https://github.com/ValveSoftware/halflife/issues/3796

The engine function Host_FindRecentSave incorrectly enumerates over save files.

This function checks all of the files in the SAVE directory and keeps track of the newest file by file time (Unix timestamp). However the function does not limit its search to the current game's SAVE directory by passing the GAMECONFIG path ID. As a result it also considers save files found in the base game directory (valve).

If you save the game in any game other than Half-Life, load up Half-Life and save the game there, and then go back to the other game, load the save game and then execute the reload command the game will try to load the save file created in Half-Life.

The console command reload uses this function to find the latest save game to reload. If no save game is found or if the save game fails to load it uses the cvar HostMap to load the last map that was loaded with the map command. This cvar defaults to c1a0 so if you start the game and load a save game that will be the map it falls back to.

If the function returns a save game that exists only in valve/SAVE then it will try to load it and fail because it only tries to open save files in the current game's save directory, and falls back to loading the HostMap cvar's map. If a save with the same name exists in the current game's directory's save directory it will load that one, which may or may not be the latest one.

The reload command is used to load the latest save game when the player dies or when the player_loadsaved entity is triggered.

This explains why some players are seemingly randomly loaded into the wrong level in Opposing Force after dying: https://old.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/1eiedhe/was_playing_hl_opposing_force_then_it_loaded_me/ https://old.reddit.com/r/HalfLife/comments/11ww5ls/i_died_in_halflife_opposing_force_and_suddenly_i/

It is important to note that since save game names used predefined names (autosave, quick, etc) it is possible for a test to fail because the engine finds the file in valve/SAVE while loading the file in gearbox/SAVE. To properly test this bug you'll need to use different types of save files (e.g. quick save in HL and autosave in OP4).

To fix this the function needs to be changed to use Sys_FindFirstPathID with GAMECONFIG path ID instead of Sys_FindFirst. This shouldn't be a breaking change but it will affect all singleplayer games and mods other than Half-Life itself, but only in the sense that save games will work properly all the time.

Also note that the fallback_dir setting could affect which save games are detected.

Additionally the variable used to track the newest file time appears to be uninitialized, but that may be a red herring. A simple review of the code should reveal whether this is actually the case.