I just deleted my 1 and only save as i got an access violation then renamed my bak file 1.sav(followed what someone had told someone to do on tech support thread) but it dosent appear in my save games when i load the game up ,have i done it wrong ?

Pretty peed off as was in my 6th season,just started to get my lines goin,had a horse win the 2 derbys and the Japan Cup 1m 4f in the same season and others comin on aswell.

1) copy 1.bak found in c:/programdata/startersorders4/saves and paste it onto your desktop
2) rename 1.bak to 1.sav
1)copy that
4)paste into c:/programdata/startersorders4/saves

run so4 and load your game
it works done it loads of times

Yes should be in same folder as your other save was

i seem to have no folder for startersorders4 in the given location....any ideas?

You'll probably be on XP then, C:/Documents & Settings/All Users/Application Data/Starters Orders 4/Saves >>

Sorry i should have said, im using Vista

In that case it should be where pj said, where did you find the .bak file initially?

i cant find the .bak file as the folder where it should be saved isn't there, see below:

Ok,
Do you still have the .bak file you originally renamed to .sav and it didn't work?

If so, carry on with your plan to do a fresh install, i've put instructions up for you. Once you've installed it again, load up a new game, save it, then go and see if the folder is now there. If so, drop the file you have in.

No i didnt have a bak file, i found this thread just now after losing yet another game due to a crash.

My fresh install plan has hit the buffers though as i cant delete the folder which isnt there lol!

Sorry, I was mixing you up with Red Al.
Two options, load a new game in a different slot to the one you were hoping to recover, ie go to the bottom bar. Save it, then go back and see if the folder is now there.
If not you can do a search for files names - starters orders 4 and see if anything appears. If not it's probably lost and a real pain to recover so carry on with fresh install plan which I'll update.
Continue this on the thread you created.

I've already renamed it 1.sav before doin what u say, then done what u said an still no save game when i load up so4

Al,
Try taking the newly named 1.sav file out of the folder, onto the desktop say, then open a new game in slot 1, save it, and paste your 1.sav file back into the folder so it over-writes the newly created .sav file.

spot on this should work i have to do this every few hours of play because of crashes and it does work you have to take the 1.bak out of the folder and rename it and paste it back or it just wont work

Made up ,it worked ! Thanks alot mate. Thanks also PJRhodes for helpin us out . Just hope it saves ok this time .