xerces8
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Hi!

I have "DROD: Architects' Edition".
I want to transfer my position to another PC wher I want to continue playing and wonder, where does the game save my progress ?

Sorry if this is on the first page of the README

Regards,
xerces8

agaricus5
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To export your game progress and any demos you have, just press the "Who" button on the title page, click on your player's name, and then press the "export" button. Choose a location to save the .player file to, which is where the saved progress goes, and then export the data.

Then, open your new copy of DROD, click on "Who", and then "Import". Find your .player file, and then import it.

If you have data for holds you haven't imported yet, then import those holds, and then re-import your .player file.

____________________________
Resident Medic/Mycologist

Stefan
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The method mentioned above is the recommended way of doing it, but there's an easier (and usually faster) way:

On a Windows machine, the game data is usually in "C:\\Program Files\\DROD\\Data".

If you're using Linux, it's normally in "~/.caravel/drod-1.6"

To transfer your progress, copy all the files from this directory (excluding the subdirectories) to the similar location on the other machine. If you do this, then you need to make sure that you're using the exact same version of DROD on both machines.


Also, you cannot re-import your player in AE (contrary to what Agaricus said (he was thinking of JtRH, where it's possible to do so without deleting it first)). You need to import all holds before you import your .player file (alternatively, you could import your player file, import all holds, delete your player file and import it again).

____________________________
0.099³

xerces8
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Stefan wrote:
On a Windows machine, the game data is usually in "C:\\Program Files\\DROD\\Data".

To transfer your progress, copy all the files from this directory (excluding the subdirectories) to the similar location on the other machine. If you do this, then you need to make sure that you're using the exact same version of DROD on both machines.

Are you sure ?
I tried to run the same installation from another windows (dual boot) and it did not import my game position.

ErikH2000
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Make sure both installations are version 2.0.9 (you can see the version# in the top righthand corner of the title screen). Try Agaricus5's way too--it is more reliable over varying circumstances, and when something doesn't work, you usually get an error message and maybe information stored in a log that we can use for troubleshooting.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

bandit1200
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ErikH2000 wrote:
Make sure both installations are version 2.0.9

Were you up late last night!

BTW, have you been touring the UK again and decided to stay? I saw a 4x4 the other day with the registration plate subtly altered to show as H ER1K.

ErikH2000
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bandit1200 wrote:

ErikH2000 wrote:
Make sure both installations are version 2.0.9

Were you up late last night!

Well, that post I actually made late this morning, Pacific Standard Time. But I was up all night driving home from London. I told Agaricus5 that I had to work today, but he kept asking me cosmological questions, and it was hard to leave. "Dude, the extra-dimensional properties of the Eighth universe are undefined! And I gotta go!" "But what does that mean?" "It means I didn't think about it, and probably my brain would break if I did."

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

agaricus5
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ErikH2000 wrote:

bandit1200 wrote:

ErikH2000 wrote:
Make sure both installations are version 2.0.9

Were you up late last night!

Well, that post I actually made late this morning, Pacific Standard Time. But I was up all night driving home from London. I told Agaricus5 that I had to work today, but he kept asking me cosmological questions, and it was hard to leave.

Unknown to you, though, the incessant questioning was a deliberate act in order to delay you. This is because you had accidentally left your car boot unlocked, and so I sent my minions (discovered in a part of the basement near my house) to have a search for any TCB spoilers you may have had in there. They didn't find any, but did manage to obtain the classified battle plans for TCB that you'd carefully stuffed at the back near the portable server. They also found a spare rank point that managed to get itself lodged in the carpet edge near your laptop, so I could send it back to you if you want.

Oh, and I guess it was a good idea that I had that Trans-Atlantic highway link installed recently down here in the basement. If I hadn't, you'd probably have had to fly back, which would have been more of a hassle.

"Dude, the extra-dimensional properties of the Eighth universe are undefined! And I gotta go!" "But what does that mean?" "It means I didn't think about it, and probably my brain would break if I did."

That's no problem; the Empire has millions of spare brains that aren't currently being used. I can definitely requisition a few for you if you ever need them.

____________________________
Resident Medic/Mycologist

xerces8
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ErikH2000 wrote:
Make sure both installations are version 2.0.9

It is the one and same installation, located in G:\\Program Files\\...

If I run it from windows on G: then I have my saved position.

If I reboot into windows on C: and I run the same exe file in G:\\Program Files\\... , then I don't get my saved position.

