Ok, fantastic. I've been playing with updated squads/rosters in football games (and other sports) for over 10 years. And the fact is, outside of baseball where rosters change significantly throughout the year, I've never really seen any need for anything other than updates to graphics elements in sports games throughout the year. Occasionally there are massive gameplay holes to fix, but even that we're seeing being fixed by people like Inca as a sideloaded thing. Fine. So, if I 'm happy with squads, I can at least always inject new graphics elements without ruining my save.
Yes. Good advice, and I do this with all my games. Sometimes, backing up the specific file, sometimes an entire game install.
Right, ok.
Unfortunately, I'm still not understanding what it is about a game update that "breaks" a game save. A game save takes elements from the standard game files and modifies them, right? This is pretty standard in any sports game. So your "league" or "cup" is just modifications to the game that reference the original game. Then why does a game update ruin your save? Shouldn't the save still be able to function on its own? If I have a season saved, and a game does updates, it usually only affects exhibition/friendly play but seasons in progress can usually still load. Why is this different in PES? Can you help me with that?