I have been plaything this for a bit, but i started over on the offline mode, i just beat all the content utill the apex vult. i had tones of ter 4 items in chest and i was trying to short them, then for whatever reason it crashed it had never done this, when i restarted i wasnt at my base and when i got there it looked like i was still shorting, but all my level 4 items and maybe other that are not level 4, WAS ALL GONE! over it. Some many hours gone...smh Like the chest that was full of ter 4 metals or w.e.....alll gone
This occurs frequently for me. My crashes seem to be a gpu/graphics issue. But the inventory issue is very frustrating.
In offline mode, it seems that player inventory, individual storage inventories, and building space are all saved at different times periodically while you are playing. I suspect all of these things are only save at the same time when you are exiting normally, or transitioning areas.
During a crash, or possibly a force-close, these saves will now be out-of-sync. When you load back in, it will load the most recent saves for these spaces. So if you just pulled a bunch of items out of one container and put them in another, and the first container inventory saved, but the second hadn't before the crash, then all of those items are now gone with no way to recover them.
In my specific, and most recent, case:
Needed more space for cooking supplies.
Crafted new container. (new container save point between points 2 and 5)(building space saved between points 2 and 7)
Unloaded seeds from cooking supplies container. (likely save point for cooking supplies container)
Reconsidered, replaced seeds, unloaded cooking supplies.
Put cooking supplies in new container. (new container saved prior to this point)
Decided to build a second container for cooked food. (building space saved at or before this point)
Shifted existing placed items and placed second new container, but needed hinges.
Crafted hinges (plus extra from yield bonus) and built container.
Unloaded cooked food into the second new container.
GAME CRASHES TO DESKTOP.
Reload.
Inventory has spare hinge from crafting yield bonus.
Second crafted container is missing, shifted items are in their original positions.
First crafted container is empty.
Original cooking supplies container has no seeds, just the cooking supplies.
Net Loss: Cooked food and materials used to create the second new container. All seeds from the original cooking supplies container.
The first time I noticed this happen, I was moving a stack of Synchronous Lotus and was not pleased to return to the game and find them all gone.
I suspect the saving strategy for inventories and build space was implemented to reduce impact on game performance. I suspect it cannot be as simple as "save any time a container is open," as building and crafting can draw from any container. But there has to be a better way that won't incur loss from a game crash.
How does this work when playing online? Every time you open a container or craft an item, isn't the game client reaching out to the host server? How does the game keep inventories synced there? Could this be a doorway for item duplication exploits as well?