Unless specifically noted game updates should not break save files. However, a game version update will make your save out of date.

Editing your Save.bum file to change the SaveVersion line (the second line of the save file) to the currently installed version of Steam Marines 2 should allow the game to load the file correctly, for example SaveVersion v0.7.0a to SaveVersion v0.7.1a

The Save.bum file, as well as other config files, can be located at the following locations:

Windows: "\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Worthless Bums\Steam Marines 2\"

Mac: "~/Library/Application Support/Worthless Bums/Steam Marines 2/"

Lin: "~/home/<User>/.config/Worthless Bums/Steam Marines 2/"

v0.8.3.3a Changelog

• Added framework for the ship hangar (accessible via the ship interior/roster screen). Currently no gameplay effects hooked up yet, will be forthcoming in a future patch. That patch will most likely not be backwards save-compatible.
• Added a new difficulty mode: Death. Renamed/described other difficulty modes to better communicate the relative difficulty of each.
• Implemented more marines abilities and added them to the random pool, such as the Torberry Reserve, Robo Lube, Nanite Slurry, and Jozhee's Handbook.
• Rebalanced marine promotion tree abilities to account for the newer Death difficulty mode, the majority being buffs.
• The tactical field now has a toggle tooltips button on the right side of the screen.
• Bugfix: Atomport should not correctly work with all camera modes.
• Bugfix: Marines should no longer be able to get duplicate serial numbers and therefore relationships will not be mixed up.
• Bugfix: Some difficulty settings not correctly instantiating on new campaign.
• Bugfix: Incorrect game mode loading if the user set an out of bounds game mode in the save file.
• Bugfix: Some marine promotion description typos.
• Bugfix: Marines losing their heads in the roster screen if you cycled through the marines too quickly or recruited too many marines too quickly.
• Bugfix: Memory leak that could occur over long play sessions.

v0.8.3.2a Changelog

• More verbose developer console output on code hot paths for easier release build debugging. Player in-game accessible with the tilde (~) key.
•  Added guardrails for trying to recruit too many marines too fast from the ship interior scene.
• The corrupt save file detector now checks if the backup has already  been tried before (compares the files to see if they're the same) and aborts and renames both files if so. It will only keep the latest set of files flagged this way, any future catches overwrite these files.
• Bugfix: Fixed an internal naming error confusing armorCallsign and armorIndex in SaveManager tool checker which could also produce inaccurate debug info in log and console.
• Bugfix: Preloading the Universe scene fshould no longer overwrite marine weapons/armor with default Commander class values.
• Bugfix: Armor prefab lists should load faster in the tactical field and on the marine roster scenes.
• Bugfix: TacticalFieldInit save file variable could crash the game when conflicting with the corrupt save mechanism to load different scenes at the same time.
• Bugfix: Verbose errors to developer console even with method calls with error tracing off.
• Bugfix: Level not always correctly resetting to 0 upon completing a planet/spaceship location.
• Bugfix: Fixed node tooltip not always being default toggled on at level load.
• Bugfix: The last recruited marine should now be selected after recruiting a new marine on the ship roster screen.
• Bugfix: MissionManager not always initializing save game file path on time causing a cascading series of delays for loading to/from the Galaxy map.
• Bugfix: Fixed invalid save + backup code path to delete invalid marked files before copying over on certain versions of Windows.
• Bugfix: UI clipping issues with various smaller/arbitrary resolutions (should have no effect if you're running at 1280x720 or higher).
• Bugfix: Various arbitrary widescreen UI issues on the tactical field.

v0.8.3.1a Changelog

This patch will invalidate the gameplay configuration file version so options for the action camera, enemy camera tracking, etc will be reverted to default values on game launch. But this update should be save game compatible.

• Added joystick enabling/disabling via gameplay configuration tab in the main menu. Steam Marines 2 does not have full controller support, and this targets joystick support for camera control in the tactical field and ship control movements in the galaxy/universe view.
• Bugfix: Potential crash on new tactical level when multiple marines might spawn and trigger the same pickup item

v0.8.2a:

• Increased chance to find tier 2 weapons in chests.
• Decreased chance to find tier 3 weapons in chests.
• More portraits.
• Player control returns faster at the start of turn after a rapid series of enemy attacks.
• Camera tracks targets more smoothly in some situations.
• Adjusted some tile node + highlight colors for better legibility.
• Made some button sound effects consistent with similar buttons.
• Bugfix: Galaxy screen not always showing the correct number of credits.
• Bugfix: Various potential false flags in the save game validator.
• Bugfix: Transparent/see-through shader not always rendering correctly on some enemy units with some geometry.
• Bugfix: Planet achievements might have been slow to trigger.

