Walking Dead PC Save Game Fix
Like many of you I have to run the game in administrator mode due to the launcher crashing when I start it. I did finally get access to my saves, although it required a bit of replaying. First, some info:
I have the steam copy of the game
I run the game in administrator mode but not in compatibility mode.
I tried the registry fix listed elsewhere but it did not grant me access to the saves. I haven't undone it though so it may be required, I can't say.
So I discovered that originally my saves were stored here:
C:\Users\Alan\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead
But now they are stored here:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Telltale Games\the walking dead
Can't say if it's because of the registry editing or the administrator running. Problem is, the prefs.prop file tells the game at minimum what chapter you're up to, and I messed up my prop file during my various attempts to get my saves back.
What I ended up doing though was copying my brother's copy of prefs.prop from his computer to mine (in both locations just to be thorough). I also copied my saves over to the new location.
His stats appeared in the game menu but I was able to rewind episode 2 to the escape chapter and re-complete the episode from near the end. My choices up to that point were correct (my brother killed Larry, I tried to spare him so I know it worked) and now I think episode 3 should work for me with my choices. Once I completed episode 2 again the stats page was correctly updated, although my stats page for episode 1 still shows my brother's choices. I don't mind that though.
Hopefully this helps you guys. I attached my prefs.prop file so that you can use it to get the game to recognize your saves as well.
Note: Rewinding just one chapter made the game crash for me. I had to rewind to just after the meat locker scene, right before you take on the first brother.
I have the steam copy of the game
I run the game in administrator mode but not in compatibility mode.
I tried the registry fix listed elsewhere but it did not grant me access to the saves. I haven't undone it though so it may be required, I can't say.
So I discovered that originally my saves were stored here:
C:\Users\Alan\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead
But now they are stored here:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Telltale Games\the walking dead
Can't say if it's because of the registry editing or the administrator running. Problem is, the prefs.prop file tells the game at minimum what chapter you're up to, and I messed up my prop file during my various attempts to get my saves back.
What I ended up doing though was copying my brother's copy of prefs.prop from his computer to mine (in both locations just to be thorough). I also copied my saves over to the new location.
His stats appeared in the game menu but I was able to rewind episode 2 to the escape chapter and re-complete the episode from near the end. My choices up to that point were correct (my brother killed Larry, I tried to spare him so I know it worked) and now I think episode 3 should work for me with my choices. Once I completed episode 2 again the stats page was correctly updated, although my stats page for episode 1 still shows my brother's choices. I don't mind that though.
Hopefully this helps you guys. I attached my prefs.prop file so that you can use it to get the game to recognize your saves as well.
Note: Rewinding just one chapter made the game crash for me. I had to rewind to just after the meat locker scene, right before you take on the first brother.
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EDIT: Um, it actually affected the game. I was playing episode 3, talking to Lilly, and suddenly Carley appears behind me. Dammit. I think I'm just gonna replay the whole thing and try and pick all the same choices I made the first time. Oh well. At least my save reappeared, I just hope it doesn't happen again when episode 4 comes up =/
Oh let's not get ahead of ourselves FuckTelltale. Try quitting the game after you've passed a few "autosaves" (aka "autonotsaves") and then try to resume Episode 3 only to find all your progress is lost.
You'll have plenty of time to tell Telltale to fuck themselves while I'll continue telling them to "fix your shit".
The fact that many users have EMAILED Telltale and gotten exactly zero response from them is rather disheartening aswell. As it stands, I think the game itself is superb but I will NOT buy anything from Telltale again with this kind of customer service and appreciation (or lack thereof).
To fix it entirely I just launched episode 3 itself and it kept my choices (while it said it wanted to generate random choices... and since I kept doing it by myself, I know the choices are nothing but random and don't match my choices).
So yeah it makes no sense, but I could play it. I can't believe it.
What the fuck is wrong with them ?
Somehow it magically worked after launching the game in admin mode, started episode 3 normally, so far choices preserved and no crash.
Sadly this didn't seem to help my issue. Seems my Episode 2 never got saved at all.
Such a shame though, I really enjoy the game. But this issue is just devastating to the philosophy of the way the game works.
You are my hero. Finally your pref.prop file helped. If I could, I would take the 30 dollars I paid TTG and give it to you. That being said, I will never buy anything from this company again. What a shame.
I copied the prefs file over, booted up the game and thankfully my save game is there.
I must admit while I am pleased with this workaround, I can't help but feel a little annoyed that no genuine fix has been produced by Telltale.
Oh well, thanks though.
I realised from this forum that duplicate save files had been made.
There's one prefs.prop stored in
C:\Steam\steamapps\common\the walking dead\Pack\default
and another prefs.prop in
C:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\Telltale Games\The Walking Dead
I backed up both of them in another folder just in case, then I looked a the timestamps of each prefs.prop and deleted the older one, which was in the steam folder.
Hey presto it worked! All my decisions intact! Great game (/interactive film?) btw, wonder if the graphic novel's any good?
Totally ruined it for me.
Very disappointed in TellTale.
I'm not going to say I will never buy any of their games in the future, but I will certainly not be going out of my way to support them, as I feel like they have not supported me.
Oh my god - you are my lifesaver! I checked both locations and deleted the newer prefs.prop in the Steam folder (because in my case the older one matched the timestamp of my latest savegame) and it worked. It's strange that the file hasn't been recreated yet.
But whatever - it worked and that's all that matters.
The problem is that if you've verified your Steam files, or re-installed The Walking Dead on your machine, it downloads a blank/default prefs.prop which takes precedence over the one in your save file directory, and doesn't think you have played the game before.
If you are on Windows 8 and are having problems with the game crashing when a controller is connected, download this DINPUT8.DLL (don't run the "free scan" on that page) and place it inside C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\the walking dead\GameData
Delete the prefs.prop file, rather than replacing it.
If that doesn't work, try moving the prefs.prop file out of your saves folder into the Walking Dead directory. See my post a little further up the page for more details.