Help test the new save system

Hey everyone!

There have been many requests to fix up the save system over the past few years due to the sheer number of files and disk space used by the game, and I've finally gotten around to rewriting the system. This is something I think will be great to finally tackle leading up to the 1.0 release to ensure a better saving experience!

Given how critical the save system is for a survival game like this with a lot of backwards compatibility to handle, I want to be careful about rolling out such a fundamental change. That is why I've launched this new system as a beta branch on Steam before releasing it for everyone as a new game update.

How to join the beta and test out the new save system:

1. Before starting, you may want to create a manual save in your game(s) with the non-beta version as autosaves will eventually be overwritten and no longer loadable if you switch back to the default game version later
2. Right click The Last Plague: Blight in your Steam library and select Properties
3. Open Game Versions & Betas and select the new-save-system game version
4. Wait for Steam to finish updating the game and then launch it as usual. You will see v0.12.8b at the bottom right after reaching the main menu to confirm it's properly loaded

How it works

• The new save format drastically reduces file count and overall size. It uses a "pack" system to store any updates and reuse unchanged data rather than having to store three files for every chunk for every save slot
• Existing saves are supported, and testing your older saves is especially helpful
• When saving, you won't be able to overwrite existing manual saves. This is so that they can be preserved if you decide to switch back to the default game version
• As mentioned above, auto save slots will be overwritten and will no longer be loadable in the default game version
• Likewise, manual saves made in the beta will not be loadable in the default game version

What to test

Continue playing the game as you normally would. Load your old saves, progress through the game, save your progress, load these newly created saves, and keep an eye out for errors, missing items/buildings/inventories, etc. and anything else in your world that doesn't look right.

If you run into an issue, please report it on the Steam forums here or in Discord. Details around what you were doing and game log files (Player.log & Player-prev.log) are especially helpful.

Other exciting news

This new save system is a prerequisite to enable cloud save support! GeForce NOW will naturally be supported and switching between PC and Steam Deck will be a breeze. Testing has already shown it to be working well. Cloud saves will arrive as an update further down the road once this new save system beta has been confirmed to be good.

Thanks for helping test this out and thanks for your continued support!