Vanderer
can you please make a proper split between part 1 and part 2.
currently, they are the same project at different versions. with different content.
they are considered to be the same game instead of two different games by renpy.
when a renpy save is made, it saves into two locations at the same time.
/game/saves/
and also a second common renpy folder whose location varies by the OS.
there is a common renpy folder in appdata (or home if on linux) called
Thescionofthedragon-1646281579 where a copy of all the saves and the persist resides.
renpy will try to grab saves from both sources. and it has some methods to decide which is the correct version in case of a mismatch.
by having different content games (part 1 and part 2) be considered the same game by renpy can introduce save conflicts that can cause a mess in your save folders.
and of course the game crashes if you try to load a save made in part 1 into part 2, or try to load a save from part 2 into part 1.