Corrupted sandbox survival mode save file after crashing?

[RedSon1313]

I was playing Day 185 on my sandbox survival map, and then my PC crashed, and after I load back in, my survival game was absent, and only the second 7 hour game save on interloper was still there. 
I check my save files, and I'm pretty sure they are still there, and even in the sandbox game mode selection it shows that only 2/25 slots are taken, meaning there is one more world that is not showing. 

I tried re-downloading Steam save data with the same result.

Is there any way to fix this? I think I'll kill myself if I don't get it back, I only needed 1 more skill upgrade to max out everything!

I've attached the two save files that won't load, maybe there's a way to make them work?

sandbox13 user001.58487

[acada]

Sorry to hear that. I would suggest to contact Hinterland tech support.

[RedSon1313]

1 hour ago, acada said:

Sorry to hear that. I would suggest to contact Hinterland tech support.

This is really helpful, thanks

[Lohaan]

1 hour ago, RedSon1313 said:

This is really helpful, thanks

I'm not sure Hinterland is going to assist with a corrupt save file. Don't get your hopes up. I think it's lost. If you pc crashed and now the save is no longer loading, it's probably corrupted. Sorry dude. 

[RedSon1313]

1 hour ago, Lohaan said:

I'm not sure Hinterland is going to assist with a corrupt save file. Don't get your hopes up. I think it's lost. If you pc crashed and now the save is no longer loading, it's probably corrupted. Sorry dude. 

 

This is also helpful, but it doesnt say it's corrupted, it's only my assumption

[Lohaan]

2 hours ago, RedSon1313 said:

 

This is also helpful, but it doesnt say it's corrupted, it's only my assumption

No I am the one implying it is corrupted. That's how a save file corrupts. When your pc crashes while you are playing. It's the same reason the message reads "Don't shut down your pc" while you are doing an update to windows or something like that. I don't think there is any way Hinterland will be able to assist you to be honest. Sorry. 

Edited January 29, 2020 by Lohaan
Grammar

[acada]

Well I have checked the save file. Hate to break you, but last 20% is filled by zeroes. I dont have insight to what should be inside the file. But load of zeroes does not seem right. Compared it with my file and my file does not have zeroes at the end. My ends with "PS4Compliant":true}" string. So it seems like something overwrote end of your file during the crash

When somethig overwrite the end of the file, you cannot use methods for recovering for example deleted files. Simply because the process which overwrote the file used same parts of the drive.

You said the steam contains the same data. It seems like when you executed the steam after crash, it detected file with later save date and overwrote the server copy with your corrupted.

Do you have the windows recovery enabled? If so, previous recovery points may contain the data. But it is only blind shot. Not sure whether the folder is backed up.

[RedSon1313]

4 hours ago, acada said:

Well I have checked the save file. Hate to break you, but last 20% is filled by zeroes. I dont have insight to what should be inside the file. But load of zeroes does not seem right. Compared it with my file and my file does not have zeroes at the end. My ends with "PS4Compliant":true}" string. So it seems like something overwrote end of your file during the crash

When somethig overwrite the end of the file, you cannot use methods for recovering for example deleted files. Simply because the process which overwrote the file used same parts of the drive.

You said the steam contains the same data. It seems like when you executed the steam after crash, it detected file with later save date and overwrote the server copy with your corrupted.

Do you have the windows recovery enabled? If so, previous recovery points may contain the data. But it is only blind shot. Not sure whether the folder is backed up.

Thank you for your response.

I wonder if that file can be restored in other ways

Edited January 29, 2020 by RedSon1313

[acada]

Sorry. If the file is not in some previous restore point from windows, the chance of recovering it is +-0. If the file would not have been overwritten, you could use some tools for restoring files. But this is not the case. Maybe CIA or some other agency have some tools. You know to read data from borders of HDD paths. But these agencies also uses the "proper deletion" in which the first step is... replace every bit of information on the drive by zeroes.

In my previous work we had a case, when virus deployed its payload. It overwrote all documents, excel sheets... everything by its own code. I was working on the phone. You can imagine how many people called and I had to be the one who told them the bad news.

But it is possible the information in the lost 20% of your file is not so important. Maybe Hinterland support can properly close the file (even if you would lost all your meat or something). I would try them.

Because of your problem... I start wondering if one can put the saved games folder to GIT home and after closing the game just commit and push. Or once per week. So in case of need you have some copy.

Edited January 29, 2020 by acada
damn those typos

[Ice Hole]

Steam offers a cloud save.  Cannot remember if it is on by default.  This could help out in the future.