Stupid f9

[montyben101]

So I was coming down to land on the mun but was going way to fast. I knew i would crash so i decided to press f 9 to reload my last save. I didn't make one and presumed it would load from when i was in orbit or somthing. What it did was set me back about 5 hours of gameplay to when i was landing a probe on gilly... anyone know why it did this? PS: when it loaded the gilly landing i had done it about a week before which was even more weird.

[gompasta]

It will always load to your last quicksave. Obviously you last quicksaved back then. F9 doesn't load autosaves, as autosaves only exist for data protection against crashes.... AFAIK.

[montyben101]

Yeah i do remember doing a quick save back then... not too bothered though as i get to do my eve mission again and stick a load of sciency crap on it which i forgot to do last time XD

[Tex_NL]

I've been there.

Pre-0.21 the game automatically made a quicksave at every launch. After screwing up a docking maneuver I blindly assumed it had done the same thing and I pressed [F9] reverting me back to an aerobraking maneuver at Jool I did a week ago. Many hours where lost and I had to go through the entire Jool mission again.

[Aphox]

Gotta remember, there's a distinct difference between auto-saves and quick-saves. I generally play by one rule with that: if I don't remember making a quick-save, I don't reload.

[MUSTANG]

I often have the problem of confusing F9 and F5. Quick saving seconds before impacting is no fun. I honestly wish quick save had to be held down for a second, just like quick load.

[Crush]

When you screwed up and want to quickly load your last auto-save before it gets overwritten, hit ctrl-alt-delete and kill the KSP.exe task in the task manager.

[Guest]

When you screwed up and want to quickly load your last auto-save before it gets overwritten, hit ctrl-alt-delete and kill the KSP.exe task in the task manager.

I changed :

AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL = 300

AUTOSAVE_SHORT_INTERVAL = 30

to :

AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL = 3000

AUTOSAVE_SHORT_INTERVAL = 300

in the settings.cfg so that I would have more time to do just what you suggest Crush. Sometimes, I just sit in stunned silence after a major screwup and the game autosaves before I can decide the best course of action. I have found that it is very easy to screw up quicksaves (quicksave.sfs) for one reason or another. Examples of this are hitting the wrong key at the wrong time or just plain forgetting to F5 when it's needed. After killing KSP, I can restart the game and resume from the previous auto-save (persistent.sfs) whether it be from 300 seconds ago or from the last time I entered spaceport.

As a side note, and in order to provide better info., what exactly is the difference between AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL and AUTOSAVE_SHORT_INTERVAL?

[Johnno]

This is a user issue, not a quicksave/load issue. I've yet to see any bugs/threads about quicksave that didn't result in the posters admitting they messed up, just like OP. There really is no issue, learn how it works rather than just presuming how it works.

Quicksave makes a separate save, an entire copy of your persistent file, quickload loads that file, no matter how long it's been since you made it. That's all there is to it.

If you can't handle quicksave/load, unbind the keys and don't use it. If you keep making mistakes of loading old saves, make frequent backups of your persistent file. You could make it a routine that every time you close KSP you make a backup of your persistent file. You could have shortcuts for folders on your desktop and whatnot.

Bottom line, learn how to use it or don't use it at all.

[Apollo1391]

yeah I lost a moon landing because of f9

[Guest]

Johnno, there is an issue if the behavior of the quicksave or auto-save system results in the loss of several hours of gameplay, (regardless of who's fault it is) especially if there are ways to improve on the system,or recover from a srew-up. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the user wanting the system to work for him or her. I have done what you suggested in the past, making backup copies of the persistent.sfs. It's easier and faster to change the auto-save behavior to give myself more time to make the appropriate decision regarding screw-ups, whether they are my fault or not.

[Johnno]

Johnno, there is an issue if the behavior of the quicksave or auto-save system results in the loss of several hours of gameplay

If the behaviour does so, yes, but since this is a 100% user introduced problem there is no actual issue. Autosave saves to persistent, quicksave saves to quicksave. The behaviour is that quickload loads your quicksave. If you intentionally override your persistent save by loading up an earlier save that's your personal doing, not the game's.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the user wanting the system to work for him or her.

If you're refusing to learn how the system works or using it and blaming it when you make a mistake then there's something wrong. As far as I know the system works flawlessly which is why I say that it's a user introduced problem.

Yes the system could be different, it could have other functionality, but people have different opinions and will always argue no matter what. If you want a 'improved' system then make a suggestion thread/post, figure it out first and then post about it, rather than whinging that you yourself messed up and that the system is somehow flawed because you can't figure it out.

I can not stress this enough, persistent saves to persistent with autosave, quicksave saves to a separate save you pull up with quickload. Where exactly is the confusion or 'poor functionality' ? If you can get the difference into your head and use it as such, quicksaving after every major event in your flight and then either using quickload to go back to your previous spot in your flight or using revert flight entirely if you need a redesign, I really can't see the problem.

Explain to me where the system isn't working correctly or what the problem with quicksave/load and persistent is.

[Guest]

Ok, that's a lot to chew on. I am working on a response.

edit : I don't think anyone in this thread is blaming the game. Some people like me are a little slow sometimes, or hit the wrong key when they get upset or panicked. For me, by changing the auto-save behavior, it gives me one more last ditch effort to try and recover, by giving me more time than just 30 seconds to kill KSP and reload the last auto-saved persistent.sfs by restarting KSP.

Edited September 8, 2013 by Otis

[boxman]

Johnno, there is an issue if the behavior of the quicksave or auto-save system results in the loss of several hours of gameplay, (regardless of who's fault it is) especially if there are ways to improve on the system,or recover from a srew-up. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the user wanting the system to work for him or her. I have done what you suggested in the past, making backup copies of the persistent.sfs. It's easier and faster to change the auto-save behavior to give myself more time to make the appropriate decision regarding screw-ups, whether they are my fault or not.