v0.8.1a Changelog

• Cleaner Steam API initialization on main menu.
• More performant file i/o on main menu when checking if a save file exists and is valid.
• Capped Load game button state checking to a finite amount of times.
• Auto-save in the tactical field happens faster.
• Action bar panel now does not block raycats from the cursor.
• Action bar skill icons do not block cursor raycats, only clicks from the mouse.
• Bugfix: Race condition when loading between galaxy and ship views that might change credits.
• Bugfix: Action bar panel not always reappearing after the enemy turn.
• Bugfix: Marine info panels on the side on on top of units now always refresh on new level load.
• Bugfix: Fixed floating black icons on marine unit tooltips when no promotions have been taken.
• Bugfix: Fixed overlays sometimes toggling back on after switching marines.

v0.8.0a Changelog

• Finished adding all marine class talent icons to the game.
• Added talent icons and text descriptions to unit tooltips in the tactical field.
• Torgon Snipers might be sneakier when taking turns without attacking.
• Miscellaneous UI/UX tweaks. Alignment and button outline anti-aliasing issues resolved.
• Performance: Decreased tooltip polling frequency. Wasn't necessary even with the new tooltip icons.
• Performance: Cached certain point-to-point routes for more efficient enemy pathfinding.
• Bugfix: Taking a class talent had a missing </color> tag in the message text.
• Bugfix: Erroneous detection of save file corruption which was not actually corrupted. Save file integrity good, but would force the player back to the main menu after completing a level.
• Bugfix: Penetrator and Brain Drain talent icons now correctly display in the promotions panel of the ship roster view.
• Bugfix: Linux shader bugs fixed. Zero outstanding Linux shader bugs. Amazing.

v0.7.9a Changelog

• Added side panels for the entire marine squad on the upper left side of the screen.
• Ability to change shoulder chasing camera position in the tactical field.
• Added more marine portraits.
• Added more marine class talent icons.
• Added more developer console commands, use "help" to bring up a short list.
• Added random turn events with a 30% chance to trigger at the start of the player turn.
• Backup save files will now use the .bumbackup extension rather than the .bum extension.
• Added visual effects to some of the marine skills.
• Move keybind can now be used to directly target/attack enemies on the tactical field.
• Level scores and other data added to debriefing screen.
• Decreased scaled size of unit info panels on the tactical field.
• Added more marine dialogue/barks.
• Hard and Brutal game modes now have efficient pathing AI on melee enemies.
• Bugfix: Nasty potential file i/o bug in the Save Manager.
• Bugfix: Sanitized all given names, surnames, and callsigns loaded from external files.
• Bugfix: Enemy armor not always saving/loading from file correctly.
• Bugfix: Run score file sometimes deleting prior to death screen, resulting in incorrect run scores being displayed (high scores unaffected).
• Performance: Various Mac and Linux shader improvements.

v0.7.8a Changelog

• Talent trees for each of the five marine classes.
• Game modes for difficulty options.
• More marine portraits.
• Added a confirmation menu for ordering a ship strafe.
• Changed some planet descriptions to have more consistent language.
• Various performance changes for Mac and Linux and low end Windows machines.
• Various gameplay progression andbalance tweaks due to the new game modes.
• Added an actually helpful "help" command to the developer console; most commands are now exposed to players in release builds.
• Changed Grenadier door opening trigger to +1 Attack for that Grenadier marine only.
• Changed Engineer door opening trigger to +1 Armor to all marines.
• Changed Guard mode to mitigate all incoming damage by 1 and no longer floors at 1 damage.
• Bugfix: Fixed a possible crash in the ship interior when trying to recruit a marine with credits.

v0.7.7a Changelog

• Implemented Boose Bomb ability: adds an additional space strike (if under max!)
• Implemented Leadership Whitepaper ability: grants +1 Empathy.
• Implemented Ma Peis Black Hole ability: a miniature black hole that devours units near it.
• Implemented Ammaal's Petal ability: has a mysterious effect.
• Implemented Marine Beacon ability: warps in a friendly marine unit if the roster is not full (current max of 6).
• Decreased Atomport skill cost from 5 Action to 4 Action.
• All starting skills for all marine classes are now 4 or less Action to use to improve the overall quality of abilities marines start with. Some abilities may still require 1 or more Attack.
• Added more marine lines of dialogue/barks.
• Bugfix: Ripsaw animations not always firing.
• Bugfix: Grenadier splash damage not always triggering when the primary target dies.
• Bugfix: Overlays not persisting correctly through marine attack states.
• Bugfix: Player/enemy turn text not always showing during the start of turns.
• Bugfix: Prevents a marine moving to a floor tile when in an angled camera orbit and a door node partially obscures that floor tile.
• Bugfix: Tooltip for Armor Plating skill says increases Armor by 1 even though it actually increases by 2.

