saveMap = ds_map_create();
//if (file_exists("gameSave.sav")){ file_delete("gameSave.sav");}//delete save here!!!!

if (file_exists("gameSave.sav"))
{
    scr_placeDefaultValuesOnSaveMap();// PLACE DEFAULT VALUES ON SAVE MAP TO START.

   saveBuffer = buffer_load("gameSave.sav"); // load old buffer
   buffer_seek(saveBuffer, buffer_seek_start, 0);
   var str = buffer_read(saveBuffer, buffer_text);
   ds_map_read(saveMap, str); // THIS WIL OVERWRITE OLD VALUES WITH NEW ONES.
   /*
    scr_debugWriteMapContents(saveMap);
   buffer_seek(saveBuffer, buffer_seek_start, 0);
   var bufferData = buffer_read(saveBuffer, buffer_text); // convert old buffer to a string
   saveMap = ds_map_read(saveMap, bufferData); // create save map from buffered stirng.
   scr_debugWriteMapContents(saveMap);
    */
}else{ // game has never been run before.
    saveBuffer = buffer_create(16384, buffer_grow, 1); // basic save buffer.
    scr_placeDefaultValuesOnSaveMap(); // initialize default values for all saveable values in saveMAP.
    var saveString = ds_map_write(saveMap); // save default values as a string.
    buffer_seek(saveBuffer, buffer_seek_start, 0);
    buffer_write(saveBuffer, buffer_text, saveString); // write the string to the buffer.
    buffer_save(saveBuffer, "gameSave.sav"); // save the buffer to gameSave.sav file.
}