Error while loading a map (no mods)

[csy108]

Just got Rimworld, played the tutorial, then started a colony set to permadeath.  No mods, just Core.  Played a bunch yesterday, quit to OS and then loaded several times without issue.  Today I attempted to load my save.  Received the error "Error while loading a map."  My version of the game was purchased from the Ludeon site and activated in Steam.  I have had no other issues.  I can still load the autosave from my tutorial game without issue.  I verified game cache in Steam, no joy.  I deleted all local files and reinstalled through Steam, no joy.  Any thoughts?  Here's my output log:

Initialize engine version: 5.3.4f1 (fdbb5133b820)
GfxDevice: creating device client; threaded=1
Direct3D:
    Version:  Direct3D 9.0c [nvd3dum.dll 21.21.13.7270]
    Renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
    Vendor:   NVIDIA
    VRAM:     3072 MB (via DXGI)
    Caps:     Shader=30 DepthRT=1 NativeDepth=1 NativeShadow=1 DF16=0 INTZ=1 NULL=1 RESZ=0 SlowINTZ=0
Begin MonoManager ReloadAssembly
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp-firstpass.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp-firstpass.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.UI.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.UI.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.Networking.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\UnityEngine.Networking.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\System.Xml.Linq.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\System.Xml.Linq.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\NAudio.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\NAudio.dll into Unity Child Domain
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\NVorbis.dll (this message is harmless)
Loading X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\NVorbis.dll into Unity Child Domain
- Completed reload, in  0.060 seconds
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\System.Core.dll (this message is harmless)
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\System.dll (this message is harmless)
Platform assembly: X:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\RimWorld\RimWorldWin_Data\Managed\System.Xml.dll (this message is harmless)
<RI> Initializing input.

<RI> Input initialized.

desktop: 1920x1080 60Hz; virtual: 1920x1080 at 0,0
<RI> Initialized touch support.

UnloadTime: 0.674154 ms
RimWorld 0.15.1284 rev139

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/UnityEngineDebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 37)

Unloading 5 Unused Serialized files (Serialized files now loaded: 0)
UnloadTime: 0.717997 ms

Unloading 23 unused Assets to reduce memory usage. Loaded Objects now: 6068.
Total: 13.829631 ms (FindLiveObjects: 0.229723 ms CreateObjectMapping: 0.282574 ms MarkObjects: 13.290007 ms  DeleteObjects: 0.026725 ms)

Initializing map from file Crosbyton (Permadeath) with mods Core

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/UnityEngineDebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 37)

Exception while init loading file: C:/Users/Charlie/AppData/LocalLow/Ludeon Studios/RimWorld\Saves\Crosbyton (Permadeath).rws
System.Xml.XmlException: unexpected end of file. Current depth is 6  Line 185675, position 23.
  at Mono.Xml2.XmlTextReader.ReadContent () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Mono.Xml2.XmlTextReader.Read () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.Read () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNode (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load (System.Xml.XmlReader xmlReader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Verse.Scribe.InitLoading (System.String filePath) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/UnityEngineDebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 37)

Exception from asynchronous event: System.Xml.XmlException: unexpected end of file. Current depth is 6  Line 185675, position 23.
  at Mono.Xml2.XmlTextReader.ReadContent () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Mono.Xml2.XmlTextReader.Read () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.Read () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNodeCore (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.ReadNode (System.Xml.XmlReader reader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load (System.Xml.XmlReader xmlReader) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Verse.Scribe.InitLoading (System.String filePath) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

(Filename: C:/buildslave/unity/build/artifacts/generated/common/runtime/UnityEngineDebugBindings.gen.cpp Line: 37)

Unloading 2 Unused Serialized files (Serialized files now loaded: 0)
UnloadTime: 0.600282 ms

Unloading 1 unused Assets to reduce memory usage. Loaded Objects now: 6062.
Total: 12.974401 ms (FindLiveObjects: 0.275367 ms CreateObjectMapping: 0.236629 ms MarkObjects: 12.439581 ms  DeleteObjects: 0.022221 ms)

Setting up 1 worker threads for Enlighten.
  Thread -> id: 1db8 -> priority: 1

[nccvoyager]

The error being thrown implies that the save game is damaged.

This could be caused by a loss of power while saving, data corruption from the removal of a drive, data corruption due to a breakdown of magnetic cohesion on an older disk-based HDD, a number of other issues which are complicated, or interruption of the program while saving.
(Such as killing the process via the task manager or command prompt.)
Unfortunately, it is likely impossible to recover a damaged saved game.

Depending upon the missing data, it may be possible to reconstruct a working saved game using the remaining saved game data, and a newly-created saved game which uses the same seed and position as the original.
This is a complex and time-consuming process, with no guarantee of success.
Such a process could be carried out in a text-editing program, such as Notepad++.

In order to prevent this from happening in the future, I would suggest playing the game with normal save mechanics.
If you are intent upon playing in "hardcore" mode, there may be a mod somewhere which would change the "hardcore" mode save mechanic to keep a backup in case of this type of issue.
(Unsure; haven't looked for one.)