PS: Can you please have your private convesation in it's own thread ? Thank's

Mattcrampy
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How not to make friends and influence people:

xerces8 wrote:
PS: Can you please have your private convesation in it's own thread ? Thank's

If you want the thread to concentrate on technical problems, providing more content in that vein would be much more effective. Also, threads do tend to wander, and this way we keep the thread at the top of the page and nice and active so anyone else who has the same problem can read it.


____________________________
What do you call an elephant at the North Pole?

xerces8
Level: Roachling
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OK, OK (imagine a "blush" smiley here)

Stefan
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xerces8 wrote:
It is the one and same installation, located in G:\\Program Files\\...

Ok, so you're using a single installation with two versions of windows on the same machine. Hmmm...

The best solution would be to get DROD to use the same data on both windowses. I have a dual-boot system myself (although mine's Linux/windows), and I use the same DROD data (JtRH) on both OSes, so it should be possible to get it to work somehow.

Before doing any of the things below, make sure you export your .player file so that you have a backup if things go wrong. The following is by no means a documented operation - it's basically a hack.

First you have to find out where your game data is located. Begin by searching for files named 'player.dat', 'drod1_6.dat' and 'text.dat'. These are the files that contain your AE-data. If you find more than one of each (eg. one in "G:\\Program Files\\DROD\\Data" and one somewhere else), then that is probably what's causing your problem (it means that DROD gets the data from two different locations depending on which windows you're using). If you only find one, then I can't think of anything to do... (maybe I'll think of something, but first I need more information)

Now, if you found two of each, then open up DROD from the windows on G: (the one where your saved games are) and play a room, record a demo or whatever. Then exit and check the modified-times for the files you found. The files that are newer are the ones containing your data (I'm guessing they're located in "G:\\Program Files\\DROD\\Data"). Just to be extra careful, make a backup of all the files in that directory.

Then, make sure that your .dats (the files you just searched for) are on a partition that is writable from both windowses.

And now comes the tricky part: getting DROD to use the same data on both windowses. I've never really understood completely how DROD finds its data files, but there's at least the file "DataPath.txt" where the location of the files is written. However, I've noticed that DROD doesn't necessarily care about the contents of that file, because changing the paths in it sometimes doesn't seem to make any difference at all - DROD just overwrites the file with the original locations. Anyway, you could try looking at the contents of the file "G:\\Program Files\\DROD\\DataPath.txt" (ie. the file is in the same directory as drod.exe, IIRC). It should look something like this:

G:\\Program Files\\DROD\\Data;G:\\Program Files\\DROD\\Data;

The first directory is where the game data is located, and the second directory is where all game resources (graphics, sounds, music, etc...) are located.

You could try changing the path in this file to wherever your dats are located and check if that makes any difference. If it doesn't (which is probably the case), then you could try the following (completely different approach; may or may not work): First, make sure you have backups of all the files involved. Then, copy the dats containing your progress to the location of the other dats (those without your savegames), overwriting them. Then, delete the original dats (and the .da_ files) in the directory where your savegames were located, and open up DROD with the windows on G:.
This should force DROD to search for its data files, hopefully looking for them in the same location as when you started DROD with windows on C:. If it finds the files, then you should be able to access your savegames when you open up DROD with both windowses. If it doesn't find the files, it will probably create new ones (and in that case I don't know anything else you could do, except restore the files you made backups of).


However, none of this is guaranteed to work, as I haven't tested any of it, I'm just kind of guessing. Mike or someone else on the dev team should be able to help you set it up (or he should at least know more than I do about these things) if the method(s) above fail.

Alternatively, you could just install DROD separately on both windowses and make a player export/import.


I hope this post didn't get too technical or confusing...

imagine a "blush" smiley here)

This one?:

____________________________
0.099³

xerces8
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 08-25-2005
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You mean: "It's a mess!" ?
I'll try your suggestions when I get home.

Ah, I expected more red in a blushing smiley, that's why I did not find it...

agaricus5
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Stefan wrote:
First you have to find out where your game data is located. Begin by searching for files named 'player.dat', 'drod1_6.dat' and 'text.dat'. These are the files that contain your AE-data. If you find more than one of each (eg. one in "G:\\Program Files\\DROD\\Data" and one somewhere else), then that is probably what's causing your problem (it means that DROD gets the data from two different locations depending on which windows you're using). If you only find one, then I can't think of anything to do... (maybe I'll think of something, but first I need more information)

...

