Save game names

[LordFedora]

and then you run against the problem you complained (i think it was you, but i'm not sure) about to sslik, the filename on disk isn't the same as the one shown when you type the name in the save menu

[Nova]

No, I didn't mention that "problem". In my opinion it is no real problem if the ingame name is "World one!" and the file name is "World_one+21". If people really want ingame name = file name, then they should not use special characters. (Note: I have no idea if the exclamation mark "!" is problematic on a file system. This is only an example.)

(Okay, I think the encoding would be something like +[ascii]+ and not +[ascii] if the number of hex digits is not fixed.)

[MF-]

I don't know who you mean by "everybody", but Apple and Microsoft use names like "c:\Program Files" and "/Library/Application Support/".

Maybe the application needs a different "dance around" on each platform.
Recently there was a report of factorio saying "(x86)\factorio\data/scenario-pack/info.json:No file or directory exists"
Note how the string is cut at the last space in the filename.

Not saying it can't be done of course.

[MF-]

There is quite easy solution for names with weird characters - store real name inside of the savefile and replace illegal characters with underscores in filename.
In case of duplicate files after replacement - add 01, 02, 03 etc at the end of filename.

WARNING: This post wasn't very well thought through. Flee or proceed with care.


Not a good idea for non-latin world names. Every character except space would be weird.
______________-01
_____________-01
________-01
______________-02


PS: Transfering your world ___________ to a friend who is likely to have his own different ___________ world would also be troubling.
Clearly distinct czech world names could also collide with "weird" characters removed.

Having separate file and world names would be probably a way to go in the far future.
I wonder how minecraft handles it.
I remember it can have different file and world names, but by default they are in sync.
Also the filename (used to?) be clearly shown near the world name in the save list.

[Xecutor]

There is quite easy solution for names with weird characters - store real name inside of the savefile and replace illegal characters with underscores in filename.
In case of duplicate files after replacement - add 01, 02, 03 etc at the end of filename.

WARNING: This post wasn't very well thought through. Flee or proceed with care.

Right now you cannot even input characters other than ascii
Ideally symbol should be considered as 'weird' if it cannot be used in filename.

[miila_cz]

I was trying to save a game the other day and it popped a strange message that some character was not allowed. I thought the game was bugged at first. Then I realized it was complaining about the space character I used. Guys, please, can you make the message more clear (like "you can not use space character") or, preferably, allow to use space characters.

[Jürgen Erhard]

I'm so with the OP. And yes, this is still unfixed, and sadly I'm not getting any hopes up, but it's still damn annoying.

[Rseding91]

I'm so with the OP. And yes, this is still unfixed, and sadly I'm not getting any hopes up, but it's still damn annoying.

You can have spaces in save names since a long time.

[Hares]

I'm so with the OP. And yes, this is still unfixed, and sadly I'm not getting any hopes up, but it's still damn annoying.

You can have spaces in save names since a long time.

It's the end of 2023 now. Factorio can locate and load a save file with any name as long as the file system and the OS allow it.
HOWEVER, you still can't save games with commas (","), parenthesis ("()"), and many other FS-ok characters.

Since I give each save state its own file, I give the savefiles human-readable description after the sortable identifier.
I.e., something like this:

• Game 07 - 04 - Automated green science.zip
• Game 07 - 04a - Oops - biters.zip (here should be a comma instead of a dash)
• Game 07 - 05 - Is there any more biters.zip (here should be a question mark at the end)
• Game 07 - 06 - Well - yes - should do smth with them.zip (here should be a comma after well, and parenthesis after no and until the end)

[Illiander42]

Spaces in file names was one of the worst decisions ever made.

(From a general OS standpoint)