Can force closing your game corrupt your save data?

[Raz]

I just did a little test. I opened my game and waited for it to autosave. After that I picked up the bugs I dropped in front of the store and went to the Switch menu. I only waited 10 minutes before closing the game, but the game did not auto save during this.

The game doesn't auto save while the software is in "second plan". While the time keeps running as normal, for all intents and purposes, is like the game was paused.

 

[swifterly]

Yes, I'm just reinforcing this because the reason it can corrupt while data is being saved is because the info that's being written into the system/storage device doesn't get written correctly, thus, creating a corrupt save file that can't be read by the system.

There's no reason to believe that closing a game without saving can corrupt data, especially because years and years of gaming can be used as an example that the only thing that's certain to happen is for you to lose your progress since you didn't save it.

See, that's what I thought. It didn't sound plausible to me but I was talking to someone who was very insistent that every time you force close you're risking your save data, and it was enough to get me feeling a little paranoid lol

 

[sfelix]

I do it all the time (not while it's saving) and haven't had any problems. Logically I think it's highly unlikely to cause problems, otherwise why include an autosave feature at all? What is that feature there for, if not to save your data in the event of an unexpected closedown? Don't forget many of us are in lockdown right now due to COVID-19, if this wasn't the case then a lot of us might be using our switch out and about, on the bus and whatnot, which increases the likeliness of an unexpected closedown because the thing ran out of charge. A game which isn't built to handle this shouldn't be on a portable device.

 

[angelmutt]

Agreed with the above statements, I do this with campsite villagers alot and I haven't had an issue but I'm kinda paranoid about this now

that was smart i shoulda done that-

 

[jiojiop]

Out of curiosity, what's the difference between visitors using the - button to leave vs using the airport? Like what is functionally different?

 

[Loubelle]

I don't really think force closing can corrupt your data by itself. You have to be careful to not do it while it is auto saving. The question we have to ask, can the game auto save while in the switch menu?

I think the corruption of multiplayer happens because the game tries to save, but fails to do so.

I don't think it saves while in the switch menu. For example, i normally like to go to the switch menu before putting my switch in sleep mode (not sure why but i do xD) and sometimes I enter the switch menu while its autosaving, so I'll go back to let it finish and from what I can tell it pauses the game. So if it begins autosaving right when I go to the menu, when I go back, it continues autosaving. With that being said, if you do that and see it autosaving as you leave, I would go back in and let it finish first lol.

 

[ellienoise]

Out of curiosity, what's the difference between visitors using the - button to leave vs using the airport? Like what is functionally different?

I'd like to know as well I used to do it all the time until i started reading in the boards that it was bad, and now I just ask beforehand. IDK why it is considered dangerous.