What happens to your savegames?

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by Kintaro360, Jul 2, 2009.

  1. Kintaro360

    Kintaro360 Well-Known Member

    Jun 15, 2009
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    Hi guys,

    what happens if you change your iphone or you want to reinstall your iPhone OS or you jailbreak ist or unjailbreake it?

    Are all the saves lost? It would be very demotivating if your losing the gameprogress in long games like zenonia, the quest, mecho wars or realracing.
     
  2. sam the lion

    sam the lion Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2009
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    if you update the OS from iTunes the savegames will stay, but there's no way to transfer them to a different device
     
  3. Zincous

    Zincous Well-Known Member

    Dec 23, 2008
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    Yes there is.

    iTunes creates a backup of all your saved data. You can install that data on any device. And you won't lose any saved data in any of those situations Kintaro360
     
  4. Tuzzo

    Tuzzo Well-Known Member

    May 22, 2009
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    That's true, but I'm afraid this process will create some issues if you, for instance, restore a backup taken from an iPhone 3G jailbroken to an iphone 3Gs not jailbroken.

    Some system files from the jailbroken OS will pass to the new device and it will likely make a mess.

    You can safely restore a backup from a different device only if it was taken with no jailbreak on the device. Otherwise mayhem may show up :)
     
  5. sam the lion

    sam the lion Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2009
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    Do backups really include savegames? because there is a lot of people on the forums complaining about losing savegames if they delete a game, so I assumed they weren't included. Then you could simply make a backup on the computer before deleting the app from the device. Does it work that way?
     
  6. Tomsn

    Tomsn Active Member

    Mar 11, 2009
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    What I´m doing is this. I access the iPhone via SSH (WinSCP e.g.) open the application folders I want to save from and copy the savegames to my pc. So if something is not working out I can copy them back on the iPhone and have my savegames back. The only problem is, that there seems to be no consistent system for saving. Often the save file lies in the documents folder inside the app folder. But not always. You have to look for it and if I find nothing I copy the whole app folder to my pc. For me, that´s how it works.

    Important to say, the iPhone has to be jailbroken to use this method.
     
  7. rojaz

    rojaz Well-Known Member

    Jan 6, 2009
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    i don't believe so.
    I think it only backs up save games for those games installed on the device at the time of the backup.
    as soon as you take the game off i believe the savegame data is removed and therefore cannot be backed up
     
  8. Bruno

    Bruno Well-Known Member

    Apr 19, 2009
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    Nothing is going to work.

    I change from 2G to 3GS and I lost everything.

    I tried all that was said plus all the stuff that I read on the Internet.

    There is no way to do it.

    I do not know about jailbroken, because I didn't try.

    The standard resources that we have are not enough to back up your saved games. All the other stuff (even the Safari history and icon arrangement, for example) will be restored.
     
  9. Kintaro360

    Kintaro360 Well-Known Member

    Jun 15, 2009
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    That's very harsh and stupid.... :eek:
    Hope that iPhone OS 4.0 stops this mess! :rolleyes:
     
  10. Tomsn

    Tomsn Active Member

    Mar 11, 2009
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    What are the savegames

    I guess, extracting the files via jailbreak and ssh is still the only option to backup game saves. Sometimes the savegame is located in the documents folder of the app. But lately there a lot games where i can´t tell what the specific file is that stores the savegame data. E.g. Monkey Island or Sandstorm. Does anyone know which file I need to copy to my mac? Games that big take forever to save completely on the hdd.

    I still don´t understand why apple won´t solve that special problem. That´s the least you could expect from a wannabe gaming platform.
     
  11. playn

    playn Well-Known Member

    Jul 21, 2009
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    if your device is jailbroken theres an app on cydia called appbackup (i think its that) and it saves all your savegame data
     
  12. Tmonine

    Tmonine Well-Known Member

    Aug 27, 2009
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    I huess you wont lose ALL your save games if you have flight control or real racing because i think they save your games to cloudcell. Im pretty sure there are other games that do that too but i cant think what they are.
     
  13. squarezero

    squarezero Moderator
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    I've gone through three first gen iPhones (broke the glass of one, short circuted the other -- don't ask) and upgraded to a 3gs. Every time I have been able to transfer save data without a hitch. The only reason I can think of to explain why you were not able to do it is that your backup file got corrupted. Save data is supposed to transfer from
    one device to another, as long as you can do a full restore from backup. (The jailbreak issue poses an interesting question, though).
     
  14. kugi_igi

    kugi_igi Well-Known Member

    Jun 23, 2009
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    yes,that's true
    getting the save files via ssh is the best choice for now
     
  15. Bad Hanson

    Bad Hanson Well-Known Member

    Apr 13, 2009
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    It is a huge and disgraceful omission on Apple's part. I have had three ipod touches now and each time have had to start again with my gaming progress. Games like real racing not so much of a problem as it is just so much fun to play BUT it is a MAJOR let down, many games I just gave up on after throwing good money and time after them. I know there have been posts about this before but have we here at touch arcade made a combined effort to drive this requirement home to Apple yet??? I for one use this more or less solely as a gaming device, I bought two as the battery life is not enough, I at least deserve game saves for my money. I have spoken to various genius' who have said I have a very salient point, (there must be good ways to implement this into game code or cloudtype save system like in Puzzle Quest) and tell me I should write Apple an email (yeah right buddy). Anyone high up here at T.A. feel like a challenge. I think maybe we should get around to moving that mountain...PETITION ANYONE? There are a lot of us, we have a good point.
     
  16. squarezero

    squarezero Moderator
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    What do you do when you get a new iPod Touch, Bad Hanson? As I noted above, I've had several iPhones, both as replacements and upgrades, and I've always been able to transfer saves. I'm willing to accept that it's different with iPod Touches, but I don't quite understand why that would be the case, since the underlying management system is the same. I'm not trying to be argumentative here: I just want to know if there's a procedure that can be recommended to both iPod Touch and iPhone owners.
     
  17. drelbs

    drelbs Well-Known Member

    Jun 25, 2009
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    It should be the same:

    1) Backup regularly.

    then if you change devices or need to restore:

    2) Restore from backup
    3) Sync

    Don't do anything with the device between 2 and 3 if you want things to be exact on the device. Really. Last time I did this I didn't have time to do 'em both at the same time and put Str8ts on there so I had something to play with and goobered up both my app ordering and the save for Str8ts.
     
  18. squarezero

    squarezero Moderator
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    Thanks, drelbs. That's exactly what I've done on all my iPhones. I still have my ToyBot Diaries 1 saves, and that's the second game that I ever bought.

    And yet, we still have threads like this one where people are up in arms because they can't or haven't been able to transfer saves. Seems like a very straightforward procedure to me. Perhaps it should be better documented.
     

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