SKYRIM Save Cleaner makes you cringe or binge?

Post » Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:22 am

That's right I'm talking about this http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/31724//? by seifer69er.

My gut reaction is to cringe away from anything that cleans your saved games. It's like sending your character who is a drinking problem into a bar to binge. He'll most likely die. Bottom line, you could lose hundreds of hours if it screws up your saved game files.On the other hand, it could be a really good maintenance tool for saved games, if it's properly implemented. It seems many people in the comment section already are raving over it.

My question to the gurus of this community has this been seriously examined?
I mean naturally we all think "stay away", but has anyone taken critical look at its methodology and validity for cleaning saved files? Therefore improving Skyrim stability/performance with mods.

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Eoh
 
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Post » Thu Sep 26, 2013 12:29 pm

Your gut is partially correct - don't cringe away from "save cleaners", but run screaming from them in the other direction instead.

The format of all Bethesda game save files is something of a mystery, and this is even more so for Skyrim saves. Given this, chances are that "save cleaners" will break a lot more than they'll fix.

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Reanan-Marie Olsen
 
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Post » Thu Sep 26, 2013 2:44 am

I don't think it is unreasonable for someone with corrupted save games to use this tool.

I think it is unreasonable for someone with a corrupted save game and used "save cleaner", and later install more mods (!?) and complain to the mod authors that "u sux, yr mod broke my save!". I have seen it happened a few times already (e.g., DCO forum ended up involving moderator).

I think it is unreasonable for anyone using "save cleaner" to rescue a save game, planning to use this save game and expecting others to lend him / her support for pretty much anything.

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Michelle davies
 
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Post » Thu Sep 26, 2013 5:30 pm

A save is just a file, it can be copied and you can work on the copy and see what happens.

Not saying it will work, just saying that you can't mess up your save any more than it already is if you make a copy of it first.

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Angela
 
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Post » Thu Sep 26, 2013 1:58 am

I actually have no need to use this, but but something I haven't seen is really discussed. It's not quite as simple as backing up your saved games, because theoretically it could corrupt your game after investing 30 more hours. It's kind of like adding mods. Level I through 6 might be completely stable. All of a sudden you've it problems do to conflicting or missing game data that is used or started to be used at level 7.

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Tania Bunic
 
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Post » Thu Sep 26, 2013 8:21 am

CCNA's right. You should try it with a copy of the game if the save is still playable. If it's already hosed, what do you have to lose?

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hannah sillery
 
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Post » Thu Sep 26, 2013 8:17 am

The biggest issue with a Save Cleaner is knowing what to remove from the save. Basically, you have to have some modding skills to even go down this route, and have an understanding of the how the game organizes things. You also have to know what would be added by a mod, and what is Vanilla.

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JESSE
 
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Post » Thu Sep 26, 2013 3:16 am

Yeah, no cringing, lots of running in the opposite direction warning others to run too.

This particular tool is a meat cleaver approach to surgery that requires laser scalpels. You're cutting off the limbs when all that SHOULD be done is to laser remove the scar. It removes ALL script data from your save, so while it will get rid of the corrupted info, it will also get rid of the good info that covers all the quests you already did and a whole mess of other things out in the game world. All for what ends up being nothing more than a fleeting amount of temporary relief from the disease which will simply rise forth again and ravage the rest of the body.

Right now, the save format isn't decoded enough to do this, at all, no matter who is making the claim. People like to say there are no black and white issues, but in this case it is. There is no such thing as a clean save, and there's no such thing as a safe save cleaner.

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Laura Simmonds
 
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Post » Thu Sep 26, 2013 3:05 am

To what extent was the save format decoded for Oblivion?

So is it only matter of time when tools like this will become useful or is there something else keeping modders unraveling the mystery behind the save format?

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RaeAnne
 
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Post » Thu Sep 26, 2013 5:21 pm

Oblivion's saves were never fully decoded either, but it was enough to allow Wrye Bash to do some limited stuff with them. Skyrim isn't even far enough along for that yet.

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tegan fiamengo
 
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