Can force closing your game corrupt your save data?

[swifterly]

To avoid derailing another thread where this subject came up, and also because I genuinely want answers and I'm hoping someone who sees this will have them, I created this thread.

I have heard anecdotally that force closing your game can corrupt your save data, the same as leaving a multiplayer session using the - button. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, force closing is when you press the home button and then close the game using X, without already having saved and exited in game. If so, this is a big cause for concern as many of us force close for convenience on the regular.

Of course, if you force close while it's autosaving, you can corrupt your data and the game itself warns you of that. I am talking about claims that your data can be corrupted even if it wasn't autosaving.

Personally, I haven't heard of anyone having this issue, and I haven't seen evidence tying the "Your save is damaged" message to force closing. But a potential threat to your save data is not something to be taken lightly, so: does anyone have evidence that force closing your game can corrupt save data?

 

[ellienoise]

I would also appreciate if anyone could provide anecdotical evidence. When I go on campsite hunts I always force close my game when they pick a villager I don't want. If this happens to be a real risk, what alternatives do we have?

 

[swifterly]

I would also appreciate if anyone could provide anecdotical evidence. When I go on campsite hunts I always force close my game when they pick a villager I don't want. If this happens to be a real risk, what alternatives do we have?

Exactly! It's really useful, so I'd hate to stop doing it, but if it really is a risk, I would

 

[Blueskyy]

I have force closed many times in the past while it was not auto saving and I still have my file. I’m pretty paranoid about it now though so I’ll be interested to follow this.

 

[Cancoon]

I'm in the same boat, I've force closed plenty of times with no troubles but after all the rumors, I am worried going forward.

 

[Jared:3]

Agreed with the above statements, I do this with campsite villagers alot and I haven't had an issue but I'm kinda paranoid about this now

 

[Aliya]

I've definitely accidentally closed while it was autosaving during cycling and I still have my file, but I am really cautious now and always exit via the save button. I also get freaked out if people leave via the - button while playing multiplayer lol

 

[Raz]

Rule of thumb: everytime you close a game/turn-off your system WHILE the game is saving (doesn't matter if it's a manual or automatic save), you run the risk of corrupting data. This doesn't apply only to AC, but to every software out there.

There is a reason why every game that supports saving has a disclaimer about this.

 

[Cancoon]

Rule of thumb: everytime you close a game/turn-off your system WHILE the game is saving (doesn't matter if it's a manual or automatic save), you run the risk of corrupting data. This doesn't apply only to AC, but to every software out there.

There is a reason every game that supports saving has a disclaimer about this.

I think the OP stated knowing this in the initial post. There are rumors to doing it in general

 

[morthael]

i’ve forced closed many times over trying to get a campsite villager to move in or when a villager stops crafting because someone dced, i’ll force quit to reset their crafting and so far i haven’t encountered this issue. i think the issue with saves getting corrupted happens within the multiplayer aspect of the game.

 

[Lokidoki]

As in forcing it off when it says don't turn off the power? Possibly i freeze when i see autosave and check the power. Kinda paranoid but i close the app if i do something wrong right away.

 

[Cethosia]

I don't really think force closing can corrupt your data by itself. You have to be careful to not do it while it is auto saving. The question we have to ask, can the game auto save while in the switch menu?

I think the corruption of multiplayer happens because the game tries to save, but fails to do so.

 

[cloud_fluff]

I'm interested to see answers to this, but I'll throw in my two cents; I have just finished campsite rolling and made it all the way to 2024 (i.e. I have force quit enough for my lifetime lol) and my data is fine, so if it is possible it must be relatively uncommon. Of course if it is a risk then that sucks but we'd have to stop It'd be a bit silly though for force quitting when the game isnt saving to corrupt data though - ive force quit accidentally before, dropping my controller and stuff

 

[Raz]

I think the OP stated knowing this in the initial post. There are rumors to doing it in general

Yes, I'm just reinforcing this because the reason it can corrupt while data is being saved is because the info that's being written into the system/storage device doesn't get written correctly, thus, creating a corrupt save file that can't be read by the system.

There's no reason to believe that closing a game without saving can corrupt data, especially because years and years of gaming can be used as an example that the only thing that's certain to happen is for you to lose your progress since you didn't save it.

 

[Cancoon]

There's no reason to believe that closing a game without saving can corrupt data, especially because years and years of gaming can be used as an example that the only thing that's certain to happen is for you to lose your progress since you didn't save it.

This was my thought process too, but all the rumors started getting to me. Like, worrying if this case is for some reason different!
Thanks

 

[Aus]

Is leaving with the (-) really so dangerous? Since it is a legitimate feature in the game. I personally don't do it when I'm over at peoples' islands but do encourage people visiting mine to use it sometimes when I'm in a rush!

 

[Nefarious]

It makes sense why we're all paranoid. There's absolutely no back up plan for if our 300+ hour file's gets corrupted, no cloud saves, nothing. This game is so much more prone to getting messed up than past games because of autosaving, as the save file is being rewritten every so often. A circle of tiny blue dots on the top right of the screen really is a save scummer's worse enemy. Just be aware of how frequent your game autosaves and you should be fine.

Really wish we could turn autosave off.

 

[Raz]

It makes sense why we're all paranoid. There's absolutely no back up plan for if our 300+ hour file's gets corrupted, no cloud saves, nothing. This game is so much more prone to getting messed up than past games because of autosaving, as the save file is being rewritten every so often. A circle of tiny blue dots on the top right of the screen really is a save scummer's worse enemy. Just be aware of how frequent your game autosaves and you should be fine.

Really wish we could turn autosave off.

Exactly. Most softwares have a backup save feature that run behind the curtains, so even if you have a problem while saving, you still have a security copy to fix the problem.

Everyone who uses or had to use Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, Paint Tool SAI, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Reaper, FL Studio or even MS Word knows how important a backup feature is important.

 

[Cethosia]

I just did a little test. I opened my game and waited for it to autosave. After that I picked up the bugs I dropped in front of the store and went to the Switch menu. I only waited 10 minutes before closing the game, but the game did not auto save during this time.

 

[Uffe]

I haven't heard anything about this, and it would seem strange that pressing the Home button to exit your game would suddenly corrupt your data, seeing how you can just close out any game on the Switch without any issues. At least none that I'm aware of. I would imagine that doing it with New Horizons wouldn't cause any problems. Maybe when you're visiting people online and you just press the minus button it can cause corrupt data because you're literally in a different location not possible to visit offline. Those are just my thoughts.