check that the directory for savegames exists and is writeable. Make doubly sure none of your files are marked read-only.

I cleared read-only right from the start.

Any particular place this savegame directory should be?

I dunno if you already fixed the problem or not but I discovered what happens to the save games under DOSBox. However, I don't know how to fix it.

What seems to happen is that DOSBox "recreates" the game folder under the drive you mounted the game to. If the mounted drive doesn't physically exist, it will default the to C: drive.

As a result, Syndicate will NEVER find the save games cuz it's expecting to find a SAVE subdirectory, but it's not there because the SAVE directory is under yet ANOTHER directory.

The example from my setup:

mount K K:\SYND\

(The game directory is mounted to the virtual K drive)

When I save a game, this is what *physical* happens:

K:\SYND\SYND\SAVE\

And from what I understand, the actual save game path should just be

K:\SYND\SAVE\

I tried copying the SAVE directory around and sticking it in every folder I can figure the game would read from and it doesn't work -- even with an actual save game in it. =P Load and Save Mission still shows Empty for everything. =/

Suggestions anyone?

mount k k:\
and start playing

Ya know, I just tried that and it still doesn't work. =/ What's more interesting is that it doesn't even seem to create any directories when I mount the entire K drive to the virtual K. @_@

Oh yeah, does it matter WHEN I save? I tried saving after I got the debriefing from a mission failure. I went back to the Menu and selected slot 1 in the Load/Save screen, and typed in "Save, dammit!". Of course, when I got back in, it's still Empty.

*Baffled*

Best go back to basics:

1. Create a directory for your game, e.g. "C:\DOSBox stuff\Syndicate".
2. Insert CD in drive.
3. Start DOSBox.
4. In DOSBox, mount up DOSBox's drive C: and D:
   
   Z:>mount C "C:\DOSBox stuff\Syndicate"
   Z:>mount D "D:\" -t cdrom -ioctl
   
   (assuming that D:\ is your real CD/DVD drive)
5. Install the game from D: to C:
   
   Z:>D:
   D:>install
   
   (or setup, or whatever the command to start the installation is called. Check your Manual/Installation Guide for Syndicate for the exact command to use)
6. Configure sound, configure graphics, ...
   
   (when you configure sound and are asked about stuff like IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA addresses, please verify that you use the same values as listed in "C:\Programs\DOSBox\dosbox.conf")
7. Start game.
   
   D:>C:
   C:>dir
   C:>synd
   
   (or "run", or "play" or whatever the command to start the game is called. Check your Manual/Installation Guide for Syndicate for the exact command to use)

Syndicate works fine for me with both VDMSound and DosBox.
For me is better VDMSound, because with DosBox games run slowest.

But I have the same problem as Tyro, with Syndicate expansion "American Revolt".
With VDMSound the game crashes when I enter in the Save/Load menu.
With DosBox don't crash but I can not save games.
I tried creating different folder names (SAVE, SAVEGAME, SAVES, etc...) but nothing.
The correct folder is "SAVE" like Syndicate?

I think I got it. Syndicate creates a SYND directory where it keeps the saved games in the root of C, so I put Syndicate in the root of C and mounted C drive in DOS Box. The saved games now appear in the list and loading works fine, even in American Revolt.

I have SyndicatePlus, works fine but the save problem with revoltion or whatever it's called 😕
I run it straight off XP no dosbox nothing.... 🤣
syndicate runs great..make a synd.bat file an place it where you have main.exe....
synd.bat====> main.exe >nul: /iirq5 /idma1 /iio$220 /c0
if you get no sound change the5 to 7 an try again..
mine works on 5...
i like to find a way to save the games in the expandion disk Revolt..
I can play the game an sound to.. but can't save it Crashes right away 😢
thankx hope that helps out...
In fact about 90% of all my dos game work with XP. no need for the
Dosbox... 😁 😕