Update 0.43 already helped a lot by improving the stability and overall speed and memory efficiency of the game and this update concludes these technical changes by introducing a new save system and format!

Why a new save system was needed

When the game started with small battles and a few custom units, the old system was working fine. However, many new features and complex things like custom sounds, custom models/items have been implemented which caused a lot of new information to be stored in the saves. Some battles or campaigns are sized 100MB or more, so performance and memory efficiency became a growing concern. While loading these large files just took a lot of memory and time on some systems, others just couldn't handle them anymore! In addition, loading/saving a lot of saves caused memory fragmentations and reduced game performance, freezes and crashes!

The new save system

The new save system uses the latest tech to solve all the problems of the old system! You will surely notice the improvements while saving/loading, but I also prepared some example maps which show how the time (not including loading the battle in the editor) and file size changed from the old to the new version: [table] [tr] [th]Map[/th] [th]Saving[/th] [th]Loading[/th] [th]File size[/th] [/tr] [tr] [th]Fundamental Armament[/th] [td]12.50s > 2.33s[/td] [td]5.11s > 1.19s[/td] [td]10.1MB > 9.0MB[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Desperation and Desolation[/th] [td]32.25s > 2.53s[/td] [td]7.84s > 0.98s[/td] [td]50.5MB > 20.6MB[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Interloper[/th] [td]19.47s > 2.31s[/td] [td]6.12s > 0.99s[/td] [td]42.9MB > 18.4MB[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Cyberpunk: Trauma Squad[/th] [td]15.14s > 4.15s[/td] [td]6.04s > 1.52s[/td] [td]97.8MB > 52.6MB[/td] [/tr] [tr] [th]Rise of the General Pt 1[/th] [td]1.16s > 0.65s[/td] [td]1.56s > 0.40s[/td] [td]1.3MB > 1.5MB[/td] [/tr] [/table] This new system also requires almost no any additional RAM to store and load the saves (except the resulting battle/unit/.. data of course) and therefore doesnt cause any of the problems like performance degradation and crashes after longer sessions. And thanks to the performance improvements it opens up new possibilities for future updates and features!

What happens to the old saves

If you are wondering what happens to your old saves after this update, dont worry! The game can still load the old format, so you can keep working on all your saved content. However, the next time you save, the new format will be used. Local Content Auto Updater When browsing your files in the in-game file browser, it recognizes files in the legacy format and offers the option to update them automatically. Before your items are updated, a backup will be created in the "__legacy" folder and you can stop and continue the update at any time. Although it usually takes just a few seconds depending on the amount of saves and save type.
Workshop Content Updater To improve the speed when loading subscribed workshop units, prefabs and items in the main menu, all these workshop items have already been updated to the new format. So when you update the game, all your subscribed items should be up to date as well. And all the existing workshop battles and campaigns will be updated soon, so that players can enjoy the faster loading times in the workshop too.

Next update(s)

After these two big technical updates, the next updates will be focused on regular improvements and new features. The new save format has been extensively tested, so I don't expect any problems, but if you notice anything please report it on steam or discord and it will be fixed asap! There are also some open bugs which have to be fixed, so expect a bug fixing patch fairly soon.