Vista Save Files Location / Save files not showing up in Continue

[gughunter]

I was rotating saves between four save files. At one point, Aquaria had a strange error -- it paused on a black screen for maybe 15 seconds and when it came there was a giant leaf sprite in the middle of the screen. I tinkered with the Vista compatibility settings and such, and then found that Continue showed nothing but empty save slots!

Thanks to the Vista save files thread here, I was able to find that the files still exist:

 Directory of C:\Users\Gughunter\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Aquaria\save

12/13/2007  03:41 PM    <DIR>          .
12/13/2007  03:41 PM    <DIR>          ..
12/11/2007  07:38 PM            13,907 save-0000.aqs
12/11/2007  06:53 PM            10,840 save-0001.aqs
12/11/2007  07:12 PM            12,129 save-0002.aqs
12/11/2007  07:20 PM            12,684 save-0003.aqs
12/11/2007  07:38 PM           505,472 screen-0000.zga
12/11/2007  06:53 PM           505,313 screen-0001.zga
12/11/2007  07:12 PM           403,116 screen-0002.zga
12/11/2007  07:20 PM           301,338 screen-0003.zga
               8 File(s)      1,764,799 bytes

So I have them... now, is there any way to make Aquaria recognize they're there?

[Alec]

If you have access to the c:\program files\aquaria directory, you could create a save directory there and add them.

But I'm not really sure what Vista is trying to do. It seems to move the files around.

[gughunter]

I copied them there and it worked like a charm. Thanks for the quick response!

[RvLeshrac]

If you have access to the c:\program files\aquaria directory, you could create a save directory there and add them.

But I'm not really sure what Vista is trying to do. It seems to move the files around.

Security. Vista doesn't allow the user access to certain areas, hence the "VirtualStore" directory. I suppose in *n*x terms, you could consider it a symbolic link, though that's not exactly right.

If a program fails a privilege check when attempting to write to, and this is just an example:

%PROGRAMFILES%/Aquaria/Save

UAC will intercept the call and redirect it to:

%USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files/Aquaria/Save

In a perfect world, the application will then read from:

%USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files/Aquaria/Save

every time the program makes a call to:

%PROGRAMFILES%/Aquaria/Save

but in practice, this isn't always the case, since the program might not read files in the same way it wrote them.
In the case of Aquaria, it seems that this goes as follows:

(For simplicity's sake, I'm going to refer to both the user and the program as Aquaria, but I think you can follow)

Aquaria writes to %PROGRAMFILES%/Aquaria/Save/save-0000.aqs, fails the privilege check (Non-elevated accounts are NOT allowed to *WRITE* to %PROGRAMFILES%), and is redirected by UAC to %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files/Aquaria/Save/save-0000.aqs, where the data is written.
(We'll ignore screen-0000.zga , since I'd just be repeating myself repeating myself.)

Aquaria then later attempts to get a listing from %PROGRAMFILES%/Aquaria/Save/ , and sees.... nothing. Aquaria passed the privilege check (Non-elevated accounts ARE allowed to *READ* from %PROGRAMFILES%), and gets the *real* directory listing - which contains nothing, since Aquaria was never allowed to write into that directory. What is Aquaria to do but report that there are no saves? It can't see them, of course, so they must not exist!

Ah, but if Aquaria had specifically requested %PROGRAMFILES%/Aquaria/Save/save-0000.aqs , UAC would have redirected Aquaria to %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files/Aquaria/Save/save-0000.aqs, because UAC remembers when Aquaria asked to create save-0000.aqs and was sent somewhere else.

This is, of course, simplified a little bit. Other things may be going on that I'm not aware of, and there are certainly a few flaws in the real world vs. UAC-theory. That's the explanation in a nutshell, though.

*edit* Those code-boxes were too damned big.*edit*

[RvLeshrac]

As a somewhat late follow-up, there are three possible solutions here (from an end-user standpoint):

1) Run Aquaria as an Administrator. This should bypass all of the above.

2) Add your user (Or Everyone) with Full privileges to the Aquaria savegame directory.

3) Install Aquaria somewhere outside of %ProgramFiles%.

[Alec]

As a somewhat late follow-up, there are three possible solutions here (from an end-user standpoint):

1) Run Aquaria as an Administrator. This should bypass all of the above.

2) Add your user (Or Everyone) with Full privileges to the Aquaria savegame directory.

