Further improve saving - allow overwriting, more info, etc. (better save load)

58 votes

Patch on 20.11.2021 expanded handling of save files, but there is still request for more improvements.
I've collected some ideas that didn't go into the mentioned patch, please post in comments which features you find important to you!

Often suggested:
- Allow overwriting
- Map name, faction and difficulty mode (for settlement?)
- Save date and time (when naming manually)
- Allow changing save folder location

Separate topics for auto-save frequency and number (you can still comment here):
https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/225843/
https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/225849/
Option to save based on game time
https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/277675/

Less frequent:
+ Attach a screencap
+ Multiple saves deletion
+ Notification that save was successful and before autosaving
+ Population count

P.S. Thanks to Mathias and Shoddyfrog for pointing this out.

Done Suggestion Suggested by: Gin Fuyou (10 Dec, '21) • Upvoted: 19 Sep, '23 • Comments: 45

Comments: 45

02 Oct, '21
Bart Merged
I try to maintain a name/numbering scheme for each run when saving my files but I often forget the last index.

I would like to see my previous saves and possibly overwrite, maybe with a new name. Pretty much like most other games implement saves.
20 Oct, '21
Realms×Myths Merged
Now that maps & saves use timber archives, perhaps you can have saving either a game or map create a screenshot0.png in the timber archive to display when the file is selected, and allow those with the knowledge could replace screenshot0.png with a new one, as well as add up to nine more screenshots (1-9) to total ten that users can click left and right arrows to flip through (useful for showing off more of the map in map timber files)?

I suppose .jpg\.jpeg would also be acceptable.

On the idea of including additional files to the timber archive; a name file, which is a text file (like name.txt) with the extension removed.
The first line of text in this file would be the display name of the map, as many sites and apps, like Discord, rename files when you upload to them, completely destroying the intended name of the map. The name file would be a way to retain the original, intended name of the map — since most of the archived json files will now just be named 'world' by default.
18 Nov, '21
Nope Merged
How about a list a saved games we can save games to/over? Instead of having to type a name every time we save.
18 Nov, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin Merged
I've changed title for better navigation
24 Dec, '21
Oddible Merged
I created a settlement, it was flawed, I was starting again, it wouldn't let me pick the same name. I don't want that first flawed settlement. Just add an "Overwrite" button to the warning dialog.
25 Dec, '21
Gin Fuyou Admin
"A settlement with this name already exists - let me overwrite it" (suggested by Oddible on 2021-12-24), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
30 Dec, '21
Sebastian Merged
Hi there!

I have a similar suggestion, that when we save the game it should show the name that we previously saved as, or like mentioned above some way to overwrite save games easier.

thanks, love your game!
01 Jan, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Enhanced timber files" (suggested by Realms×Myths on 2021-10-20), including upvotes (9) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
16 Jan, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"When saving a game I would like to see and possibly overwrite existant save files" (suggested by Bart on 2021-10-02), including upvotes (10) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
20 Jan, '22
lohithbb Merged
Is it possible to get a UI notification of an upcoming auto save.

The screen freezes for a second or so but if youre in the middle of placing something, your cursor moves (because you assume the placement action has completed) and the resulting building is nowhere near you want it.

I suppose if I was a badget it wouldn't matter so much. But no, I am TIMBERBORN!!!
20 Jan, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Auto Save - Can we get a UI indication?" (suggested by lohithbb on 2022-01-20), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
25 Jan, '22
Jonathan Merged
I didn't see this mentioned already (apologies if it is), but it would be good to provide a pop-up confirmation (with the option to continue save or cancel) in cases where someone saves a game with the same title they used prior. This helps both people who want to overwrite, and those who don't. Those who want to will be assured they are overwriting the same game, rather than typed a name wrong by one character and now have confusing near-matches to sort through. Those who don't want to will have a chance to change to a new save file name.
26 Jan, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Add save overwrite confirmation" (suggested by Jonathan on 2022-01-25), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
29 Jan, '22
SchweizerArzh Merged
It would be nice to be able to see a list of saves rather than having to rename a save each time, and this way we could also overwrite old saves. (for those who like clean save sheets)
29 Jan, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Better Save functionality" (suggested by SchweizerArzh on 2022-01-29), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
02 Feb, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Overwrite Saved Games" (suggested by Nope on 2021-11-18), including upvotes (5) and comments (2), was merged into this suggestion.
04 Feb, '22
lohithbb Merged
When you are loading a save file, display the parameters used during that game
- What the map is (e.g. Plains, or a custom map)
- Difficulty parameters
- Amount of time spent
- Average well-being
04 Feb, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Load game - Display game details" (suggested by lohithbb on 2022-02-04), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
06 Feb, '22
Lapillus
The default location for savefiles is making me unable to play the game. It's on a full drive that cannot have space freed up and as such I can only play as long as I never close the game.
10 Feb, '22
Nathan Merged
Warn the user if they enter a save game name that already exists. This would prevent accidentally overwriting a save that the user wanted to keep.

