Last Day of June is a great and moving game which I had the pleasure of perfecting today. However, it's unfortunately also full of bugs. From discussions and forums, I learned that a developer was trying to find a cause for these bugs and patch them, including the one this guide is for. But according to its website, developing company Ovosonico shut down about a year after this game came out. Presumably, work on patching the game halted - Last Day of June hasn't had an update since its release. Luckily, players found a practical (but inconvenient) solution to this particular bug. It worked for me, and I hope it works for you too before you ask for a refund!

If you're reading this, you're either experiencing crashes, or you're lost! Last Day of June happens to have a number of bugs, so to be sure you've found the same bug this guide is for, please make sure it fits this description:

• You downloaded and launched the game for the first time. You got the Ovosonico logo, followed by the 505 Games logo.

• You then got a black screen with a white notebook "Saving" icon in the bottom left corner, followed by a white car "Loading" icon in the bottom right corner.

• You played the game for a while, with or without experiencing any other bugs, and eventually quit the game.

• You later wanted to continue, so you launched the game again.

• You got the Ovosonico and 505 Games logos again. But this time, there was no Saving notebook, only the Loading car.

• After a few seconds, the Loading car stops moving. The sound of crickets can be heard and the screen freezes. The game has crashed, and must be closed. This now happens every time you try. There is no error code - only a request to send the crash report* to the developers (who no longer exist).

• This problem persists even after you check the integrity of the download files via Steam. It persists after you uninstall and reinstall the game. It persists after you draft a strongly worded email using the on-screen keyboard because yours is broken.

If all that sounds like you, rejoice! because herein lies the solution. If not... good luck.

*In the game's folder (likely in C: > Program Files (x86) > Steam > steamapps > common > june), you will find one or more folders labelled with the date followed by a six digit number: YYYY-MM-DD_XXXXXX. One such folder exists for each time the game crashed. Inside each are three files: crash.dmp, error.log, and output_log.txt. These folders are crash reports, and would ideally be sent to the developers for patchwork. Feel free to delete them instead.

This unfortunate bug is caused by a corrupted save file. The game can't read it while it loads the menu screen, so it crashes instead. That's why this bug can not happen the first time you play on a particular device - there is no save file.

I'm not sure what causes the corruption. Many people haven't experienced this. While trying to fix the bug, a developer hasn't even been able to replicate it. In fact, since solving the problem for myself, I haven't been able to replicate it either. So the good news is, this isn't a hardware issue (as one dev postulated). The bad news is, fixing it involves erasing your progress.

According to my own experience as well as other testimonies from forums, the bug might only be triggered if the last save happens after getting the Wake Up achievement, and before getting the I'm Still Here... achievement.
EDIT: According to the comments, one player got the bug before the Wake Up achievement, and another after the I'm Still Here achievement. Thank you freesaladman and eischä for the update! It seems this bug can happen at any point after a save file is created.

But I digress. Time for the part you're here for.

Since the problem is a corrupted save file, the solution is to delete it. The obvious issue with that is you lose your progress. There's a suggested alternative you may try, but I can't guarantee it'll work. The alternative is to rename the file, start the game, then while it's in the menu screen, rename the file back to what it was (SaveData). If this works for you, congrats. If not, welcome to the I-Had-To-Restart-The-Game-But-It's-Okay-Because-I-Missed-Some-Early-Achievements Club.

Open a File Explorer, and navigate to:
> (C:)
> Users
> [your username]
> AppData *
> LocalLow
> Ovosonico
> Last Day of June

Here you will find one file: SaveData.bin

* If you can't find AppData, make sure Hidden Items are showing. You can toggle this in View > Hidden Items (or Alt+V then HH).

If you haven't already deleted it, please open your corrupted SaveData.bin file via Notepad and copy/paste its contents in the comments - I'd like to take a closer look. *

Now, delete SaveData.bin. Then, when you can play for at least an hour, relaunch the game. You'll notice the little white notebook Save icon is back before the Loading car, and the game will start normally. I advise you to keep playing until after you finish the day as The Kid. I did that on my second run, but had to quit the before finishing the game. I came back expecting I'd have to delete my progress again, but instead it loaded properly, in a different menu screen without the accursed crickets.

* A big thank you to those who've sent me those files. I've looked through them and unfortunately nothing came of it.

If this worked for you, enjoy the drive!
Thanks for reading!