Continue and Load options are disabled in the main menu.

Save files are still present. For some reason written outside of the game's install folder where they've always been. Now it's like PoE has lost track of them.

How do I get it to load?

This happened to me. I had two character profiles, and neither showed up after coming back to the game from a hiatus. I started a new game, and as soon as the wagon master sent me to look for herbs, I saved the game and quit. After restarting the game, there were my other profiles! Crazy.

Nope. Old profile still not showing.

Hmm. Try this: go to your save game folder and make a copy of your last save from the previous profile. Now take the new save you made this time and copy the alpha-numerical name. For example, if your old save was called
72712aef76f747fa99099fe7054ab395 7780106 Encampment.savegame
copy the name, not the file, and rename the new copy of the recent save, and rename it
72712aef76f747fa99099fe7054ab395 0 Encampment.savegame
Note the single zero second figure. Now load the game and see if it recognises it.

Nope.

Some additional info.

The hard drive with the PoE install I'm trying to access save files for is now being used as an external drive for another machine because the laptop it was in went kaput.

I have three separate installs of PoE in different drives and different folders (on launch one even has a different menu prompting me to purchase White March even though it seems to indicate White March as installed. The different look leads me to believe it is an earlier different version. Both other installs are up to date.) But I can only find ONE save game folder which for some reason Obsidian wrote OUTSIDE of the game's install folder. It is in Microsoft Saved Games folder (for like solitaire n' sh*t). NOTE: Actually no, there aren't three. Galaxy is directing to my old hard drive's PoE install. PoE is not installed on my dedicated drive.

Somehow I get the feeling all these different installs and the introduction of new drives have lost track of the PoE save game folder.

I'm going to try to uninstall PoE completely from my now external drive and install it on my new laptop. Transfer the save files and hope they can plug into the new install.

BTW, I am aware of the issue with save games and the fix that comes courtesy of Obsidian...'s fanbase (because Obsidian are too stupid and/or lazy to deal with it themselves). I attempted it. Deleted the APPdata folder to no avail.

Well, reinstalling seems to have had the desired result. The save files are back and up n' loading, so my saved games are accessable again.

It seems to be an issue a simple reinstall can fix.

Interestingly, the install seems to have put my previous saved files in their proper place even though I don't know how they were maintained. I deleted the old saved games folder and copied the contense intending to put them back myself but somehow something did it for me :)

I don't know if this was an issue with my hard drive re-arranging or the old save game bug some people have been reporting, but this particular case is closed.

Thanks for your assistance again, Hickory :)

Excellent. It's so frustrating when hours of game play are lost in one way or another, so I'm glad you got it sorted.

Yeah you said it. I was really hoping I wouldn't lose my PoE saves in particular. I must have 60 hrs of my life tied up in em. Consider myself fortunate. Even more fortunate still I never lose them again >.>