3) Install Aquaria somewhere outside of %ProgramFiles%.

Thanks for sharing that info.

[Cliftor]

For those curious about optimizing their computer in general, and learning more about virtualization and other funny Vista quirks, I used this to optimize my compy for Oblivion:

http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html

Evidently that website is well renowned or something.  Anyway, the Vista guide is awesome.  *NOTE* not for those who hate reading.  It's quite long, but aims to be thorough in plain language.  It's not a quick fact-sheet.  It's free, yet professional.

[Danger Mouse]

We've known about this for a long time as it has been on the forum for a very long time, but I don't really find it the greatest of ways informing people how to optimize easily. Definiotely not a dummies guide, and certainly not easy for anyone to accomplish even reading through it completely. I wouldn't recomend it unless you were trying to get the best out of Oblivion.

[chemicalpipit]

Hi!

I have a similar problem, but it is weirder.

I am running, right now as we speak, the Windows 7 Release Client. My old faithful laptop, although quickly becoming old and slow, can run Aquaria just fine as long as I plug it in and close all other programs I purchased Aquaria as part of an indie game pack on Direct2Drive in October/November-ish.

I'm getting  a new laptop in a week or two (whenever it ships! I'm excited ). But I worked hard on my Aquaria game, and predict that I'm nowhere close to the end of the game.

In a nutshell... where is my save file?

I wish it was in C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files. But its not. There is no Program Files directory in \\virtualStore.

I didn't buy it on Steam so I don't have Steam files backup.

And I'm, like I said, running the Win7 Release Client that I installed in July-ish......

So gentlemen and ladies!!! Where is my savegame?!?! Help!! Before its too late!! (my computer has been making moves towards crashing lately. hence I am worried)

[Alphasoldier]

I'd suggest going to your AppData folder and then searching (ctrl+f) for either "save" or "save-0000.aqs".
Be sure that you have it so that hidden folders and files are searched too.

If you can't find them like this I don't think they're located there.

[iamalfaandomega]

I have a problem with saves too. First Aquaria has decide to not start anymore: everytime i tryed to start it, the Aquaria config file will open instead. And when i click start in the config screen... it'll start the config again! I tryed to launch Aquaria from XP instead that from Vista (i have double operative system on same pc) and everything turns allright. When i launched the game from Vista, every saves is disappeared, and i can't save again. When i try to save everything seems working, but nothing appears in the saving screen. File are present in Save directory under program files/Aquaria/saves, but they're not readed. I'm crying 

[Alphasoldier]

Okay for one, don't install Aquaria in Program Files on Vista, it barely ever works.

Second, I don't have a XP OS around me at the moment, but I think it's a bad config. You could try reinstalling or try posting your config file on here.

[Sinani201]

I am having this same problem on Steam. I got this as part of the Humble Indie Bundle and the save files aren't showing up. Should I just download the game itself without Steam?

[Alphasoldier]

I'll repeat my previous post with a slight adjustion, don't ever install games, steam, Aquaria or anything else that has to do with gaming into program files.

Seeing I presume you installed Steam into Program Files I highly suggest uninstalling it and reinstalling it in a simple C:/Steam folder, or whatever drive you install your games on. I know I did this a long time ago and magically loads of problems I had with a lot of games just vanished!
It took me a full 2 days to reinstall all the games, but it was worth it.

Besides that, I could suggest looking at the properties of your save folder and try screwing around with the permissions on the Security tab.
Steam\steamapps\common\aquaria > right click 'save' > properties > Security
And then edit or modify all or a few in the list so that they're allowed to do stuff on the folder. Once again I honestly have no clue if it works, it's my best guess. I'm still highly vouching for reinstalling steam in a less protected area.

[DarkWolf91]

Hey!
I feel kinda obligated to answer this, since I had the same save problem with Vista and figured it out ;P
So, your root probably looks something like this: C:\Program Files\AquariaDemo or some such. From here, if you simply click on the save folder, it should come up blank, so stay in the AquariaDemo folder for now.
Near the top of your explorer window, under your directory, you should see a line-up of options, reading as follows: "Organize," "Views," "Burn," and "Compatibility Files."
Simply click on "Compatibility Files," and enter the 'save' file through that detour. Your Demo save files should now be visible, and are completely capable of being pulled into your full-fledged Aquaria 'save' folder!
Hopefully that helps someone, if any other dinosaurs are still stuck with Vista!