I’m having a frustrating issue where paint tool sai files say error even when saving, despite no warning beforehand. The file sometimes becomes unreadable afterward. This happens across different projects and storage drives. Has anyone figured out whether this is related to file size, permissions, or software stability?
Why Do Paint Tool SAI Files Say Error Even When Saving Normally?
- Thread starter jamerober
- Start date
rebeccareed
Member
This is something I have been dealing with over the years. It normally occurs since SAI (particularly the ancient version) abhors any file which becomes too large. When your canvas is big and has more than 100 layers, then it simply loses hope and makes that mistake. It is even worse when it gets into the file that you cannot even reopen it. I have only been able to save as a.psd after every 30 minutes to be on the safe side.
AnnisHayma
Member
Check your permissions. In some cases when you are saving to a cloud-synced drive such as OneDrive or Dropbox, the software attempts to write the file at the same time the cloud is attempting to upload the file hence resulting in a conflict. It is so annoying when you are in a hurry to work and you cannot even change tabs by keyboard shortcuts as the entire UI is frozen.
Ghausmakin
Member
This is literally an antique software of SAI. It is that of attempting to do a marathon in flip-flops. It is not very modern in dealing with memory management. You are likely to have a toasted file in case you get that error.
Are you using SAI 1 or SAI 2? Version 1 has a memory capacity of around 4GB since it is a 32-bit software. Once past that wall, you are doomed to the Saving Error. Even if you are a power user who knows in order to go to a different canvas (i.e., switching tabs using keyboard commands) and can jump between five different canvases simultaneously, you will lose that memory limit immediately.
Ragnar Lothbrok
Member
This occurred to me due to the failure of my hard drive. I remembered that it was software, but it turned out to be bad tracks on the disk. Attempt to save to an entirely different physical disk and check whether it occurs or not.
Zmadislynd
Member
Classic SAI. And it is not a bug it is an enhancement to teach you that life is delicate and your art is subject to being seized any time. Incidentally, it may be worth attempting to run it as Administrator. That corrected the permission errors of mine.
captainghost
Member
To this I lost a 20-hour commission, yesterday. I sincerely feel like changing to the Clip Studio Paint. I do like the stabilizer in SAI, however, the constant worry about whether my save button is, in fact, a delete everything button in disguise is something I can't with.
ethanwalker
Member
Ensure that you are not giving your files some strange symbols. SAI will be exceedingly sensitive to periods, slashes or other non-English characters in the file path. Remember to keep it simple: art1.sai as opposed to mycooldrawingv2.5final(real).sai.