Is there a way to disable the autosave feature?

[stefanstr]

I think as long as disabling autosave isn't the default and there is the obligatory "this is an Alpha version, your game will break and you will cry and there won't be anything you can do about it. Proceed anyway?“ message, disabling autosave is perfectly fine. I won't be using that option but I can see how people on slower computers might want to.

On the other hand, an Ironman mode would be amazing. Otherwise I don't have the willpower to resist reloading when something nasty happens.

[GoldRobot]

Okay. I'll write this on my to-do, we'll see if/when I get to it.

It's also a tad risky just because it's an alpha game. I don't want people losing their ironman game because of my stupid bug.

I could just set an Ironman mode that just saves over the same game over and over. Hmm.

True enough. However that also means the autosave function is in alpha And currently everytime it autosave it freezes my game and locks up the application. Having that happen every five minutes is counter-productive. Also there should be an interval setting, i.e; 5/10/15/30 minutes intervals. every five minutes is a bit excessive for me.

[Dr. Z]

+1 For Ironman mode without manual saving and only one autosave.

[Arigas]

I'd say keep 2 autosaves, simply to allow for some backtracking in the event of a game breaking bug, or, should the game crash during a save and corrupt it.

[Vas]

Okay. I'll write this on my to-do, we'll see if/when I get to it.

It's also a tad risky just because it's an alpha game. I don't want people losing their ironman game because of my stupid bug.

Or you could add a popup warning that says "Warning, this game is in Alpha and a bug in the game could potentially cause you to lose.  If you continue, you accept that there is a chance you will lose as a result of a bug."

You can also add another option, autosave interval.  I don't like every night, because even with an i7 3.1GHz, 7200 RPM HDD, my game freezes up for half a second each time it auto saves (I half expected auto saves to not be noticable, and it would be nice if the auto save box wouldn't pop up in the exact middle of the screen).  This interval could be "Every 3 days, Every 7 days, Every Month, Never".  Never would be this "ironman" mode.

As for the save box I mentioned, perhaps a save icon could appear up in the top corner instead?
I created an icon for you and an example image.  One of the top corners would do, I think the left corner isn't used by anything so that would probably be a good area for it.

I scanned one of my floppy disks that is closer to the Rimworld color scheme to make this. 
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/30270697/images/floppy.png
Example of it in game.  https://dl.dropbox.com/u/30270697/saveiconingame.jpg

[StorymasterQ]

I scanned one of my floppy disks...

You have a floppy disk. You...still have one? One of the many items of lore for the generations of the future, the one that inspires the "Save Icon" image. Color me impressed.

[Vas]

I scanned one of my floppy disks...

You have a floppy disk. You...still have one? One of the many items of lore for the generations of the future, the one that inspires the "Save Icon" image. Color me impressed.

I actually have like 100 of them.  Some in mint condition un-opened packages still totally sealed up inside their cases.    I also have one somewhere with Dan's Boot and Nuke on it, the thing I used to totally destroy my old Windows 95 machine.  I think I have one with the world's first tycoon game on it too. 

However, it does make a good save icon.  I hope my save icon makes it into the game to replace the big box in the center that pops up to say "Saving..." every night. 

[iame6162013]

I scanned one of my floppy disks...

You have a floppy disk. You...still have one? One of the many items of lore for the generations of the future, the one that inspires the "Save Icon" image. Color me impressed.

he isn't the only ones with floppy's, is still have civilization ... 1

[peterTX]

+1 For Ironman mode.

Just two things that could work out:
Ironman mode auto saves over your last save and you cannot create a new save. (Just overwrite)
And for those with a lag spike when auto saving (Not had this myself) have an option to change how often the game auto saves. (5 mins ... 10 mins ... ... 30 mins ... 1 hour)

[UrbanBourbon]

Would love to be able to tweak the autosave settings:
- The number of autosave slots
- The autosave interval OR to turn it off completely

Now you listen to me, Tynan.

