Quickload Functionality

[Tobyz28]

Something that I'm sure has been mentioned before: Quick Load functionality can cause you to lose A LOT of work. I thought I had made a recent quick save - so I did a quick load think I'd roll back 30 minutes or so. Gosh was i wrong, i just lost half a day of carefully setting up my satellite network. I've played a LOT of KSP and still have made this exact mistake more than a couple times.

After killing the KSP Process and crossing my fingers, I loaded up a game many hours back . After flipping through forums, couldn't find anything else. For me this just killed my mood for the game completely, and left my somewhat epic weekend of spacecraft building at a very sad/bad ending

I guess I wanted to post this to get some changes made to the quick-saving/auto-saving features in the game.

A simple fix: Keep X amount of Auto-saves every Y amount of time.

[vexx32]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/56750-Quicksave-Quickload-alterations

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55389-Quickload-quicksave-with-tech-tree

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/55717-Quickload-irrevocably-loads-saves-from-far-back

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/47302-Quickload-warning-message

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52418-Quicksave-can-Suck-Sometimes

As you can see, not exactly an uncommon problem.

[Johnno]

Use revert flight instead of quickload if you're not sure where you saved.

Make a habit of quicksaving after each little thing; orbit, escape burn, course correction, SoI change, orbit insertion, etc etc.

You're making mistakes, which is normal but it's entirely on your hands. Not to sound harsh, but the reality is that the saving function works, you just need to figure it out and then rely on your own memory. Yes it could be different, but the only issue you're reporting is your own mistake. As such this should be in suggestions, and by now it's been suggested far too many times.

If it's killing your enjoyment of the game, don't use it.

Moving to suggestions.

[Sirrobert]

That really is your own fault. Like not saving for 4 hours in an RTS without autosave, and than dieing. Noone's fault but your own

[Kasuha]

I don't see any reason to blame the user for making an error. He suffered consequences already so I believe he's punished enough.

If there is an easy way to make a fatal error and the program doesn't do anything to help the user to prevent such error, the program is to blame, too. When you press the quickload button, the game doesn't tell you what you're loading. It just loads it. And once it's loaded there's no undo.

[Sirrobert]

I don't see any reason to blame the user for making an error. He suffered consequences already so I believe he's punished enough.

If there is an easy way to make a fatal error and the program doesn't do anything to help the user to prevent such error, the program is to blame, too. When you press the quickload button, the game doesn't tell you what you're loading. It just loads it. And once it's loaded there's no undo.

And that is why, in America, you can sue a paint manufacterer cause you got sick from drinking paint and he didn't warn you for it

[Kasuha]

And that is why, in America, you can sue a paint manufacterer cause you got sick from drinking paint and he didn't warn you for it

I don't live in America but I don't remember ever seeing a paint (or whatever else substance not suitable for eating) without a warning that it's not suitable for consumption and instructions what to do in case it happens. Yes, I find it hilarious when a microwave oven has a warning that it's not suitable for drying animals. But you know what? It actually helps. Because people are stupid and make mistakes.

[konokono]

The fact is, it's a frequent enough mistake that it should be considered a design flaw.

And it might not even be the user's mistake. I've noticed that sometimes when I press F5, even if I'm not throttled up, it doesn't save, and I have to press it again. Someone less paranoid than me might hit F5 thinking he saved and not realize that the game didn't register the command.

[Sirrobert]

I don't live in America but I don't remember ever seeing a paint (or whatever else substance not suitable for eating) without a warning that it's not suitable for consumption and instructions what to do in case it happens. Yes, I find it hilarious when a microwave oven has a warning that it's not suitable for drying animals. But you know what? It actually helps. Because people are stupid and make mistakes.

And that, is called survival of the fittest. It's why the human species is devolving. Along with healthcare keeping rare genetical diseases alive, but I won't go into that can of worms

[Seret]

It's why the human species is devolving.

Actually we're still evolving perfectly well, but let's not get too OT.

I'd have to agree with Johnno, getting into the habit of quicksaving a lot is a good idea. I know I do it too little.

[scootersoup]

It would at least be nice to have the game say something like, "Do you want to load a quicksave from xx:xx, xx/xx/xxxx?" I always check the top right as I quicksave since your craft can be under acceleration even if the throttle is cut, but it would be helpful to have that extra bit of information.

[Tobyz28]

Lets get a few things straight:

1. This was absolutely 100% a user error.

2. Generally I do quick save often. That day I had been doing several other things (work IRL) launching satellites into orbit on the side.

3. I provided a suggestion that would A) not limit the existing quick launch functionality (I am a fan of instant-no prompt quick save and loads) provide a fall back plan for cases where this does happen C) Minimal effort to implement.

4.This would add significant value to KSP for the effort - and make KSP a better game.

5. Johonno - Reverting to Launch is not an option when you make an incorrect assumption - from my perspective I had thought I had done a quick save as I typically do them frequently for more complex flights (Also in this case, reverting to launch would have probably set me back before the mistaken quick-save). - Sorry for not posting in Suggestions as it should have been!

My point is after having made a 1 second key-press-with-no-prompt-mistake, there is no way to roll back to save hours and hours of work. This is something the devs can improve on for the sake of "Dumb users" like me.

P.S. - Not American. Assuming everyone is from America is some very American irony.

P.P.S - I'm only trying to help. Reprimanding the user community for feedback (helpful or not) is counter productive. Pre-Forum loss I had contributed a fair bit to the game (1000+ of posts etc)... I gave the game a rest and have gotten back into it very happy with the last few versions. Unfortunately you did sound harsh Johonno, I will be more reluctant to provide future suggestions for sure.

Edited November 13, 2013 by Tobyz28

[mrthehud]

Tobyz - I feel your pain, but I feel it much worse!

Just loaded the game today after a few weeks off, messed up some staging before docking some station components. Yes - perhaps I should have just reverted to launch. But I hit F9.

Expected result: revert to the point the game was at when I started it today (the last 'full' save point)

Actual result: Game reverts to where I was days before I took a break. No space station parts in orbit. I don't even know how many other flights I've now not made.

Tried killing the game and coming back in. No luck.

Weeks of work gone.

Totally bummed.

Perhaps modifying quick-load to warn you if it'll load a save more than, say, 1 hour out of date? Perhaps by pressing F9 again to confirm. Would that be so controversial?

Are there any save related mods that anyone knows of?