Oolite Bulletins

Hi.

The autosave saves your game when you leave the Station. Wouldn't it be better if it saved as soon as you get there?

There are many things that can go wrong at a Station and it would be useful to have a close save file. 'Oh dear, I bought Narcotics instead of Computers. There goes my Clean status.' or 'Oh, boy, this ship looked sexier in the shop.' If you Autosave-when-out this situations aren't reversible.

Autosave? Oh, yes! I'd never even noticed it existed - Ha I'll just leave it switched off I think.

I've never used it - no need for it!

I agree with Agis, even though I don't use it often.

Agis Silverfish wrote:

Hi.

The autosave saves your game when you leave the Station. Wouldn't it be better if it saved as soon as you get there?

There are many things that can go wrong at a Station and it would be useful to have a close save file. 'Oh dear, I bought Narcotics instead of Computers. There goes my Clean status.' or 'Oh, boy, this ship looked sexier in the shop.' If you Autosave-when-out this situations aren't reversible.

Although I never use this, I agree. The most logical time to save would be upon entry before any mission scripts etc. are triggered. Would allow you to see them again maybe. (Not sure if this is doable.)

Gimi wrote:

The most logical time to save would be upon entry before any mission scripts etc. are triggered.

I'm not too sure about that, Gimi. I have a feeling (nothing concrete) that it may not be suitable (or wise) for some missions.

El Viejo wrote:

Gimi wrote:

The most logical time to save would be upon entry before any mission scripts etc. are triggered.

I'm not too sure about that, Gimi. I have a feeling (nothing concrete) that it may not be suitable (or wise) for some missions.

I can imagine a lot of technical issues why this might be problematic, but I can't see this interrupting the flow of the missions in any way.

I think we need technicians in here who can see the consequences.

Gimi wrote:

I think we need technicians in here who can see the consequences.

Agreed! My thinking is that as it is now, you at least have the option to turn Autosave off (or on) before launching (for whatever reasons).

El Viejo wrote:

Gimi wrote:

I think we need technicians in here who can see the consequences.

Agreed! My thinking is that as it is now, you at least have the option to turn Autosave off (or on) before launching (for whatever reasons).

Excellent point. It would need to be accessible from the in-flight while paused F2 menu.

Gimi wrote:

It would need to be accessible from the in-flight while paused F2 menu.

Which it is, I believe! But I still think it's preferable as is!

El Viejo wrote:

Gimi wrote:

It would need to be accessible from the in-flight while paused F2 menu.

Which it is, I believe! But I still think it's preferable as is!

As I said, never use it, so I'm not sure where or in which settings menu it's available. But saving on docking has it's merits. That would be my choice if I used it.
I have a rather strict routine when I play.
Dock, buy fuel, replenish weapons and conduct repairs if necessary, save with new name, then the rest before I leave.

Gimi wrote:

I have a rather strict routine when I play. Dock, buy fuel, replenish weapons and conduct repairs if necessary, save with new name, then the rest before I leave.

As do I: dock, sell (if appropriate), fuel/repairs/ordnance, select next destination, quick-save, buy... then launch!

Gimi wrote:

But saving on docking has it's merits. That would be my choice if I used it.

I can imagine a lot of situations were you dock at a station and than realise it was the wrong station. (returned to a mission start before accomplishing it, arrived with the cloak damaged, —or any other equipment— etc.)
Bad luck if an auto-save stores that situation on docking and you lost your chance to revert to a previous game.

Two thoughts -

• Maybe just make it an option as to whether it saves on dock or launch, in the F2 screen?
• Have it save to a special separate "autosave.oolite-save" file rather than the players currently loaded save file?

It would end up being a split-save of course, but would solve the unwanted save issue without losing the "safety net" usage.[/color]

Thargoid wrote:

Two thoughts -

• Have it save to a special separate "autosave.oolite-save" file rather than the players currently loaded save file?

[/color]

It appears you never used it as it already saves to a special file: "commandersname (autosave).oolite-save".
You can also in addition do a manual quicksave on docking. That would be a separate file to fall back on.

So one thought left.