Cyberpunk 2077's latest bug has come at the worst time possible

More troubled waters in the Cyberpunk 2077 world as reports of save files being routinely corrupted on PC emerge, rendering the game unsavable for players toiling away in Night City.

In a haze of bugs and glitches that have impacted long-suffering players on the PS4 and Xbox One, it is now bad news for PC players. Gamers’ patience are wearing thin with the latest difficulty hampering saved progress above certain file sizes. 

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We’ve reported on a tirade of issues affecting Cyberpunk 2077 over the last week, but now CD Projekt Red’s embattled project is facing fresh claims that saves are unrecoverable if they reach 8MB. It could be a damascene moment for public opinion around Cyberpunk 2077: with gamers weathering the storm of glitches and bugs, lost saved files could be a step too far for some.

Twitter users’ complaints have been soaring over the past few days with many people running into the same message. And in a somewhat dubious move, CD Projekt Red has passed the buck back to gamers by instructing them in the same statement to carry less loot and keep a lower number of crafting materials. While it’s not clear what’s spoiling the files, 8MB seems to be the threshold that tips the scales into corruptibility. 

Redditor, i-keep-it-100, did some digging and found on Steam/PC, crossing 6MB in your saved files leads the game to take up to 30 seconds to one minute to load; conversely, breaching the 8MB threshold will cause the saved game file to corrupt and be totally unloadable. In-game crafting allegedly accelerates the issue as it increases memory usage quickly.

Unconfirmed investigations from one of those affected by the error points to a file called ‘UniqueItemCounter’ buried among the junk in the game’s text editor; seemingly, Cyberpunk keeps track of every item you spawn in the save file, even if that item is deleted. It could potentially include items created when enemies and loot spawn; they further contend that crafted items leave a permanent log record in the saved files in tandem with how much your craft, although this has not been verified by CD Projekt Red. 

Even after the release of a patch roadmap that promises separate fixes in January and February on older consoles, it remains an existential threat to PC gamers who are left in the lurch with no way to save game progress that exceeds 8MB. Other solutions seem to be in short supply, but loading an older saved file that is below 8MB is one route, or simply heeding the company’s advice and not hoarding items.

This does seem pretty out of touch with the RPG's DNA where collecting and crafting items are intrinsic to Night City’s open world. It also doesn’t provide a solid timeline for a more permanent solution. Cloud gaming does appear to offer some relief for the Cyberpunk community, so that might be worth a shot if this issue is impacting your gameplay.