# Autosave and save checkpoints

> Save the game on a timer and at moments you choose, keep the last few autosaves, and save checkpoints a player can retry from at once.

Product: Rolly Save 1.0.0 | Sheet: guide | Updated: 2026-10-31 | HTML: https://rolly-docs.pages.dev/save/guides/autosave-and-checkpoints/

## Turn autosave on

In Project Settings > Plugins > Rolly Save > Autosave, set **Autosave Interval** above 0. It is 0 by default: an autosave nobody asked for costs a hitch and three files.

| Setting | Default | Does |
|---|---|---|
| Autosave Interval | 0 | Seconds between autosaves, at least Minimum Interval when above 0. 0: no timer, requests still save |
| Minimum Interval | 10 | The shortest interval, Start Autosave's too; at least 1 |
| Autosave Slots | 3 (1 to 99) | Autosaves kept, in `autosave_1` and up; each new one replaces the oldest |
| Minimum Gap | 30 | Requests this many seconds after any save to storage are dropped |
| Autosave After Map Change | off | Autosave once each map opened by travel begins play; the first map and a load's own map are left out |
| Maps Without Autosave | none | Maps where nothing autosaves, such as your menu and loading maps |
| Autosaves Write To | Own Slot | Own Slot: the autosave slots. Current Slot: the slot last saved or loaded by name |

The timer runs on the server or in a standalone game, in game worlds outside Maps Without Autosave. Every save to storage, a manual one too, starts it over, so the player never gets an autosave right after saving. Pausing the game stops it.

## Autosave at moments of your game

Call **Request Autosave** with a **Reason**, such as `BossDefeated`, where your game reaches a safe moment. The log says why an autosave was dropped: within Minimum Gap of the last save to storage, after Stop Autosave, on a client, or in a map without autosave. Tick **Ignore Minimum Gap**, among the node's advanced pins, for a moment that must save even right after another save, such as the end of a story chapter. To autosave when the player enters an area, see [Place save points, checkpoints and reset areas](https://rolly-docs.pages.dev/save/guides/place-level-tools/). During a load, seamless travel or a save block the autosave waits and runs once the game can save again; requests meanwhile make no second autosave. An autosave into the autosave slots that a load or a map change overtakes between its capture and its write is not written, and ends with Busy.

**Stop Autosave** turns the timer and requests off for the session, such as during a cutscene, and **Start Autosave** turns them on again; its **Interval Seconds** above 0 replaces Autosave Interval for the session.

On Save Finished fires for autosaves too, with Result's **Kind** Autosave, so a "Saving..." notice can tell them apart.

## Where autosaves go

- **The autosave slots:** each autosave takes the next number and goes to `autosave_1`, `autosave_2` and so on, then replaces the oldest. The numbers decide, never the save times, so a device clock set back does not replace the newest autosave. List Rolly Slots shows them with Kind Autosave.
- **The current slot:** with Autosaves Write To at Current Slot, autosaves write the slot the game last saved or loaded by name (**Get Current Slot**), for games with one save per playthrough. Until there is one, they use the autosave slots. **Set Current Rolly Slot** names it before the first save, such as when a new playthrough starts; it returns false during a run and for `quick`, the autosave slots and `checkpoint`.
- **A run's slot:** during a single-slot run, every autosave writes the run's slot (see [Play single-slot runs](https://rolly-docs.pages.dev/save/guides/single-slot-runs/)).

`autosave_1` to `autosave_99` and `checkpoint` are Rolly Save's own: saving, copying, renaming or importing into them fails with Invalid Input and a setup message.

## Save and load checkpoints

1. Call **Save Rolly Checkpoint** at a checkpoint, with a **Checkpoint Name** such as `Bridge` (None, or 1 to 128 characters). It saves the whole game into the memory slot `checkpoint` and into the storage slot `checkpoint`; with Project Settings > Checkpoints > **Checkpoints Write To** at Current Slot, into the current slot instead.
2. Call **Load Rolly Checkpoint** when the player dies or retries. While the session holds the memory copy, it loads from memory and reads no storage; after a restart it loads from storage.

- A checkpoint during a save block waits and saves when the last block goes; when several waited, the newest saves and every node that waited gets its result.
- A whole-game load from storage and New Game+ drop the memory copy, since it belongs to the game played before; Load Rolly Checkpoint then reads storage.
- Slot lists show Kind Checkpoint and the Checkpoint Name. During a run, checkpoints write the run's slot and keep no memory copy.

## From C++

```cpp
Save->RequestAutosave(TEXT("BossDefeated"));
Save->RequestAutosave(TEXT("ChapterEnd"), /*bIgnoreMinimumGap*/ true);
Save->StopAutosave();
Save->StartAutosave(60.0f); // every 60 seconds for this session

Save->SaveCheckpoint(TEXT("Bridge"));
Save->LoadCheckpoint(ERollySaveLoadMap::OpenSavedMap, [](const FRollySaveResult& Result) {});
```