Autosave action saves game multiple times

machineboy

I've made an action that autosaves my game at certain points in the game, and it works fine. However, I see in the log that the game saves/writes to disk multiple times in a row, which is an issue for certain consoles that have limits on the amount of write access per minute. The action is called only once.

This is the action:
https://imgur.com/a/7jtlpIT

This is the log:
https://imgur.com/lQt61OS

When testing manual saving, it appears to be three writes per game which is ok. I am using json and SaveFileHandler_PlayerPrefs.cs to save games. Is there anything I can change on my end to make sure the game doesn't write more than it has to?

Unity 2018.4/Win10/Latest AC

machineboy

I have a call to AC.GlobalVariables.SetStringValue(32, timeSaved);
in my custom action, just removing that took away one write access. Am I correct in assuming that setting a globalvariable automatically writes to disk?

I also do a Rename Save, and removing that one took away another disk write. (I get the current time and renames the save file to that, will try to find a workaround for that, probably a stupid thing to do )

ChrisIceBox

This likely isn't a case of multiple saves being written, but rather a single save being updated.

Is Global Variable "32" linked to Options Data? If so, changing it's value will cause it to become saved - since it's value is part of the profile data, and not part of the save file.

If the Save: Save or load Action is set to Overwrite Existing Save, you can set it's label at that time - rather than renaming it afterwards. If you want to configure the name of "Autosave", you can implement a duplicate / subclass of SaveFileHandler_PlayerPrefs with a modified GetDefaultSaveLabel function.

machineboy

Thanks, this was helpful! I had linked the Global Variable to Options Data, but I realised I did not need to. Now it's down to four write accesses, and if I can make a workaround as you outlined for the Autosave name in a duplicate SaveFileHandler I should be safe.

Just a quick question, would setting a custom name with / and : create any problems? When checking the save data after renaming a save to the string it still shows up as "autosave" in the Manage save-game files window (but shows up correctly in the LoadList), so perhaps (hopefully) it's not the actual file that is renamed?

ChrisIceBox

You should be OK. A Save's filename, and it's label, are separate.