please no, please tell me it can be solved.

Im doing a long term save with arsenal, just about to start 4th season, world class status - won everything in my 3rd season. Went to load it up just and got this;

XML passing error!

not well-formed (invalid token) at line 1 of last_saved_game.xml

now it wont let me play my arsenal save

I can't play the game due to an XML parsing error

If you have a shortcut on your desktop you can do the following:

• Right-click on the FM shortcut.
  
• Choose "Properties" from the pop-up menu.
  
• In the "Target" field, add the --reset_preferences command line option after "fm.exe", so it should look like this:
  "C:\Program Files\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\fm.exe" --reset_preferences
  
• Press OK and then try to run the game as normal, using the shortcut.
  

You'll want to remove the command after you run the game, as otherwise it will continue to reset your preferences every time you launch.

If you don't have a shortcut you can make one and then perform the instructions on the shortcut you've made.

• If you purchased and installed the game through Steam you should be able to find the fm.exe in the following directory:
  C:/Program Files/Steam/SteamApps/Common/Football Manager 2009/
  
• If you purchased and installed the game from a boxed DVD copy you should be able to find the fm.exe in the following directory:
  C:/Program Files/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2009/
  

Other XML Errors

First of all you need to turn on hidden files and folders. Go to My Computer and at the top select 'Tools' the 'Folder Options'. The go to the 'View' tab and select 'Show hidden files and folders'

Delete the following folder:

XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\settings

Vista: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\settings

This may solve some issues regarding the XML Errors

If that don't work, try here

i checked that out, copied the thing into the target field and said the file couldnt be found in start up, and to check the path

Are you using Steam? If so, go back to your old target field & post up what was in it originally so I can have a look.

no im not using steam.

Can you post up your original target field anyway?

"C:\Program Files\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\fm.exe"

i still have the problem, on a different arsenal save. Deleted the cache for it, but not letting me do the target field. any ideas.

it done the target field, but still saying error now

Does the target read exactly like this: "C:\Program Files\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\fm.exe" --reset_preferences

It may be worth copying that, deleting what you have in the target box and pasting that in there

just copied exactly that into it, clicked okay, it done it. now loading it up to see what it says

Edit - now saying; 'The saved game cannot be loaded'

That message is the worst out of any FM messages. I don't think there is any ways to retrieve it after the dreaded 'save game could not be loaded' sign comes up. Sorry.

Yep, the game is corrupted and unless you have backup, you won't be getting it back. Next time, have the incremental auto save box checked in preferences to avoid this from happening again

ahmufcwafc - If you save your game twice, is that a good way of preventing a corrupt game save - or is it the same as saving it just once?

ahmufcwafc - If you save your game twice, is that a good way of preventing a corrupt game save - or is it the same as saving it just once?

You'll need to keep saving the backup file as well, because if you don't, it'll become out of date.

Generally, what I do is have the incremental save turned on and when I shut down FM, I copy the newest 2 or 3 saves onto an external hard drive. Maybe a little too paranoid about losing progress but you never know

Generally, what I do is have the incremental save turned on and when I shut down FM, I copy the newest 2 or 3 saves onto an external hard drive. Maybe a little too paranoid about losing progress but you never know

Not so much - Neji has 17GB's worth of save files iirc

Not so much - Neji has 17GB's worth of save files iirc

17gig?! Jeez, even for Neji, that is taking things a little too far

well, to try and make up to the year ive got to, ive started unemployed and will holiday for the first season

The thing that i tend to do is have 2 saves of the game. Say i'm managing Forest, i have one "Forest save" which i save regularly and one "Forest save back-up" which i save after every three or so months. I know that with the back-up save you're only saving every so often so if you lose your first save you'll lose the progress and have to go back to the back-up, but that's better than losing the save altogether?

I use two saves and alternate between them saving after every match, but would such a problem have corrupted both before I realised?, as there is only an hour "game time" between any 2 saves. Should I save maybe to a RAM stick every day/week too? (I hate switching files between drives - not confident at doing it!). Hope the 2 saves is sufficient?

yes save 3 times always mate

I also save before any major change, and at the beginning of every season. The beginning of the season one is just for back-up; the before a major change (like moving clubs or taking an international job) is so that I can go back and NOT take a huge job if I have buyer's remorse.

Right I do believe there is a way around this. It happened to me before, what I did was uninstall the game and then reinstall it and update the game to whatever patch you were using.

Hope that works for you as it did for me.

Bucket