"Auto-loading save state from '....state.auto' succeeded" but state does not seem to have been loaded

[alex-robbins]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• This is a bug in RetroArch frontend
• I have searched the existing issues

Description

I have RetroArch configured to auto-save and auto-load save states on core exit/startup. Saving works fine, but when the core next starts up, I get the message saying "Auto-loading save state from '....state.auto' succeeded", where "....state.auto" is the correct name of the state file, but the state does not actually appear to load (the core continues from the startup state).

If I manually set the state slot to "-1 (auto)", and load from there, I do get the auto-save state loaded correctly, as I'd have expected to have happened automatically.

I think this is a different bug from #17520 because the reporter there says that the auto-save slot works fine. I think this is different than #10648 because the core I'm using is Parallel N64 and I didn't used to have this problem with older versions of RetroArch (I can't say which; it's been a few years).

I currently have RetroArch configured to store save state files alongside the content, but this was happening to me with the default configuration too.

Expected behavior

When I see the message "Auto-loading save state from '....state.auto' succeeded", the state should actually be loaded.

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Configure auto save/load of state
2. Start some content
3. Quit
4. Start again
5. See the message that the auto-save-state has been loaded, but notice that it has not actually been loaded.

Version/Commit

1.20.0

Bisect Results

No response

Present in the nightly version

I don't know

Platform & operating system

Linux x86 (NixOS)

Affected Cores

parallel-n64

Environment information

• Compositor: sway (wayland)
• Not installed through flatpak

Relevant log output

I've put all of the output below, but none of it seems relevant. (I'm surprised that there aren't any messages about which paths states are being loaded from.)

