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[SOLVED] Save files disappearing for no reason on Android

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 4:18 pm
by Ceilyan
Hello :)

Sorry to bother you again, but I have encountered another problem. Some users sent me several messages telling me their save files disappeared for no reason. I asked them to check the storage on their phone and the file was indeed gone. I don't really know what's going on or where to look at to see if there's a problem somewhere. So if anyone could help me, that would be really great :(

I personnaly don't have the problem on my phone and there was no error message on the users' phone.

Thank you very much for your help!

Re: Save files disappearing for no reason on Android

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:23 pm
by Imperf3kt
Ask if they've been clearing the app data through settings or if they have any automatic cleaning apps installed.
My guess is something is cleaning the cache (possibly to optimise storage space) for the game which is where save files are stored.

Re: Save files disappearing for no reason on Android

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:34 pm
by Ceilyan
Thank you, that was it :) Is there a way to prevent this problem? People sometimes need to optimize their space, but if it wipes their saves everytime, it's going to be a problem :( Should I try to store the savefiles somewhere else or to protect them from the dreaded auto cleaning? Is it even possible?

Once again, thank your very much for your prompt reply :)

Re: Save files disappearing for no reason on Android

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:40 pm
by Imperf3kt
Well that was certainly quick.

If you can find out what app is used for cleaning/optimising the storage space, you should be able to get the player to add an exception for your game.

This should allow the cleaning app to run and ignore your game. But it'd depend on the app itself, and there's a lot of apps that do this.

As a workaround, you can make a backup of the save files by copying the contents of Android/data/com.your_game_name/files/saves
You do not require Root privileges to access this folder

Re: Save files disappearing for no reason on Android

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 6:47 pm
by Ceilyan
I will add a little warning at the begining of the game to ask the users to add an exception for the game if they're using a auto cleaning app.

Thank you very much for your help :)