It would also be helpful to see previous save game names when saving a new game.
11 Feb, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Warn if overwriting save" (suggested by Nathan on 2022-02-10), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
21 Feb, '22
Ray Swartz Merged
I started a new game. Never saved. After a minute, I decided to restart. When I used the same name, game said that name already existed. I should be able to reuse the name whether or not I saved the old game.
22 Feb, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Should be able to reuse name of settlement." (suggested by Ray Swartz on 2022-02-21), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
06 Mar, '22
plipple Merged
when saving a game the only way to overwrite is to remember the name of the savegame. it would be helpful to browse to the save file.

thanks
08 Mar, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"add the ability to choose a save game to overwrite" (suggested by plipple on 2022-03-06), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
11 Apr, '22
Matthew Merged
Showing a tally of all resources and population, as well as the cycle/day in case save file has been renamed. Will help tremendously when multiple cities and saves are in which allows for better loading :)
12 Apr, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Showing materials and population when loading files" (suggested by Matthew on 2022-04-11), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
23 Apr, '22
Cptdzntzz Merged
It would be nice if you could overwrite an existing file when saving. Thanks
23 Apr, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"save and existing file overwrite" (suggested by Cptdzntzz on 2022-04-23), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
08 Jun, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Save Menu" (suggested by MacEriu on 2022-06-06), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
25 Jun, '22
BennytheSquidd Merged
That way I can easily delete my old files where my beavers are all dead.
26 Jun, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Save over existing file" (suggested by BennytheSquidd on 2022-06-25), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
09 Jul, '22
Dipo Merged
I think its better if when you save your game progress, it can rewrite other saved game, so we dont have too many saved game progress. Thank you its a great game
10 Jul, '22
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Saving Log Progression" (suggested by Dipo on 2022-07-09), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
19 Dec, '22
Ryvre
One thing that would be helpful is to keep a "last construction save", which is a copy of the lastest autosave but only updated if a new building was placed since the last autosave. This would help in the situation that you accidently walk away from the computer without pausing and haven't saved in a while.
Click to enlarge

28 Feb, '23
DarkICE09 Merged
Since settlements are named before we can look over the map please include the map name somewhere in the description of saved games. When you are just looking at a list of random settlement names you have no idea which saves are for what map.
12 Mar, '23
Gin Fuyou Admin
"add map name to load file description" (suggested by DarkICE09 on 2023-02-28), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
15 Apr, '23
YaVarOT Merged
So after playing for a few hours, I forget which map I'm playing on. Which I'd like to know when I tell friends about the game. It doesn't need to be on-screen the whole time, but perhaps on the wellness/happiness panel, or at least when actually selecting from the Load Game screen.
20 Apr, '23
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Show mapname ingame" (suggested by YaVarOT on 2023-04-15), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
24 May, '23
Tanoshi Merged
As far as I'm aware currently the game saves gamefiles on windows in the documents folder, I have setup my documents folder to be synced with OneDrive and that sometimes causes some issues, so I would prefer it to be somewhere else or just being able to change it would be nice
25 May, '23
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Being able to manually change the gamefiles" (suggested by Tanoshi on 2023-05-24), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
03 Jun, '23
bulldug Merged
When in the load screen there is no description (what stage the game is at in game days etc) to tell us exactly when that save took place for saves which have been renamed from the original save name.
The ability to see when a save took place would enable players to "back track" on their saves in case they make a mistake and want to try something different.
04 Jun, '23
Randy Merged
Imho it would be a nice QoL feature to have additional auto-saves complementing the existing ones.
- Why: If you find your ressource planning wasn't good enough to sustain during the next drought (which took longer than expected), one can find themselves in the situation that the whole population dies, and the existing auto- /manual saves are long in the past. So one looses a lot a playtime to go back and adjust production.
- Possible implementation: additional auto-saves on the first day of a new cycle for maybe 2 or 3 cycles.
06 Jun, '23
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Load screen" (suggested by bulldug on 2023-06-03), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
06 Jun, '23
Gin Fuyou Admin
"Cycle auto-save" (suggested by Randy on 2023-06-04), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.