Thanks for the additional information, this actually helps a bit. I'll try to test it between versions on my end. Here's how the logic works, if you're interested.
When the player picks up cigarettes:
- They're added to the runtime inventory
- Floating cigarette package in the world is disabled and saves its state to the runtime save data
- Player talks to Tara on the wall
- Tara checks if the player is holding the Cigarettes item and chooses dialogue accordingly, either telling player to go find them or lowering the wall and letting you in
When the game is saved, the runtime save data is written to the computer's filesystem.
When the game starts, the main menu scene checks for a save on the filesystem. If a file exists, it's loaded as a save (this is where differing formats might make the game crash) and the game adds the Continue button.
When the Deeps area is loaded, the floating cigarette package checks the save to see if it's been saved as disabled. If so, it just disables itself.