[2.0.66] Crash loading save (ElectricEnergySourcePrototype)

[ldavl]

On Friday, September 19th, I saved the game and quit. On Monday, September 29th, I decided to continue playing. I launched the game, selected my last save, but at about 40% loading time, the game crashed with an error message.

Then I tried loading an autosave, but it also failed to load, and the game crashed with the same error. The same applies to all other autosaves.

The error occurs every time I try to load a save.

My save is very precious to me, as I've spent a lot of time in it.

I'm attaching a link to my Google Drive where my save file and some of my autosaves are stored. The log is also there.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... drive_link

[boskid]

Looking at the save file, it is corrupted. Pump at {-630.5,1202.0} (unit number 22516000) has electric energy source at index 558, however Pump at {1818.5, -526.0} (unit number 22969337) also has electric energy source at index 558 which causes a crash when loading. When looking more carefully, it looks like electric energy source at index 542 was not used by any entity suggesting a memory bit flip. Corruption was most likely a single bit flip causing a pointer to start pointing at an address different by 1024 and every save file created with that corruption fails to load.

Attached is a fixed save file.

[ldavl]

Thank you so much. Could you please tell me how to avoid this situation in the future?

[eugenekay]

Thank you so much. Could you please tell me how to avoid this situation in the future?

Two Strategies:

Use a Workstation/Server-grade computer with ECC Memory, which can detect & (hopefully!) correct Memory corruption as it occurs. This reduces the chance that a Corrupt save will be written-to-disk.

Do not overwrite your "last good save" when you are done playing. Instead, use a Date-based naming scheme, eg: MySaveGame-YYYYMMDD. Even if all your autosaves (and the most recent Manual Save) are corrupt you will have the previous Manual Saves still available. Disadvantage is that you must (manually) remove the old Manual Saves periodically.

[pioruns]

(...) Use a Workstation/Server-grade computer with ECC Memory (...)

You forgot about most basic troubleshooting steps.

De-dust and clean the computer.
Re-seat both RAM sticks.
Reset BIOS settings. Upgrade BIOS if possible. Set RAM speed back to 3200 MT/s.
Do full memtest86+ run for several hours, see if you are getting any errors while testing RAM.

[Tertius]

Such kind of memory issue is hardware related. In addition to what was said:
check for overheating
revert overclocking
if it's a custom built computer, make sure the power cable connectors to the motherboard are properly seated