And now comes the tricky part: getting DROD to use the same data on both windowses. I've never really understood completely how DROD finds its data files, but there's at least the file "DataPath.txt" where the location of the files is written. However, I've noticed that DROD doesn't necessarily care about the contents of that file, because changing the paths in it sometimes doesn't seem to make any difference at all - DROD just overwrites the file with the original locations. Anyway, you could try looking at the contents of the file "G:\\Program Files\\DROD\\DataPath.txt" (ie. the file is in the same directory as drod.exe, IIRC). It should look something like this:

G:\\Program Files\\DROD\\Data;G:\\Program Files\\DROD\\Data;

The first directory is where the game data is located, and the second directory is where all game resources (graphics, sounds, music, etc...) are located.

That gives me an idea. I'm running Windows XP on my computer, (so there may be some differences), but it could possibly be that your registry (registries) might be causing the problem. I guess that each version of Windows you have has its own registry (or it wouldn't be separate, right?), and so, if you installed DROD once on one version, and in a different place in the other version, two completely different locations for DROD may have been created, one for each registry. So, even if you did open the .exe in the folder with your saved progress, the registry of your current Windows session may be pointing to your other installation, and DROD will go and look there instead.

Try opening regedit.exe (in the Windows folder, I believe, or just type "regedit" at the Command Prompt) for the C:/ installation, and search for an entry (key?) called "DROD". You may get several, but the one we're interested in contains the default location paths for all versions of DROD you have (I guess it's also where DROD 1.6 looks when it asks if you want to import your saved data from 1.5). As a reference, mine are stored in "My Computer\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Caravel\\DROD". Go to the 1.6 folder, and check the "InstallLocation" value. If it isn't pointing to your G:/ installation, then this is probably the problem, so change it, and then try running DROD again.

If it doesn't work, then you may have to try using the import/export strategy, since I don't know what else it could be.

____________________________
Resident Medic/Mycologist

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[Last edited by agaricus5 at 08-26-2005 03:32 PM]

Stefan
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Ha! I've been using Linux for such a long time that I completely forgot about that horrible registry-thing in windows. Yeah, try changing the registry key values (with the windows on your C-drive) to point to the directory where your .dats containing your progress are located (probably "G:\\Program Files\\DROD\\Data", if I've understood correctly). That might even work...

____________________________
0.099³

Oneiromancer
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Sometimes deleting the Datapath.txt file in your DROD directory works too. Might be worth a shot. (DROD will just re-create it as soon as you start it up again.)

Although I don't know if this file exists for AE. Hmmm...if it doesn't, then never mind!

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

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[Last edited by Oneiromancer at 08-26-2005 04:09 PM]

trick
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DataPath.txt should always be used if it exists, and the paths specified within are valid (and, in Linux, if the dat files are writable by the current user). If this isn't the case, it's probably a bug.

Deleting DataPath.txt will make DROD search for its data again. In Windows, this will search in the installation directory as well as in all parent directories on the same drive, in Linux, it will search in $DROD_2_0_DAT_PATH and $DROD_2_0_RES_PATH, ~/.caravel/drod-2_0(-demo), the installation directory, as well as some common shared data places (such as /usr/share, /usr/games/share, etc). The Mac OS X and FreeBSD versions does something similar.

Also, to my knowledge DROD doesn't use the Windows registry at all, except for uninstallation, so that shouldn't matter.

- Gerry

Oneiromancer
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Yes...I think you're agreeing with me...right? Basically when working with early builds of JtRH and now TCB, I've gotten new files and instead of just copying over my old folders, if the changes are massive enough I make a new folder. So I copy my previous folder into a new one, then copy the new files in. If I forget to delete Datapath.txt, it still thinks all the .dat files are in the previous folder instead of the new one, and so if any of those were changed then I don't see those changes. (And it also uses the old player.dat file instead of the new one.)

So depending on what occurred with the present problem, it is possible that a DataPath.txt file is pointing to the wrong folder and is thus using old player data.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

trick
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Yes, I agree with you . Just confirming. Oh, and DataPath.txt does exist in AE as well.

Btw, the format of DataPath.txt is pretty strict, so if you manually edit the file it may not be accepted unless you follow the format exactly. The file should contain the path to the data, a semicolon, the path to the resources, and another semicolon. No extra spaces around the semicolons. A newline after the last semicolon is okay, but nothing else.

- Gerry

wmarkham
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trick wrote:
The Mac OS X and FreeBSD versions does something similar.

The OS X version will prefer to locate the resource files from within the "application bundle" that contains the executable that was launched, if it can. Only if that fails will it use the path stored in DataPath.txt.

Weston