearts you can purchase a mermaid pendant from the mariner/ghosty fisherman guy on the beach.  Haven't seen him?  He only appears when it rains so make it a point to swing by on a rainy day--oh, and bring 5,000 gold.  Just like in real life, marriage ain't cheap in Stardew Valley. Three days after giving the pendant your character will participate in a wedding ceremony in front of the whole town.

Having a spouse is definitely worth it.  Your spouse will cook you food and give you gifts AND feed your animals!  They are the best!

Even though my farm has grown by leaps and bounds, I still haven't accomplished everything that I want to.  I want some pigs!  And some sheep!  The un-restored community center still looms over Pelican Town.  I must fix it.....

The Casual Splendor of Stardew Valley

Every time I see another pixelated game I cringe.  Hasn't the whole pixelated thing been done to death?  Those thoughts were running through my head as I saw the game Stardew Valley climbing up the Steam top sellers chart.  Despite my initial reticence, I decided to click on it's store page.  A game about farming?  There's no shooting?  It's a game about socializing and building friendships?  It didn't really seem possible that this game could be on the top ten list.  All the reviews were very positive....but maybe this is one of those jokey games that people intentionally gave good reviews.  The more I read, the more I realized that people were genuinely enjoying it.  I was still hesitant as sandboxy style, crafting games haven't really been my thing.  For weeks I debated picking it up, then I convinced myself that I would wait until it went on sale.  But I was in a "game hole" and desperately needed something else to play.  $15 isn't really that much.....hopefully this wouldn't turn out like my previous poor choices in the form of Spelunky and Terraria.  (Which are both probably games that many people enjoy, they just weren't for me).

It turns out that all the positive feedback is completely true.  Stardew Valley is exactly the cute, charming game that all the reviews claim it is.  The premise of the game is simple; you have inherited your grandfather's decaying farm and want to re-build it into a profitable business.  Beside the elbow grease intensive tasks on the farm you can spend your non-farming time chatting up the locals.  Part of the charm is simply talking to the many residents who live in the area around your farm.

My farm during the spring.

The gameplay revolves around your energy meter.  Your character wakes up every morning with a full energy meter.  As you perform tasks around the farm, things like chopping down trees, clearing away rocks, or preparing soil for crops your energy meter gradually depletes.  If you push your character too hard and they become exhausted and can pass out.  Passing out doesn't have any permanent effects, but will require the doctor to come and drag your sorry body back to your home.  Oh, and even though he's a nice guy, he doesn't lug strangers back to their homes for free.  So keep an eye on that energy meter!  Fortunately, you can eat different kinds of food to replenish your energy.

The type of crops you can plant on your farm depends on the season.  Each season has unique crops that will only grow during that specific season.  Planning out what to plant at the beginning of a season is a great strategy.  Certain plants take a long time to grow, but can be harvested multiple times--even though these plants won't yield any cash at the beginning of the season they will pay off later on.  I find that I try to maintain a balance between crops with a long growing time and those with a shorter one.  The downside of the short term crops is that after they are harvested you have to buy more seeds and re-plant them.

Not all your time is consumed by farm tasks and often you can dedicate part of the day to many other things.  Adventuring in the mines will net you ores that can be used to build new items or upgrade your existing ones.  If you would rather make your cash from the bounty of the land you can forage for wild plants or spend your idle time fishing.  Of course there's always the overarching need to socialize with the residents of the valley and earn their trust and friendship.  Friendship is earned through gift giving.  Each resident of the valley can receive up to two gifts a week and every person has their own personal preferences for the type of gifts they like to receive.  It can be tricky to figure out what each person loves or hates but once you do figure it out, friendship isn't far off.  Or you could just look at one of the guides that explains what each character enjoys.  I have tried really, really hard to resist the urge to look up one of those guides.  So far I have almost succeeded (I looked up Harvey's gift guide because it felt like he hated everything I gave him).

As time passes in Stardew Valley the seasons change.  Each season brings unique activities and new fish, crops, and forage.  During winter there aren't crops to grow so you can spend more time fishing, socializing, and exploring the mines.  With your increased income you can add buildings to your farm--a coop allows you to raise chickens which will provide you with eggs, a barn lets you raise cows which will provide milk.  Special machines unlock that allow you to turn your animal products and crops into artisan goods like mayonaise, cheese, or pickles/jellies.  These artisan products sell for much more than the raw goods and also make great gifts.

