Loading a Save State Then Making an In-game Save

[Moonseed]

So I've been really puzzled over this and am hoping someone can help me out. When I load the game I've been playing (Earthbound) the normal way, the in-game save data on the main menu is far behind my current progress. So I load up my save state (which matches my current progress) and make a normal, in-game save from there, expecting to overwrite the outdated data. However, it doesn't work. I use lots of other emulators and that's always been something that's been doable. Is Zsnes just unable to make an in-game save that overwrites the old srm if you are loading from a save state or am I missing something obvious?

Also, when I load my save state then hit "reset" the game title screen will show the updated save data in the selection menu. I'm assuming this has something to do with the sram being saved within the save state though (?).

Any help would be much appreciated =)

[Gil_Hamilton]

So I've been really puzzled over this and am hoping someone can help me out. When I load the game I've been playing (Earthbound) the normal way, the in-game save data on the main menu is far behind my current progress.

So you're using save states as your primary save mechanism? That's a bad idea. If there is a glitch, it's possible to save the conditions that caused the glitch, putting you in an unrecoverable state.

Use in-game saves as your primary save mechanism. Save the states for special occasions.

So I load up my save state (which matches my current progress) and make a normal, in-game save from there, expecting to overwrite the outdated data. However, it doesn't work.

Define doesn't work. How are you checking?

Is Zsnes just unable to make an in-game save that overwrites the old srm if you are loading from a save state

No. Once the state is loaded, it's exactly like any other session.

Also, when I load my save state then hit "reset" the game title screen will show the updated save data in the selection menu. I'm assuming this has something to do with the sram being saved within the save state though (?).

Yes. State saves include the state of on-cart static RAM, as it is part of the overall system state.
While it may be convenient in many cases to NOT save SRAM as part of a state save, several games use on-cart RAM while actually in the game instead of just at save/load screens, so things get funky fast if it doesn't match what's going on in the rest of the game. Rather than include a list of games not to use state saves with in the documentation no one reads anyways, on-cart RAM is included in the state save.

[grinvader]

Load game normally.
>In-game saves are outdated.
Load state, (optionally save,) reset.
>In-game saves are current.
Quit zsnes.
Relaunch zsnes.
Load game normally.
>In-game saves are ???

If they are outdated, zsnes can't write to your SRM directory. If they are up-to-date, your issue is non-existent.

[Moonseed]

Thanks for the quick replies. To answer your questions:

-I have indeed been using the in-game save as I'm paranoid that something could go wrong with the save state. I always made an in-game save and save state right near each other so that they've saved the same spot.

-I'm checking to see if my loading a state then saving in-game from there works by then quitting Zsnes and loading the game normally. The in-game save I just made then isn't there.

-If I do what you suggested grinvader, the in-game save is still outdated. It was doing this before I made a path for saves and it is still doing it afterward. (all while the save state works fine). Could it still be the directory if the save state is able to get correctly overwritten?

Now that you guys told me that I SHOULD be able to load a state and then make an in-game save that overwrites the old srm, I just don't get why it isn't working.

[Moonseed]

All right, I just somehow solved my own issue by deleting zsnes (besides my save data folder) and downloading a fresh Zsnes. I was able to overwrite the outdated srm by loading my up-to-date save state and then making an in-game save from there (the same thing that wasn't working before). Now the in-game save is being retained even after quitting Zsnes =). I have no idea why it's working now, but i'm assuming something in my old Zsnes settings must've been causing it. So this topic can be closed.

[kode54]

Also note that reloading an older state will overwrite your SRM in memory instantly, and likely also on disk. So if you must combine saving states with saving normally, remember to save a state after saving normally.