PS4 Tips: How to Protect Your Save Data

NOTE:  I HAVE NOT TESTED THIS YET.  MUST BE FROM SONY.

Found on BF4 Battlelog.  



2013-11-19 02:04PM , edited 2013-11-20 03:41PM by Dead-Sync
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I wanted to post something different than usual today: this is an informative post, detailing the PS4 system, how BF4 manages memory, and some tips and tricks YOU can use to better protect your profile save data. I'll try to make it as simple and bullet pointed as possible:

(please post & bump if you find this thread useful so others can benefit from it as well)

==================== INFORMATION ====================

TWO TYPES OF SAVES
1.) System Storage Data: Holds the data for the installs of your game, downloadable content, and updates. Required to play, but not important in the sense that you can always re-download or re-install this data.
2.) Application Save Data: Holds the data for your personal game saves for each game. This is the important data for your progress.

PROFILE SAVE DATA
The single App Save Data file that BF4 uses is called "Profile Save Data" and is about 19KB in size. This data file contains:
- All of your single player campaign progress (levels, collectables, SP unlocks)
- Your settings for BF4 (controls, audio, video, etc.)
(In BF3 it also saved your load out, but I think in BF4 this is saved server side now)

This file gets written to every time you see the blinking icon at the top of your screen.

DATA CORRUPTION
- Your data will get corrupted if the game crashes, you shut off your PS4, if power if lost to your PS4, or if you close BF4 during one of the profile save data saves as I mentioned. If this happens, when you reboot the game you will get a message stating the save data is corrupted, and that it will attempt to make a new save.
WARNING: Many users have experienced save data issues when continuing to use the corrupted save data, even though BF4 says a new save has been made. It is advised that you replace the corrupted file with a non-corrupted backup if possible.

==================== TIPS ====================

BACKING UP YOUR SAVE DATA
Backups are the most important thing for BF4. You have two options to backup your profile save data: you can save to a USB drive, or if you are PSN+, 1GB of cloud storage. It's important to know the proper process to managing these backups and keeping them from being corrupted.

1.) When you KNOW you have a clean BF4 save data, go into Settings > Application Save Data > Data on Console > Select if you want to backup to USB or Cloud > Pick Battlefield 4 > Profile Save Data
2.) Then upload or transfer that data to cloud/USB.
3.) CLOUD USERS: Back out one menu to the list of games with data, press OPTIONS, and ensure "Auto-Upload" is turned on. This will have your PS4 backup your data every time you turn your PS4 on or return from standby
4.) Feel free to repeat this whenever you want to manually back up your save, however:
WARNING: IT IS IMPORTANT YOU KNOW THOUGH THAT YOUR PROFILE SAVE DATA IS NOT CORRUPTED HOWEVER, SO AS TO NOT OVERRIDE A CLEAN BACKUP

RESTORING FROM BACKUP
If you play the game, experience a crash, and re-boot the game and get a message saying your game save is corrupted, this is the best process to follow.

1.) IMMEDIATELY hold down the PS button and close application.
2.) Go to Settings > Application Save Data > Data on Cloud/USB > Transfer to Console > Battlefield 4
3.) Transfer the profile save data from your cloud to console, and overwrite the corrupted console copy.

Your save should now be restored now, and you can re-boot BF4 with no further issues.

WARNING: DO THIS RESTORE ASAP. AS IF YOU FORGET TO DO IT AND HAVE AUTO-UPLOAD ON, AND SHUT OFF THE CONSOLE, IT WILL AUTO-UPLOAD THE CORRUPTED FILE TO YOUR CLOUD SAVE NEXT TIME YOU TURN IT ON

FAILSAFE: IF YOU FORGET TO TRANSFER AFTER YOU SHUT OFF YOUR CONSOLE. DISABLE YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION AND DELETE THE PROFILE SAVE DATA OFF OF THE CONSOLE. THEN YOU CAN RECONNECT AND DOWNLOAD THE CLOUD COPY

TROUBLE WITH LAUNCHING GAME? WANT A CLEAN SLATE?

Having trouble launching your game? It's likely that you tried to play off of a corrupted file that rebuilt itself. While the game claims it will re-build the save,some people have experienced some prolonged problems with this approach. If you can't get past the start screen, or want to be sure you have a clean slate save: DELETE your profile save data (on both local and backup), and start BF4 without an existing save file. It will create a fresh, clean file for you and should work.

==================== CONCLUSION ====================

Hope this information helps! Feel free to post and ask if you have any questions.