Intermediate result

An intermediate state or savestate is understood to be a memory location for program states within a computer program .

Specifically and in most cases, the term “savestate” refers to the available memory slots in emulators , with which one can quickly create a memory image of the currently running computer game and reload it. It is thus possible to “jump back” quickly to a previous point in time within the computer game by pressing a single button.

Savestates similar in function to the particular computer role-playing games known Quicksave . Unlike a quicksave, however, the savestate usually has a complete dump of the memory, i.e. all information currently available in the emulated hardware, such as graphics in the memory, user inputs or signal level of the line-out of the audio DSP .

Compared to the emulated program, the possibility of savestates requires quite a lot of memory, since all registers , data buffers and audio signals have to be " rewound ". For the emulated program or for the emulated hardware, none of the events that took place before reloading the savestate seem to have not taken place. For current as well as older PCs, however, it is no problem at all to emulate older PC games and to work with savestates, since the emulated hardware and software of older game consoles (8- and 16-bit) compared to the PC infrastructure has modest dimensions.

Most emulators have a submenu for savestates. A list of, as an example, ten “Save Slots” can be listed here. With the function keys , savestates can be called up even faster than through menus.

The technology of the savestate makes it possible, especially in the area of retro games , to solve usually “impossible” level passages simply by saving regularly and reloading as required. For example, it is possible that the last savestate is loaded after the game character (e.g. Super Mario ) accidentally fell down an abyss. This avoids, for example, the annoying and time-consuming restart from the beginning of the level. On the other hand, there are players who, even with avoidable losses (e.g. critical hits in first-person shooters), use savestates to play through the corresponding sequence again and "better". These players are also referred to as "savestaters" in the scene.

For speed running, savestates are sometimes the only legitimate way to set even higher speed records.