bad coding indeed. all i did was erase the game files. logged into my wifes active plus account and downloaded the file for ep1 then back to our mutual account to get ep3 and it worked like a charm.  what i think is the permissions got messed up when my plus expired and i just needed a clean ep1 file.    that really is some bad coding and stupid idea to not have each episode a stand alone game where it loads a cleared save to keep your choices