What causes save deserialization failing on an unknown enum value?

The deserializer maps a stored enum name or integer that no longer exists (or did not yet exist) to a member, and throws when no match is found.

How do I catch this when it only happens for some players?

Capture it automatically from the player's device with the full stack trace, the device and OS, the build, and a breadcrumb trail of what they did. That turns a vague complaint into a specific, reproducible issue you can fix without owning the hardware it happens on.

How to Fix Save Loads Failing After You Add a New Enum Value

Quick answer: Tolerate unknown enum values by catching the parse, falling back to a default member, and never reordering enum integer values that are already persisted.

Enums in saves are fragile: rename or reorder members and old files map to the wrong value or throw. Pin the numeric values and handle unknowns with a safe default.

How to fix it

1. Pin the integer values

Assign explicit numbers to every enum member (for example Fire = 1, Ice = 2) and never reuse or reorder them. Saves store these integers, so stability matters.

2. Fall back on unknown values

When deserializing, catch the failure or check membership and substitute a safe default like Unknown instead of throwing and aborting the whole load.

3. Serialize by name, defensively

If you store enums by name, wrap the parse in a try and map unrecognized names to a default. New members can then be added without breaking existing saves.

Catching the ones you can't reproduce

The hardest version of this to fix is the one you can't reproduce — it only happens on a player's hardware, OS, driver, or save state, under conditions that simply aren't present on your machine. A report that says “it crashed” or “it froze” gives you nothing to act on, so the bug survives release after release while quietly costing you players.

Automatic error capture closes that gap. Each failure arrives with its full stack trace, the device and OS, the build number, and a breadcrumb trail of what the player did right before it broke, so even a failure you have never seen becomes a specific, reproducible issue. Fold identical failures into one signature ranked by how many players each hits, and your worklist sorts itself worst-first instead of arriving as a stream of vague complaints.

This is where a tool like Bugnet earns its place. Its SDK captures every error automatically with the full stack trace plus device, OS, memory, build, and game-state context, folds duplicates into one grouped issue with an occurrence count, and ties each to the build it first appeared on — so you fix the problem that hurts the most players first and confirm it is gone when its signature disappears from the next release.

A crash you can name from its stack trace is a crash you can usually fix in minutes.