v0.7.6a Changelog

• Player run scores now implemented, accessible via the main menu.
• Scores are now displayed between each level, and when the player loses and wins the game.
• Unit Info Panels will now obscure game world objects less, although there is no "smart" positioning.
• Unit Info Panels will now temporarily toggle off when entering targeting mode.
• Unit Info Panels will now retain the last mode the player manually set it to when leaving targeting mode.
• Improved performance of tile nodes, unit info panels, and tooltips for low end machines and Mac.
• Changed the "AlphaSquad" developer console command to also grant action and attack to all marines.
• Updated game win message with state of the game and score information.
• Bugfix: Ripsaw tooltips will now properly show when the cursor is moused over them on the tactical field.
• Bugfix: Player/Enemy end turn messages not always appearing in some cases.
• Bugfix: Action panel buttons should now always re-appear after the end of an enemy turn.
• Bugfix: Some event log messages were appearing out of order from the actual events.
• Bugfix: Engineer Tier 2 Helmet not always displaying correctly in the squad manager (stats were applied correctly).

v0.7.5a Changelog

• Unit info panels are now on by default.
• Overlay toggle button added to tactical field.
• New tactical field UI.
• Added new marine attack icons distinct per class.
• New resource icons.
• Fog of war is now less CPU intensive.
• Performance tweaks for low end machines and Mac users.
• Bugfix: Fixed Tier 2 Grenadier armor arms not always spawning in correct position until the marine moves.
• Bugfix: Fixed overlapping targeting UI elements on escape menu.
• Bugfix: Fixed possibly stutter until game restart on Linux when using grenades too quickly.
• Bugfix: Color coordinated side panel resource text colors and overlays.
• Bugfix: Armor rating updating more timely in the UI when using armor boosting skills.
• Bugfix: Fixed occasional shotgun sfx delay when a Leader class marine is firing into closely packed enemies.

v0.7.4a

• Implemented camera pan movement controls to setup > Keybindings.
• Fixed various UI elements possibly blocking other elements in certain resolutions.

v0.7.3a

• Exposed more developer console debug tools to players (documentation forthcoming).
• Added a message to screen when the game is saving in the combat scene.
• Added another tier of marine weapons that can be found in treasure chests.
• Added enemy unit camera tracking, enabled/disabled in Settings > Gameplay.
• Added more information to the marine targeting panel, such as marine class effects.
• Added more information and color coded enemy unit tooltips.
• Certain explanation text clarified, e.g. marine tooltip accuracy now specifies base accuracy.
• Changed the way certain sound effects were played so they were not dependent on player camera distance.
• Fog of war slightly tweaked to show doors more clearly when marines are in hallways with doors just within sight range.
• Reduced delay in UI scaling when running certain hardware setups and resolutions when first loading the tactical scene.
• Various performance tweaks for low to high end machines.
• Bugfix: Treasure chests and alien merchants sometimes spawning at incorrect height positions.
• Bugfix: Alien merchant colliders sometimes being too large and triggering off marines on far away tiles.
• Bugfix: Skill icons 4, 5, and 6 ordered correctly from left to right instead of right to left.
• Bugfix: Marine dialogue not always firing on picking up items.
• Bugfix: Linux and Mac builds should have resolution being saved correctly to file for wide screen windowed resolutions.

v0.7.2a

• Linux/Ubuntu 14.04 LTS support.
• The environment/move keybinds have been renamed to select/interact to clarify what those actually do. Additionally opening doors has been moved into the interact keybinding both for correctness and to prevent players from accidentally deselecting their marine(s).
• New event log in tactical field.
• Randomize names button in Commander creation screen.
• New targeting panel UI shader.
• Targeting panel UI bottom now clamps lower to prevent blocking target sight.
• Added armor rating to selected unit panel resource lines.
• Added the gameplay option UI Constant Size toggle.
• Added queuing system to unit dialogue boxes so getting spammed with dialogue will not almost instantly hide previous recent dialogue.
• Lowered the average damage per attack of enemy units across the board. Some units have had accuracy or crit values increased to compensate.
• Bugfix: Enemy units would not reset to idle animations after certain attack situations.
• Bugfix: Single click would sometimes open a door and move the marine onto the new floor space.
• Bugfix: Sometimes marine temporary attack effects would not wear off after attacking.
• Bugfix: Brainien firing through multiple walls, typically targeting the marine Commander.
• Bugfix: Some enemy melee attacks sometimes playing flamethrower sound effects.

v0.7.1a

• Fixed Guard  tooltip to correctly say the skill requires 4 Action.
• Renamed some grenade skills to bombs to better reflect their in-game use.