[INFO] [Config]: Looking for config in: "/home/arob/.config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg".
GameMode ERROR: D-Bus error: Could not call method 'QueryStatus' on 'com.feralinteractive.GameMode': The name com.feralinteractive.GameMode was not provided by any .service files
[WARN] Using old --libretro behavior. Setting libretro_directory to "/nix/store/4bqmhcp4mz8qrpg4igkkp4289fn2py2k-retroarch-with-cores-1.20.0/lib/retroarch/cores" instead.
[INFO] === Build =======================================
[INFO] CPU Model Name: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1185G7 @ 3.00GHz
[INFO] Capabilities: MMX MMXEXT SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE4 SSE42 AES AVX AVX2 
[INFO] Version: 1.20.0
[INFO] Built: Jan  1 1980
[INFO] =================================================
[INFO] [Input]: Found input driver: "sdl2".
[INFO] Cannot resolve save file path.
[INFO] Cannot resolve save state file path.
[INFO] [Environ]: SET_PIXEL_FORMAT: RGB565.
[INFO] [Core]: Version of libretro API: 1, Compiled against API: 1
[INFO] [Core]: Geometry: 320x240, Aspect: 1.333, FPS: 60.00, Sample rate: 48000.00 Hz.
[INFO] [Video]: Set video size to: fullscreen.
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface wl_shm at version 2
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface wl_compositor at version 6
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface wl_data_device_manager at version 3
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface zwp_idle_inhibit_manager_v1 at version 1
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface xdg_wm_base at version 5
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface zxdg_decoration_manager_v1 at version 1
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface zwp_relative_pointer_manager_v1 at version 1
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface zwp_pointer_constraints_v1 at version 1
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface wp_viewporter at version 1
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface wp_single_pixel_buffer_manager_v1 at version 1
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface wp_content_type_manager_v1 at version 1
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface wp_fractional_scale_manager_v1 at version 1
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface wp_cursor_shape_manager_v1 at version 1
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface wl_seat at version 9
[INFO] [Wayland]: Registered interface wl_output at version 4
[INFO] [EGL] Found EGL client version >= 1.5, trying eglGetPlatformDisplay
[INFO] [EGL]: EGL version: 1.5
[INFO] [GL]: Found GL context: "wayland".
[INFO] [GL]: Detecting screen resolution: 1920x1080.
[INFO] [EGL]: Current context: 0x2e7305e0.
[INFO] [Wayland] Failed to specify monitor for fullscreen, letting compositor decide
[INFO] [GL]: Vendor: Intel, Renderer: Mesa Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics (TGL GT2).
[INFO] [GL]: Version: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.3.4.
[INFO] [GL]: Using resolution 1920x1080.
[INFO] [GL]: Default shader backend found: glsl.
[INFO] [Shader driver]: Using GLSL shader backend.
[INFO] [GLSL]: Checking GLSL shader support ...
[WARN] [GL]: Stock GLSL shaders will be used.
[INFO] [GLSL]: Found GLSL vertex shader.
[INFO] [GLSL]: Found GLSL fragment shader.
[INFO] [GLSL]: Linking GLSL program.
[INFO] [GLSL]: Found GLSL vertex shader.
[INFO] [GLSL]: Found GLSL fragment shader.
[INFO] [GLSL]: Linking GLSL program.
[INFO] [GLSL]: Found GLSL vertex shader.
[INFO] [GLSL]: Found GLSL fragment shader.
[INFO] [GLSL]: Linking GLSL program.
[INFO] [GL]: Using 4 textures.
[INFO] [GL]: Loaded 1 program(s).
[INFO] [GL]: Using GL_RGB565 for texture uploads.
[INFO] [Joypad]: Found joypad driver: "sdl2".
[INFO] [Wayland]: Enabling idle inhibitor
[INFO] [Video]: Found display server: "null".
[INFO] [Audio]: Set audio input rate to: 48000.00 Hz.
[INFO] [PulseAudio]: Requested 24576 bytes buffer, got 18432.
[INFO] [Audio]: Started synchronous audio driver.
[INFO] [ALSA] Using ALSA version 1.2.13
[INFO] [Microphone]: Initialized microphone driver.
[INFO] [Display]: Found display driver: "gl".
[INFO] [Playlist]: Loading history file: "/home/arob/.config/retroarch/content_history.lpl".
[INFO] [Playlist]: Loading history file: "/home/arob/.config/retroarch/content_music_history.lpl".
[INFO] [Playlist]: Loading history file: "/home/arob/.config/retroarch/content_video_history.lpl".
[INFO] [Playlist]: Loading history file: "/home/arob/.config/retroarch/content_image_history.lpl".
[INFO] [Playlist]: Loading favorites file: "/home/arob/.config/retroarch/content_favorites.lpl".
[INFO] [Environ]: SET_SUBSYSTEM_INFO.
[INFO] [Core]: Using content: "/home/arob/.retro/n64/super-mario-64.z64".
[INFO] [Core]: Content ran for a total of: 00 hours, 00 minutes, 00 seconds.
[INFO] [Core]: Unloading core..
[INFO] [Core]: Unloading core symbols..
[INFO] === Build =======================================
[INFO] CPU Model Name: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1185G7 @ 3.00GHz
[INFO] Capabilities: MMX MMXEXT SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE4 SSE42 AES AVX AVX2 
[INFO] Version: 1.20.0
[INFO] Built: Jan  1 1980
[INFO] =================================================
[INFO] [Input]: Found input driver: "sdl2".
[INFO] [Core]: Loading dynamic libretro core from: "/nix/store/4bqmhcp4mz8qrpg4igkkp4289fn2py2k-retroarch-with-cores-1.20.0/lib/retroarch/cores/parallel_n64_libretro.so"
GameMode ERROR: D-Bus error: Could not call method 'QueryStatus' on 'com.feralinteractive.GameMode': The name com.feralinteractive.GameMode was not provided by any .service files
context_reset.
ReadSpecialSettings: DEFAULT
plugin_start_gfx success.
Gfx RomOpen.
ReadSpecialSettings: DEFAULT
ReadSpecialSettings: SUPER MARIO 64
GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two supported.
GL_EXT_texture_format_BGRA8888 supported.
GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two supported.
GL_EXT_texture_format_BGRA8888 supported.
GameMode ERROR: D-Bus error: Could not call method 'QueryStatus' on 'com.feralinteractive.GameMode': The name com.feralinteractive.GameMode was not provided by any .service files

[sonninnos]

Some cores, especially HW cores have similar issues with autostate loading too soon. And at least with PPSSPP it is not too soon when launching from CLI, but is when launching from menu..