save states messed up

[Former user]

Original [issue 167](https://code.google.com/p/genplus-gx/issues/detail?id=167) created by bladexdsl on 2011-04-13T07:32:01.000Z:

just noticed the save states don't work too well in this. you save a state than sometimes when (does it a lot) you go to load the state and instead it just loads the last thing you did not the actual place where you saved than it overwrites your save with that spot! files are .bin files.

[Former user]

Comment # 1 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2011-04-13T08:15:01.000Z:

That's kinda weird, especially since nothing has been changed on the savestate side since the last version, at least regarding the menu.

I also have no clue why it would sometime works and sometime not, this makes absolutely no sense from a coding point of view as the code is not supposed to do things differently when you presss the "Load" button.

This clearly never happened on my side as far as I tested so I won't be able to fix this without more detailled steps on how to reproduce the issue.

First, I need to be sure to understand what you were doing exactly: you mean you select a state slot in the state menu (with the expected snapshot in background ?), choose the top button (Load State), got a brief message "Loading State..." and then it goes back to the game but you are still at the same spot ? And when you return to the Save Manager menu, the slot has been replaced with a new snapshot, representing your current position ?

Other details that could help:

Do you have this issue with any games or is this only with some of them ? Or does it sometimes works for that game then later the issue occurs for that same game ?

When this happens, how many occupied slots do you have for that game ?

Have you ever tried the "Delete" button to delete slots ?

Also check your saves directory and report the .srm, .png, .gp0, .gp1, .gp2, etc files associated with that game, including the modification date.

[Former user]

Comment # 2 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2011-04-13T08:18:37.000Z:

One thing I forgot: do you have a rough estimation how often this occurs ? DOes this always occur after having loaded a state many time succesively or does it sometime happened the first time you try to load a state after a reset ?

[Former user]

Comment # 3 originally posted by bladexdsl on 2011-04-13T10:37:26.000Z:

it just happens at random and does it on multiple games even SMS.

1 occupied slot

i noticed the loading state does not appear instead the screen just flashes and than the state is overwtitten. snapshot is also overwritten.

try loading the same state multiple times under 5 mins this is usually when it happens.

[Former user]

Comment # 4 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2011-04-13T12:33:56.000Z:

what do you mean by "the screen just flashes" ? I thought you said it goes back to your current state, i.e returns to the game. Or you mean it stays in the save manager menu and snapshot got updated with current state ?

I will try to reproduce this, apparently this sonly happen when doing multiple loads, might be a memory corruption thing. Still I cannot figure how this could happen, especially the "flash" thing since theer is nothing in the code that can do this :-/

SOme additional questions:

Are you using the gamecube version ? Does this happen in the previous version ?

[Former user]

Comment # 5 originally posted by bladexdsl on 2011-04-13T12:45:32.000Z:

using wii version. and it's weird the screen just flashes than it just saves the last thing that happened which is usually dieing and overwrites my save state!

[Former user]

Comment # 6 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2011-04-13T12:57:58.000Z:

Ok. The question is: when you click the load button, after the "flash", does it stay in the save manager menu or does it go back to the game where you were dieing (or whatever else). If it stays in the menu, the snaphot in the background and the slot informations (date, time), which make you say it has been overwritten, are they updated during, before or after the flash ?

Btw, I think you mean "then", not "than". I don't want to sound pedantic as I'm not a native english writer myself and probably make lot of mistakes too but it sometime makes your posts quite ambiguous .

[Former user]

Comment # 7 originally posted by bladexdsl on 2011-04-13T13:44:14.000Z:

it goes back to the game

[Former user]

Comment # 8 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2011-04-13T13:52:40.000Z:

Ok, now, how many .gp0 and.png files are in your saves directory for that game ? How are they named exactly ? Is there a .srm file as well ?

[Former user]

Comment # 9 originally posted by bladexdsl on 2011-04-13T14:01:54.000Z:

there are no gp0 or png files there are 2 srm

Mickey Mouse - Castle of Illusion (U) [!] and MICKEY1.srm

[Former user]

Comment # 10 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2011-04-13T14:27:42.000Z:

Huh ? This is not possible, state files are saved as .gp0 files (well, .gp0 for slot 1, .gp1 for slot 2, etc) and savestate snaphosts are saved as .png files. If there isn't a .gp0, .gp1, etc , emulator won't show you any state slot in the save menu and if the png is not there, there won't be a snapshot in background. If you see a state slot as you said, those files MUST be stored somewhere.

Where are thoses .srm files stored ? USB or SD ? Have you looked to other connected devices, if any ? Also, are you swapping SD or powering OFF/ON connected USB drive while the emulator is running ?

Weird thing is that Castle of Illusion does NOT use SRAM so no .srm should have been created automatically. Is this the game you had state problems with ? Did you by any chance tried to force Backup Memory to be saved (first slot in the save manager menu) and mixed that for a state slot ?

Another thing you might want to check: in the MENU options, what is the setting of the "Auto Saves" option ?

After looking at the code, I cannot find any reason how what you are describing is happening and I cannot reproduce it (tried to load a state file 10x in a row without any issues) so if you can record a video of this when it's happening, this would be very useful because I'm really out of ideas.

[Former user]

Comment # 11 originally posted by bladexdsl on 2011-04-13T14:36:12.000Z:

that's just 1 of the games this has happened on it's also done it with golden axe warrior sms

[Former user]

Comment # 12 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2011-04-13T16:04:29.000Z:

This doens't really help me.

It seems you have a youtube account with genplus gx videos, can't you upload one where I can see the issue happening and show the Menu Options you are using as well like I asked ?

Again it's "physically" impossible that the Saves Manager menu shows you a state slot with a background snaphot refering to a previously saved state if the state file (.gp0) and the snaphsot file (.png) does not exist so better check ALL the devices you are actually using and check sd:/genplus/saves or usb:/genplus/saves

[Former user]

Comment # 13 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2011-04-14T08:12:20.000Z:

Does anyone else have this issue ? You cannot be the only one using savestates so I'm starting to believe there is no issue and this is user incorrect use/understanding of the saves menu.

[Former user]

Comment # 14 originally posted by bladexdsl on 2011-04-14T08:18:35.000Z:

i tried to duplicate the results but it just does it at completely random really hard to video it.

[Former user]

Comment # 15 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2011-04-15T13:34:38.000Z:

I have tried reloading a saved state more than 20x time in row (using Castle of Illusion) and I am still not able to reproduce your issue.

Also, you still didn't answered my questions about the "Auto-Saves" setting in "Menu" options, neither did you tell me about the kind of device you are using (SD, USB or both) or provided me the .gp0 state files you are seeing in the saves manager menu...

I'd advise you delete those .srm files that you should never have manually saved in the first place and see if this issue still happens. Fully formatting and cleaning SDCARD could also fix things if yours got somehow corrupted.

Still, there is nothing in the code than can explain what you are describing and i've got zero similar report so far so my guess is that there is something wrong on your side. I'd suggest carefully reading the user manual if you haven't yet to understand how the save manager menu works and how saves (state and sram) are specifically handled.