But I do care when people are suggesting to add features that will negatively affect those who dont have this issue.

My gameplay has already become negatively affected after people got the "end flight" feature removed just because a miniority of users clicked on it on accident.

Having a timer added to save button would really piss me off.

I hate seeing games being dumbed down and features being stripped out just because people cant handle doing mistakes.

If you have issues with for example quicksaving just before crashing, then just simply LEARN from your mistakes and start quick saving earlier. It is not the games fault.

And this new quick save "issue" is most likely as well a result of the end flight feature being replaced.

Edited September 8, 2013 by boxman

[Captain Sierra]

*sigh*

Yet another person trying to start an argument over an opinion.

This entire thread is basically a grudge thread over quickloading because it it so easy to screw up an set yourself back a long ways.

We would all be happier if you dropped the assumption that we are blaming the system. We screw up, we know we do, and we don't need you throwing it in our faces.

*rant over*

Kept breaking my Ketholander on landing on the Mun. Finally got it down, went to hit f5 but was so conditioned I hit f9 one last time. Had to redo the entire landing attempt twice to make it.

EDIT: Boxman, you ninja'd me. This isn't as much a reply to you (though it might partially apply) as it was to Johnno.

[Guest]

You all are replying faster than I can prepare my posts, NOONE IS BLAMING THE GAME OR SUGGESTING WE CHANGE IT!

Edit : this is simply a discussion to help users improve their playing experience.

Edited September 8, 2013 by Otis

[Captain Sierra]

You all are replying faster than I can prepare my posts, NOONE IS BLAMING THE GAME OR SUGGESTING WE CHANGE IT!

Isn't that exactly what I just said?

[Guest]

Yes, Sierra, I have found that this is a sensitive issue and I am trying to help some of the people out there who have a problem with the quicksave thing.

edit : it will also help when we get our quoting system fixed on the forums to help reduce confusion.

Edited September 8, 2013 by Otis

[Captain Sierra]

Click reply with quote a second time after it starts doing the pinwheel of death. Then it will let you quote someone.

[Guest]

Click reply with quote a second time after it starts doing the pinwheel of death. Then it will let you quote someone.

Ok, great, and thanks! I'm gonna let this thread cool a little while before coming back. I really would like to know the difference between auto save short interval and auto save interval?

[Jackissimus]

Whooof, when I saw this thread I automatically thought that something happened to the Falcon 9 during launch. Fortunately it launches of Tuesday. Man, I cannot wait for that launch.

[Apollo13]

My only concern with F9 is the function key is already bound to Fraps as the start/stop video record. Don't want to change Fraps, given that I use it elsewhere. So, I rebound QuickLoad to function F8. Nice to be able to rebind keys.

As another wise poster mentioned, "if I can't remember when I QuickSaved, I don't QuickLoad."

[Guest]

Hello Apollo13, I am digging the avatar. Eastwood is my favorite actor. I agree that it is good advise to be careful before hitting F9, making absolutely sure it's the right thing to do. That's why I suggest changing AUTOSAVE_SHORT_INTERVAL = 30 to 300 in the settings.cfg, to allow the user more time to make that decision. The fact that there are 2 settings for auto-save is a little confusing and I would like to know what the difference between the 2 is.

[Jim DiGriz]

Ran into this issue tonight and a stupid f9 lost me a few days -- although I kinda was thinking of cleaning house anyway...

Anyway, I use Linux and wrote this script to run every 5 minutes out of cron and commit any changes to a git repository. I even set up a remote git repo on my cloud server (which is then backed up to s3) so that I've now even got offsite backups in case my apartment burns down or something.

If you need to ask what git is, or how to restore from git, or how to make it work on Mac or Windows this probably isn't for you...

I tried creating a git repo directly in the kerbal save folder, but the .git directory made KSP confused, so I had to use the approach of rsync'ing the changes to a mirror directory which is a git repo. Since all the save files are text this approach should work reasonably well, but it will grow without bounds, and you'd need to google how to prune and garbage collect your git history to get rid of really old save files, I can never remember how to do that...

I suppose you could get corrupted checkpoints as well if you happen to take a rsync snapshot right in the middle of KSP doing a save, but chances of that are low and you'll have snapshots on either side that you could restore from.

I've tested this for about 20 minutes, so wear a helmet... Hope it helps out anyone who hits this problem and had a similar idea, though..

#!/bin/bash
#
# drop this script into ~/bin/kerbal-autocommit
#
# 1. apt-get install git rsync
# 2. mkdir ~/.kerbalbackups
# 3. git init ~/.kerbalbackups
# 3. crontab -e
#
# append the following line for once-per-five-minute backups
#
#  */5 * * * * $HOME/bin/kerbal-autocommit
#

set -e
set -x

GIT_DIR="$HOME/.kerbalbackups"
KERBAL_DIR="$HOME/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Kerbal Space Program/saves"

function has_untracked_files {
  git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null | grep "^??"
}

function is_dirty {
  [[ $(git diff --shortstat 2> /dev/null | tail -n1) != "" ]]
}

cd "$GIT_DIR"

rsync -av --delete "$KERBAL_DIR" "$GIT_DIR" || true

if has_untracked_files || is_dirty; then
  git add .
  git commit -m "update for $(date)"
  # comment out this next line if you haven't setup a repo on github or wherever and
  # only want to keep local history
  git push origin master || true
fi

[dharak1]

My one complaint is how it no longer quicksaves automatically at the start of a launch.