I have been impressed with how well Stardew Valley has managed to capture and keep my attention.  The concepts in the game are very simple--wake up, water your crops, feed your animals, find something else to do...rinse, repeat.  It's simplicity masks a complex game that requires players to manage their time wisely, decide which crops to grow, learning about and befriending the many people who live in the valley, catching fish, exploring the mines, falling in love, exploring the many new areas that gradually unlock, trying to re-build the destroyed community center...there are so many things to do that it's easy to feel completely enamored with every pixel.

Keepin' It Low Key

Generally, I like games that have intense themes--saving the galaxy from certain annihilation, thwarting an evil plot, or saving...someone...from hordes of bad guys.  However, there are other times where I just want to kickback and enjoy some relaxation in game form.  Lately I have been feeling the relaxation urge and have taken the time to explore some more casual options.  Cities:  Skylines is one of those games.

Like The Wolf Among Us, I picked up Cities:  Skylines as part of a Steam sale.  It then sat in my backlog for several months before I finally decided to give it a go.  Management games aren't usually my cup o' tea but I had heard many good things about Cities.  In the halcyon days of SimCity 2000 I managed many a city...right into the ground.  I didn't have high hopes for my city management abilities.

Cities takes many of those ideas from SimCity and vastly improves upon them.  As the city manager you have to zone your city with the staple residential, commercial, and industrial areas based upon demand.  Unlike SimCity these zones cannot simply be stacked up right next to each other.  Commercial zones produce noise pollution that your residential communities do not like.  Industrial zones produce pollution that appears as a yellowish hazy area.  A good Cities manager has to make strategic decisions about where to place these zones.  Fortunately for players there is much more freedom in how to shape and place roads and zones.  Curvy, circular cities rather than your typical right-angle grid shapes are a possibility in Cities.

Similar to SimCity, your city receives a certain amount of income based off of tax revenue produced by the population.  Your city also has specific demands for services and the more access to those services that you provide the quicker they will upgrade.  Yes, your buildings can upgrade!  It's highly rewarding to hear the bright, chirpy sound of buildings leveling up.  Much of the challenge, especially early on, comes in the form of balancing your income with your expenses.  Once you've figured out how to keep your balance in the black you can focus on other pressing issues like establishing transportation systems, creating policies, or zoning certain areas for specific activities.

A large city in Cities:  Skylines

Like all good management games Cities has enough to manage that you will constantly be absorbed in all the major and minor problems of your city.  I will admit to being horrible with the very specific managerial tasks.  Setting up taxes on specific zones would probably be beneficial but I don't like to mess with it.  One area that I have struggled with is building roads that don't turn traffic into a jammed up nightmare.  I want to build roads that lay my city out in a nice grid (the grid has been burned into my brain even though I can make roads any shape that I want) but have a tendency to place intersections too close to each other.  Then the game alerts me that my traffic is a gnarled mess.  I try to bulldoze some areas but that rarely works and just results in more chaos.  Managing aspects like maintaining space in your landfills and cemeteries can draw your attention away from expanding your city.  As your city grows issues become more difficult to manage.  Mo' population, mo' problems.

There are a number of cute features that makes Cities a delight to play.  A mock-Twitter feed shows random updates from residents of your city.  Depending on the job you're doing those "chirps" could be good or bad.  Garbage didn't get picked up?  Angry chirp!  New park in your neighborhood?  Happy chirp!  As your city grows there are specific buildings and features that can be unlocked and placed.  Those buildings can attract tourists and make your city look nicer--a stadium, an opera house, a sparkling fountain--the bigger your city the bigger the rewards.

Sometimes it's nice to take a break from the headshots and limb-lopping to enjoy a kinder, gentler game.  Cities gives players the ability to micromanage every aspect of their city or to sit back and enjoy the ride.  If you're looking for a game for simple relaxation Cities:  Skylines is a great option.  Another perk is that it is often featured in Steam sales and cam be picked up for a few bucks.  I can guarantee that those funds are well spent :)