Help - Campaign saves lost

[Test123456 0]

Help! I just started the official campaign again.

However, I don't have that much time so have to rely on saves.

Yesterday I continued to play for a few minutes just to see where it's going. I had multiple saves enabled and had just created one.

 

However, the game did an autosave just after that - and after having spent all my ammo (because I just wanted to get a bit further).

 

Upon restart all saves are deleted. What gives?

I have started the game with no DLC and mods activated. It's a fresh install.

 

Also the forum behaves strange. I can't log in with my user name (it says it's already used). Also after a while the "I'm not a robot"-captcha unchecks and can't be checked again. Using latest Firefox.

[old_painless 183]

Hi Test123456

 

The campaign saves are really bugged but I found a workaround.

 

It is useful to understand where Arma stores the saves during campaign missions, so that you can copy them to a backup folder (details below). While playing the active mission my saves went here, which is like the campaign root folder:

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Arma 3\Saved\a3\Missions_F_EPA\Campaign. While playing a campaign mission, autosaves and your own saves are stored here. Make sure to take copies, because as you progress thru the campaign, those saves get wiped when you enter into the next mission. I have organised my campaign saves backup into folders such as C:\temp\arma backup\Campaign\Signal Lost\

 

I also started the official Arma 3 campaign recently, using saves. I have completed around 15 episodes/missions now. There are two cases where saves can really screw you over:

1. Resume active mission (continue the latest campaign mission that you have not yet completed)
2. Replay a previous mission. For instance, say I would like to go back and replay the Signal Lost mission, even though I have completed that mission and the next four missions after that one

 

Case 1)

I found that if you use save you get the option to Resume the active mission. The save that Resume is based on is usually an autosave which you may not like (you are out of ammo or in a tight spot in that particular save) - you want to start from one of your own saves instead. The procedure is to just Resume from the autosave, then when in mission use Load. That should give you the option to choose from autosaves AND your own saves.

 

Case 2)

When going back to replaying a previously completed mission just for fun, you press the Replay button and the saves you made while completing it are gone. So you start from the mission beginning. Say you make saves during that Replay. Now, if you then leave the mission and later want to jump back in and continue from one of the saves you made, you press Replay and those saves are also GONE! So think of the Replay button as a kill switch for saves. The workaround is easy enough though if you are familiar with folders and files on Windows:

 

• locate where Arma stores the saves. When you replay, the saves go into a folder which is different from the one mentioned previously. In my case the Signal Lost mission saves were in folder C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Arma 3\Saved\a3\Missions_F_EPA\Campaign\missions\B_in.Altis
• replay the mission using saves. After you quit the replay of the mission, switch away from Arma and store those saves in a backup folder (it does not matter if you complete the mission)
• when choosing replay again at at later time, the saves from the folder under the first bullet are wiped. If you have two monitors, you can actually see it happen: keep the folder open, press Replay and watch the save-files disappear. Crazy shit. But: you now have a backup!
• Now while in mission, Alt-Tab out of Arma, copy the saves from the backup into the official folder (ie. C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Arma 3\Saved\a3\Missions_F_EPA\Campaign\missions\B_in.Altis). Then switch back to Arma and use Load to pull up your good saves from your last replay

 

I hope this helps, it has helped me out a great deal. Enjoy the campaign, some of the episodes are very good 😎

 

-OP

Edited March 28, 2020 by old_painless
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