Please explain to me how to save my character for evah

As the title states. I want to save my current character for ever. Do I just make a copy of my current game world or what?
Detailed instructions, like you were explaining it to 7 year old, would be very much appreciated.
Also any dangers or do’s or don’ts would also be nice.
Thanks in advance.

You just copy the folder with the worlds name to somewhere outside DDA.

Updating from version to version may cause some funny things, but the dev team really tries their best to minimize those happenings and isn’t likely to happen between close releases.

[quote=“John Candlebury, post:2, topic:6989”]You just copy the folder with the worlds name to somewhere outside DDA.

Updating from version to version may cause some funny things, but the dev team really tries their best to minimize those happenings and isn’t likely to happen between close releases.[/quote]

Awesome. Is there a way I can insert my character into a different world? I want to convert him over to a world with static NPC’s to check out the new NPC camps.

You can’t do that, nor have I found a way to make mods work on old/transferred saves.

Hmm not a way that I know off sorry. But I think that NPCs are static, and if you move your save file to a newer version and then your character moves far away from its current location the game will generate them.

It may be best to wait for a reply from someone else though.

Theoretically you can transplant the character files from world to world. However, there’s no guarantee where you’ll start, and you can only take whatever’s on your person.

It’s not supported and I’ve never tried it, but feel free to make a backup copy and explore!

[quote=“KA101, post:6, topic:6989”]Theoretically you can transplant the character files from world to world. However, there’s no guarantee where you’ll start, and you can only take whatever’s on your person.

It’s not supported and I’ve never tried it, but feel free to make a backup copy and explore![/quote]

I might give it a try tomorrow. To brain dead to attempt tonight.

It’s pretty simple to generate a new world with an old character really.

  1. Make sure you save on the surface. If you try to swap maps on a lower z-level you’ll probably end up in deep rock and die instantly.
  2. Go into your world save folder.
  3. Delete everything except:
  • Yourcharname.sav, which is your main character file.
  • If you have artifacts you want to bring with you, keep artifact.gsav
  • If you want to keep your character’s history, keep Yourcharctername.txt. Deleting it has no effect on gameplay.
  • mods.json, if you’re using any mods, keep this.
  • worldoptions.txt, If you want to change any settings for the future world, change it before erasing files.
  1. Load your character and a new world will be generated.
  • You can also transfer a character to an already existing world by transfering the Sav file (and artifact file if you want, though this will overwrite existing artifacts in that world unless you file edit.)

As KA101 says, there’s no way to determine where you’ll end up. You can start in the middle of nowhere, in the center of a zombie horde, or in the middle of a river. Just debug teleport if you need to.

You can only take what you’re carrying on your character i.e. skills, mutations/traits, inventory, worn items, attributes, known recipes, and bionics. Monsters in the immediate vicinity of your character will also be transferred with you.

It’s possible to transfer specific sectors, vehicles and all, but that’s highly error prone and it takes much less time to just debug everything you lost.

Blaze, I love you. Thanks for the info!

[quote=“Blaze, post:8, topic:6989”]It’s pretty simple to generate a new world with an old character really.

  1. Make sure you save on the surface. If you try to swap maps on a lower z-level you’ll probably end up in deep rock and die instantly.
  2. Go into your world save folder.
  3. Delete everything except:
  • Yourcharname.sav, which is your main character file.
  • If you have artifacts you want to bring with you, keep artifact.gsav
  • If you want to keep your character’s history, keep Yourcharctername.txt. Deleting it has no effect on gameplay.
  • mods.json, if you’re using any mods, keep this.
  • worldoptions.txt, If you want to change any settings for the future world, change it before erasing files.
  1. Load your character and a new world will be generated.
  • You can also transfer a character to an already existing world by transfering the Sav file (and artifact file if you want, though this will overwrite existing artifacts in that world unless you file edit.)

As KA101 says, there’s no way to determine where you’ll end up. You can start in the middle of nowhere, in the center of a zombie horde, or in the middle of a river. Just debug teleport if you need to.

You can only take what you’re carrying on your character i.e. skills, mutations/traits, inventory, worn items, attributes, known recipes, and bionics. Monsters in the immediate vicinity of your character will also be transferred with you.

It’s possible to transfer specific sectors, vehicles and all, but that’s highly error prone and it takes much less time to just debug everything you lost.[/quote]

I’m going to try moving all of my chars to the same world, with their accumulated gunk eventually, so I’ll see just what kind of problems there are with simply moving map files around.

...Monsters in the immediate vicinity of your character will also be transferred with you.

Now I have to try this; this feels as Stewie and Brian were messing with the time machine all over again! :))

With the new save structure, moving specific maps is a lot easier.

Go into the map area you want to transfer, save , then look in the look in the save/maps folder to see which files were the most recently edited.

Afterwards it’s just trial and error; remove a few folders/files and load the game to check if the you have the right one.

Edit: Faster way. Load the game, go to the area you want to save, keep the game open and delete the maps folder in your save folder. Go back to the game and save; that particular map section should be the only on in there, allowing for easy transferal.

You can then return the removed maps if you desire.

Bumping this up for anybody new or veteran who may have missed the awesome info in this thread. Blaze is a supah stah!

[quote=“Blaze, post:8, topic:6989”]It’s pretty simple to generate a new world with an old character really.

  1. Make sure you save on the surface. If you try to swap maps on a lower z-level you’ll probably end up in deep rock and die instantly.
  2. Go into your world save folder.
  3. Delete everything except:
  • Yourcharname.sav, which is your main character file.
  • If you have artifacts you want to bring with you, keep artifact.gsav
  • If you want to keep your character’s history, keep Yourcharctername.txt. Deleting it has no effect on gameplay.
  • mods.json, if you’re using any mods, keep this.
  • worldoptions.txt, If you want to change any settings for the future world, change it before erasing files.
  1. Load your character and a new world will be generated.
  • You can also transfer a character to an already existing world by transfering the Sav file (and artifact file if you want, though this will overwrite existing artifacts in that world unless you file edit.)

As KA101 says, there’s no way to determine where you’ll end up. You can start in the middle of nowhere, in the center of a zombie horde, or in the middle of a river. Just debug teleport if you need to.

You can only take what you’re carrying on your character i.e. skills, mutations/traits, inventory, worn items, attributes, known recipes, and bionics. Monsters in the immediate vicinity of your character will also be transferred with you.

It’s possible to transfer specific sectors, vehicles and all, but that’s highly error prone and it takes much less time to just debug everything you lost.[/quote]

Someone sticky this

Bumping because this is kinda important.

Wow, yeah this is incredibly helpful information. If I can remember how to edit wikis once I have some free time, I might consider making a wiki page for transplanting characters, provided ‘tinkering with game files’ still comes under the general wiki description of ‘how to play the game’. Given the constantly-updating nature of CATA, such knowledge seems highly relevant for a lot of people.

A note: Instead of ‘charactername’, the file in question is a long string of random letters and numbers. You will have to open the file to see if it is the correct character’s.

Locking for excessive bumping.