Star Wars: Squadrons doesn't save - Steam

[RejjeN]

Hello, for some reason Star Wars: Squadrons won't save my settings or progress whenever I exit out of the game, resulting in me having to replay the prologue and set my preferences again upon startup which is a small hindrance when wanting to actually play the game... Everything seems to reset to 0 with the one exception of the ship hull cosmetics I've set, which is extra strange... I'm guessing it is some kind of read only error, though I've no issue with other steam games on that drive, and authenticating the files did not help either...

[RejjeN · Accepted solution]

It would seem that the issue for me was the "Controlled folder access" settings in Windows 10, despite being asked if I would allow for Squadrons to make changes that still blocked some part of the program, but it was fixed after I made an exception for it on the "Allow an app through Controlled folder access" option.

Steps here for anyone else with this problem!

1 Open Windows Settings (the cog thing in start menu)

2 Click Update & Security

3 Click Windows Security

4 Click Virus & Threat protection

5 click Manage Settings under the Virus & Threat Protection settings header

6 Scroll down to the Controlled folder access header and click Manage Controlled folder access

7 click Allow an app through controlled folder access, click Yes if asked to be allowed.

8 click Add an allowed app and select Recently blocked apps

9 you should now have Squadrons listed here if this was your issue, click the Plus sign next to the program to make an exception for it!

10 Play Star Wars Squadrons!

[RejjeN · Accepted solution]

It would seem that the issue for me was the "Controlled folder access" settings in Windows 10, despite being asked if I would allow for Squadrons to make changes that still blocked some part of the program, but it was fixed after I made an exception for it on the "Allow an app through Controlled folder access" option.

Steps here for anyone else with this problem!

1 Open Windows Settings (the cog thing in start menu)

2 Click Update & Security

3 Click Windows Security

4 Click Virus & Threat protection

5 click Manage Settings under the Virus & Threat Protection settings header

6 Scroll down to the Controlled folder access header and click Manage Controlled folder access

7 click Allow an app through controlled folder access, click Yes if asked to be allowed.

8 click Add an allowed app and select Recently blocked apps

9 you should now have Squadrons listed here if this was your issue, click the Plus sign next to the program to make an exception for it!

10 Play Star Wars Squadrons!

[ElDiabloPenguino]

Is there any suggestion for those of us who still lose progress whenever the application closes, but who do not have 'Controlled Folder Access' enabled?

I'm having the same symptom (where all progress is lost when the application closes - or crashes), except in my case 'Controlled Folder Access' is not enabled for my machine. I've verified this in the registry and in my group policy settings. 

[TheElmerFudd]

Same here. Microsoft Defender isn't even activated, still losing progress.

Read somewhere it might be read & write-protection of the save game folder.

I am not sure if i found the right folder but deactivated read & write-protection under Documents/Star Wars Squadrons.

[Capt_Silvasco]

@ElDiabloPenguino Same thing here, the option is not enabled for me either. Please let me know if you figure out how to fix it on your side.

[ElDiabloPenguino]

Hey all, 

After a lot of iterative troubleshooting, I managed to sort it out on my machine. For those who still have the issue regardless of the 'Controlled Folder Access' setting, here's what worked for me:  

1. First, since I installed from Steam and save games were not saving at all, I disabled Steam Cloud synchronization. [This may not be needed for everyone, but it was part of the process that worked for me, so I mention it]
   • Open Steam library,
   • Right click the game,
   • Click properties
   • Click Updates tab
   • UNCHECK 'Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for STAR WARS Squadrons" 
2. Then, go to the application install folder, for me it was here: [drive_letter]:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\STAR WARS Squadrons\
3. Inside that folder, locate both the launcher (starwarssquadrons_launcher.exe) and the application (starwarssquadrons.exe) files.
4. Right click each and go to the 'Compatibility' tab.
5. For both, ensure the 'run as administrator' checkbox is checked.
6. After that, to be sure that the progress is actually saving, go to the directory where the save data is stored and check the date modified timestamps for the contents of that folder are updating. Note: this is NOT the same folder as the installation folder. For me, it was here: drive_letter:\Users\your_user_name\Documents\STAR WARS Squadrons Steam\settings
7. Once in that folder, check the timestamps for these files:
   • BootOptions
   • ProfileOptions
   • ProfileOptions_profile
   • ProfileOptions_profile_synced
   • [Note: You may need to launch the game again for these files to appear, but once they exist, you're on the right track.]
8. The timestamp for each of these should be the same, and reflects the last time the game saved progress.
9. Leave this folder open so you can watch the Date Modified time stamps in real time. 
10. Launch the game again, and go through the "name your pilot" steps again (hopefully for the last time if this works for you). 
11. Keep an eye on the timestamps for those files! If you see them updating when you save the settings, then continue. 
12. You'll see them update again as you complete each checkpoint of each mission. As long as you see the timestamps updating as you progress in the game, then you should be ready to perform the final test. 
13. Exit to the main menu and quit. 
14. Launch the game again. This time you should see it load to the menu and not to the "name your pilot" screen. 

It took me a while to sort it out and verify the steps, so I wanted to share the process with anyone else out there having the issue. May it work for you as it worked for me. 

Good luck out there, pilots. May the Force be with you. 
El Diablo Penguino, signing off. 

[ElDiabloPenguino]

@Capt_Silvasco  - Forgot to tag you when I replied to this. ^^

[EP_Alakrod]

Hi all,

i got the same problem, i try both solutions from this topic, but does not work. The app is not blocked in windows defender and there is no setting folder on STAR WARS Squadrons Steam folder.

can anyone solve it another way?

[misterlanyj]

Regrettably, I've tried this, but the timestamps don't update. Any idea what else might be the issue?

[OpopBot]

This solution didn't work for me. (like others, the particular setting wasn't there)

This other one didn't either:  Squadrons does not save my progress - Answer HQ (ea.com)

 one odd note, my 'STAR WARS Squadrons' folder was directly in the C drive instead of within a user's documents folder. it had 3 folders, but no settings folder.

Here is what worked for me - I logged out of my main/normal/primary windows account and created a new account.  This account happens to be secured by a password (my normal user account only uses a pin). For some reason, this works.  This 2nd account creates the 'STAR WARS Squadrons' folder within the documents folder of that user, and that folder has the settings folder within it!

Playing the intro for the last time right now!