Allow me to explain why autosave can be a bad feature. It snaps the player out of "flow" for a second, breaking concentration multiple times per session. That applies to at least RimWorld. Now, RimWorld can also be a very hectic game, meaning a thousand things are happening at once. The autosave irked me in the past and made me nervous, due to the fear of instability, just me waiting for my machine to choke when the autosave kicked in during a big fight. The game being alpha is the same exact reason why autosave made me nervous. I knew it was alpha, and from my point of view that just increased the likelihood of a crash during autosave. That being said, I've been wrong about it, since RimWorld has been a pretty solid experience. I have not had a single autosave related crash. Of course I, the player, can't know that beforehand. In the beginning all I know is that I have a hectic game that autosaves whether I like it or not, no matter how frantic the situation is, and that the game is (potentially delicate, fragile) alpha. Also, autosave slots take up precious interface space in the 'Load Game' menu.

TL;DR
- Autosave breaks concentration
- Autosave promotes mild apprehension or mild agitation
- Autosave slots take up interface space in 'Load Game' menu
- The problem is exacerbated if autosave cannot be controlled

Solutions:
- Give control over autosave to the player
- Have the game autosave only during seemingly quiet periods
- Add quicksave, with its hotkeys, which I presume would be the same as autosave but with a player-controlled trigger.

Bottom line: Not a deal breaker to me. Not anymore. I'm too used to autosave's demands by this point. It beat me to submission over time. I love autosave. It interrupts me because it loves me. Don't you dare talk bad about my autosave.

[Vas]

Now you listen to me, Tynan.

Why does that sound sort of hostile/demanding?

TL;DR
- Autosave breaks concentration
- Autosave promotes mild apprehension or mild agitation
- Autosave slots take up interface space in 'Load Game' menu
- The problem is exacerbated if autosave cannot be controlled

Yes, Autosave breaks concentration for maybe a split second.  It has never made me agitated except when on rare occasion I click something just at the moment of a save.  That space in the load game menu is meaningless.  Unless you're running the game on a tiny itty bitty little phone sized screen and you have to scroll down.  Or you save like 50 times to revert your game back a lot. 

Solutions:
- Give control over autosave to the player
- Have the game autosave only during seemingly quiet periods
- Add quicksave, with its hotkeys, which I presume would be the same as autosave but with a player-controlled trigger.

While yes, control over auto save is nice, and i already suggested that above, auto save tends to happen at midnight, which is most usually quite anyway.  Quick save would be another good way to "cheat".  "Oh, a raid, I better quick save in case my tactic fails and I have to go back and retry again over and over till I succeed."

I do think it would be nice if the game could try to passively save, as in keep running while it saves.  Using that icon method I gave in a previous post.

[GoldRobot]

You can't. Why do you want to anyway? Just don't like the time it takes?

Because the game is in Alpha and is buggy & the autosave locks up the game & my OS forcing me to do a manual reboot of my computer. Every single time I have have had the game freeze up it is because of the autosave function. Every. Single. Time. This is now the third time in four months I've stopped playing your game because the autosave lock-up bug makes it unplayable. I can't play this game & I can't in good faith recommend it to anyone else because of this tedious, aggravating & easily remediable game-breaking bug. Please Fix it. Please.

Thank You,
GoldRobot

[milon]

You can't. Why do you want to anyway? Just don't like the time it takes?

Because the game is in Alpha and is buggy & the autosave locks up the game & my OS forcing me to do a manual reboot of my computer. Every single time I have have had the game freeze up it is because of the autosave function. Every. Single. Time. This is now the third time in four months I've stopped playing your game because the autosave lock-up bug makes it unplayable. I can't play this game & I can't in good faith recommend it to anyone else because of this tedious, aggravating & easily remediable game-breaking bug. Please Fix it. Please.

Thank You,
GoldRobot

Autosave interval is now configurable.

I think this means you can also disable the autosave feature.

Is there by any chance a problem with your computer?  I ask only because I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem.  It's slow on my computer, but that's because my computer is old and crappy.  If you're certain it's not a problem with your computer, post the details in the Bugs forum.

[GoldRobot]

Wonderful News;

Can you tell me how to configure the autosave interval?

[milon]

That's in Alpha 9.  So we'll all figure it out together next release.  Soon^TM!