Saves doesn't work between versions

When the HIB was released with CaveStory I bought it and downloaded the version available on the 14th of December (CaveStoryPlus-x86-linux.tar.gz) and have played for a while. It happens so that when I tried to enter a particular room, the game would crash. I noticed that a new version of the game had been made available (cavestoryplus-linux-1324519044.tar.gz) but when I copied my old Profile.dat into the newly installed directory, the new version seems to have failed to load my saves (I can attach my Profile.dat if I get the permission to).

For what I can see, sizes of and the version codes in Profile.dat are the same as one where I just find my way to the first save point, but I don't know what it is with the file making the program not loading the old one. Is there anything I can do to make the old Profile.dat work?

 

yeah I can't really see any solution here besides just playing back to where you were before :s

 

Are you saying that, between two minor versions of the same game running on the same platform there were made some changes to the Profile.dat making it impossible to re-use old saves? I find this hard to believe. Also this would mean that for every single minor upgrade, be it bug fix or something else, I'd have to take the risk of having to reinvest all of the hours spent getting to the point where I am at? Considering these conditions, and the amount of time I actually have for leisure (not enough by any means) I find this unacceptable.

Anyhow, the room which seems to crash the game is a while after a flying dragon that I didn't escape with, if this helps. I can provide a core dump, screenshot or something else if it would help.

 

Did you check to see if the problem was found in another thread?

Have you tried doing a binary comparison between a non-working file and a working one?

Other than that I don't know, the only people here who play it on linux are the ones that come to complain that it doesn't work.

 

My first approach to the crash was to upgrade to the latest version. The new problem was that saves could not be loaded. I have yet to try to see if the crash persists since I cannot fast forward to the point where I were at.

I compared new Profile.dat files with my original and as I said size and version code were identical. For what it matters I have checked other threads (for example the ones you mentioned), which has been of no help. I'm not trying to fix segmentation faults, I'm not trying to convert saves from Windows to Linux, or Mac to Linux. It's just between two minor versions on the same platform on the same architecture.

Asking for help and complaining are two different things. I'd be happy to help out in correcting this error if I can, but I won't be able to do this myself.

 

Well uploading the "broken" and "not broken" saves would be a start.

Although my hint with the converting windows saves to linux was to maybe download one from the Tribute Site that approximates where you were at, convert it using that tool thingy andwhy made, and go from there. But we can do it this way if you prefer.

 

I tried to upload it yesterday, but as far as I can remember, I didn't have the permission to. I can try again tonight when I'm back home from work.

 

Uploaded a zip[1] with two files. Old Profile.dat does not get loaded in the version mentioned (newest available via HIB). New Profile.dat is a one where I went to the first save point using the new version.

[1] View attachment cavestory-profile.zip

 

These files are identical except for the filename....

 

Also, wasn't there a very clear warning from Nicalis saying "back up your saves, yo, shit may get real in the next update," or something along those lines?

 

Sorry for the zip file, I should have double checked. Also it seems I had deleted the new save file, and assumed the wrong file was the new one.

However it works with the old save now when I tried again, and I cant reproduce the error I thought existed. Either it was a nondeterministic bug in CaveStory that a reboot made go away (interestingly I never tried that at first) or I have managed to confuse myself to infinity.

Thank you a lot everybody who tried to help. Now I can play happily ever after.