For the King II: How Manual Saves Work and Which Modes Support Them

Start in a mode that supports manual saves

Patch 1.11 adds manual saves to Apprentice and Journeyman. Master keeps the core permadeath save experience. Leaderboard modes, including Dark Carnival and Dungeon Crawl: Gauntlet, are excluded to preserve their standings. Check the mode before treating the absence of manual saves as a technical failure. [1]

Steps

1. Choose Apprentice or Journeyman when you want the manual-save feature. Use the mode’s published save rules when deciding whether a run suits your group. [1]

Create a checkpoint before a risky section

Manual saves create a player-controlled checkpoint within the current run. IronOak gives three examples: before a dungeon, before a tougher battle, or when an online friend needs to leave while the rest of the group continues. Pick a checkpoint that makes the intended return point clear to the party. [1]

Steps

1. Create a manual save at the point your party wants to preserve, such as before entering the next difficult dungeon or before the online group changes. [1]

Name the save so its purpose is clear

The system lets players rename and manage manual slots. It also retains autosaves alongside them. Give a manual checkpoint a name that identifies why you kept it, so the intended restart point is easier to distinguish from the automatically maintained state of the run. The patch does not publish a fixed universal slot count. [1]

Steps

1. Rename the checkpoint to identify the party state or section it preserves, then keep it distinct from the autosave in your save management. [1]

Read the busy-player warning in dungeons

The 1.11 notes also improve the reliability of the Unable to save – Player is busy warning in the game menu when saving in dungeons. That message is a separate condition from choosing a mode that never supports manual saves. The patch note does not say that a busy player can be bypassed or that every combat state permits a save. [1]

Use the later hotfix if a saved run would not load

A later 1.14.7 hotfix specifically repairs saved-game loading softlocks. Players affected by that defect are told to Continue or Load the existing save after updating. Preserve the run and use the stated recovery flow before assuming the manual-save system requires a new campaign. [2]