Restoring GTA IV Save Game

[Admiral]

Hello everyone,
I followed this set of instructions -

Vista Guide

1. First you need to back up two folders, the first folder is your Rockstar games folder (which contains the save games) and the second folder is your xlive folder which contains ... well god knows but you need it anyway.
2. You can find your Rockstar folder here C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Rockstar Games <- copy that folder somewhere safe.
3. You can find your xlive folder here C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\XLive <- again back up that folder.
4. After you have formatted and reinstalled the game simply copy those folders back to where they should be overwriting the folders that are there.
5. Now run the game and press "HOME" in-game to sign-in from XLive. Choose your old nick when signing-in. Don't make new account or your save file won't load.
6. After signing-in, play the game and it will load your save file automatically.

Windows XP Guide

1. First you need to back up two folders, the first folder is your Rockstar games folder (which contains the save games) and the second folder is your xlive folder which contains ... well god knows but you need it anyway.
2. You can find your Rockstar folder here C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Rockstar Games\ <- copy that folder somewhere safe.
3. You can find your xlive folder here C:\documents and settings\<user>\Local Settings\Applicationdata\Microsoft\XLive <- again back up that folder.
4. After you have formatted and reinstalled the game simply copy those folders back to where they should be overwriting the folders that are there.
5. Now run the game and press "HOME" in-game to sign-in from XLive. Choose your old nick when signing-in. Don't make new account or your save file won't load.
6. After signing-in, play the game and it will load your save file automatically.

I've copied all the files required, and then attempted to paste them in the folders they belonged in.

Unfortunately for me, everytime I booted the game up it would load a new game. Can anyone suggest a solution for me, please? I really desperate to get my save game back. Oh yer, I'm running on Windows 7 Ultimate

 

[jr26]

When I upgraded from XP this is the method I followed and it worked. Just make sure to double check you put all the files in the right place. I can't remember right now but I may have started a new game and then deleted the rockstar folder and then put the save in.

 

[Admiral]

Can you list everything you did man? I must've reinstalled the game at least 10 times the past 3 days. It's really starting to get on my nerve

 

[jr26]

There's no reason to re-install the game.

Just as the instructions you quoted above here's what I did:

Installed game
Transferred my backed-up "xlive" folder to X:\Users\"YOUR NAME"\AppData\Local\Microsoft
Started game
Logged into my saved windows live profile
Started a new game but exited without saving ( I don't know if you actually need to do this)
Deleted the Rockstar Games folder from X:\Users\"YOUR NAME"\AppData\Local\Rockstar Games
Dropped in my backed up Rockstar Games folder
Started game
Logged into windows live with my same backed-up profile
Set-up GFX, Control misc settings
Played

Dunno what to tell ya man. All I can think of is maybe you didn't back up the right folders or something.

 

[Admiral]

Argh, I just tried that twice... no luck
I'm so frustrated.... any other things I can try?

EDIT - Isn't it a bit odd that I have 3 folders in my savegames folder? -

 

[jr26]

Delete the top two and replace one of those folders at a time with any from your backup and see what happens. Mine just shows two folders "user_bunchofnumbers" and "user_invalid".

 

[Admiral]

Ugh, I just tried that again but it just starts a new game and then the folder reappears again. Any other solutions?

 

[jr26]

The only other thing I can think of is you didn't log into your original windows live account (or offline one) that you had when you made the saves.

 

[Admiral]

The only other thing I can think of is you didn't log into your original windows live account (or offline one) that you had when you made the saves.

If only it was that simple, but I know its the same because I only have one GFWL account and it has 400 points (which is the one I'm using now). Ugh this is so frustrating

 

[mishel]

It's really nice game.

 

[Admiral]

It's really nice game.

I know, that's why I'm going to so much trouble to try and restore my save game

 

[jr26]

When you re-installed the game did you apply any of the update patches you previously had (or not had) installed?

 

[Admiral]

When you re-installed the game did you apply any of the update patches you previously had (or not had) installed?

Not really, but when I log into GFWL after I first reinstall the game, it tells me I need to update or else it will sign me out... hmmmm. Dunno what I can do

 

[jr26]

If it was updated before you need to update it now. That could be why your save doesn't work because it is from a different version of the game.

So what I would do is update the game then delete the save folder again and put your backed-up save in and see if it loads it (you have to redo your gfx/controller config even with back-up saves).

 

[Admiral]

If it was updated before you need to update it now. That could be why your save doesn't work because it is from a different version of the game.

So what I would do is update the game then delete the save folder again and put your backed-up save in and see if it loads it (you have to redo your gfx/controller config even with back-up saves).

I'm 99% sure I had the same update last time, because the patch is from November 2009 and I upgraded to Windows 7 at the end of January. I've tried everything man, I've emailed rockstar support like 10 times and they're not giving me proper solutions. They're saying things like "are you logged into your GFWL account" and "are you sure you have the correct folders?". I have to wait two days between replies so it can get pretty annoying. I sent them a dxdiag textfile which they asked for and they've completely ignored it. I'm starting to get tired of them