Navigate to {Documents}\My Games\Spellforce - Conquest of Eo

Find all duplicate validation - XXX.valfile files and delete them. The only one remaining should be validation.valfile

Open Virus & Threat Protection (Press the Windows Key and start typing "Virus & Threat Protection" to start the windows builtin search)

Click on "Protection History" at the end of "Current threats"
If you find an entry "Protected folder access blocked" you can click on it to see the details.

If the entry contains
You have found the correct entry for Spellforce - Conquest of Eo.
Click "Actions" -> "Allow on device" to allow Spellforce to access your documents folder.



If you still have issues after following this guide contact us using the information in Found a bug? Report it here!

The root cause of these issues is that some software is blocking access to the savegames folder so the game wouldn't be able to write savegames.
Most common culprits are Windows Security and Virus Scanners / Protection Software.

• Find your Player.log file which is located in {AppData}\LocalLow\Owned By Gravity GmbH\Spellforce - Conquest of EO. This folder is hidden by default and you might need to unhide it using the explorer settings first.
  
• Find the line
  
  [GameRoot.CreateUserDirectory] Testing savegame directory
  The lines directly following are a detailed account of what went wrong and can be used to determine what to do next.

If you find this error in your log something is blocking us from retrieving the location of your "My Documents" folder.
The most likely culprit (especially on Windows 11) is the builtin Ransomware Protection feature "Controlled folder access".

• Open Windows Security (Press the Windows Key and start typing "windows security" to start the windows builtin search)
  
• Click on "Virus & Thread Protection"
  
• Click on "Protection History" at the end of "Current threats"
  
• If you find an entry "Protected folder access blocked" you can click on it to see the details.
  
• If the entry contains
  
  App or process blocked: SFCoE.exe Protected folder: %userprofile%\Documents
  You have found the correct entry for Spellforce - Conquest of Eo.
  
• Using "Actions" -> "Allow on device" to allow spellforce to access your documents folder.
  

  Originally posted by ObG_Chris:

  Be careful to only allow SFCoE.exe and nothing else to ensure your PC is still protected from other attacks. If you want to see what you just allowed and remove access again you can go to "Manage ransomware protection" -> "Allow an app through Controlled folder access"

The only culprit we have found for this issue is if your documents directory is backed up using OneDrive. Somehow OneDrive duplicates a file we are using in savegame folder validation which causes issues.

• Find the folder where the .valfiles are located e.g. C:\Users\{user}\Documents\My Games\Spellforce - Conquest of Eo.
  
• Delete all .valfile files which are not named validation.valfile

If you still have issues after following this guide contact us using the information in Found a bug? Report it here!