Choice of Games Save Editing

Some folks at "you-know-where" site were wondering if it's possible to edit Choice of Games's save file, and yes it's possible! And easy! I got ya covered.
Alright hang on tight and read carefully, I'll try to make it as simple as possible.

The easiest and most painless method for this is just use a save manager. There is currently one that's popular, although unofficial. The link is
https://github.com/yasirkula/UnityChoiceOfGamesSaveManager

OR
If you want to do it the manly way(ha), you can edit the save file manually.


For this I'll use Paranormal Preparatory School(PPC) in Windows 10 Pro as an example:

Every "Choice of Games(COG)" games has a special folder in your [AppData] folder(it's normally hidden so you need to unhide it, check google for how) to store your game progress. They can be a bit hard to find especially if you're using the pirated copies, since their "save" folder is located in the game's "steam emulation program" folder. Generally all of them can be found in [%USERPROFILE%.\AppData\Roaming].

In case of PPC, the saves are located in the [SmartSteamEmu] > [1969530] folder.

[SmartSteamEmu] is a Steam Emulation Program that allows pirated copies to run normally instead of opening the game's Steam page. Each CoG games has different steam emulation program, therefore are located on different folders as well(But they can all be found generally in [AppData/Roaming].

[1969530] is the game's save folder. The number is the game's Steam ID. Different COG games has different ID folder, so if you played a lot of them, it can be a bit confusing to find which one is which. To easily check, just plop the number to this link https://store.steampowered.com/app/ (<--insert the numbers here) then put it in your internet browser to check their Steam page.

Then the actual save files in located in said folder in the [remote] subfolder. In here you'll find several files that you need to pay attention to!

The format is usually like this:
[storePSthegametitlePSachieved]

so for PPC it would be

[storePSparanormalprepPSachieved]

Oh if you found the [GameNameHere] folder in [AppData\Roaming] (for example [ParanormalPreparatorySchool] folder), that's not where the save files are!
They are used to store your graphic card's info and caches. Just leave them alone, unless you're planning to delete the game completely, if so you can delete those folder as well.


Now I'll explain the types of files in the folder:

The "achieved" file stores your in-game achievement. DO NOT DELETE this file unless you want to RESET ALL of your achievement!

The "state" file is the actual save file. This one is the one you would want to backup(CTRL+C) regularly before every major choices, so you can restore(CTRL+V) the file to revert your previous chosen choice. This file will 'refresh' after every time you pick a choice in-game. So copy it BEFORE you pick a choice you might want to redo.

The "statebackup" file is well, the save file's backup. You can copy this file somewhere if you want, just in case. The file will 'refresh' after every time you pick a choice in-game.

The "statetemp" file is the file the game use during your playthrough. I advise against modifying this file, as it might corrupt your save file if you mess up. This file also 'refresh' every time you pick a choice in-game.

The "preferredAnimation/Background/Zoom" files stores your game's display setting like whether you prefer black or white background, the size of the game's text and whether the pages animate or not. You can delete them if you want, doing that'll just reset the setting to default. These files will be generated every time you make a change in game.

TL;DR the one you want is the "state" file, ignore others.

Are you with me so far?

Now, knowing which file is the save file, you can practically do whatever you want with it.

- If you want to "save" your game, copy the file to somewhere else.
- If you want to "load" your game, paste the previously copied file to this folder.
-  If you want to "delete" your save game, delete the "state", "statetemp" and "statebackup". Optionally you can delete the "achieved" file if you want to erase ALL obtained achievement too.

Now onto the fun stuff. The files that I mentioned are actually an "extensionless text file".
Meaning they are a text file that has no .abc on it. Example [Notes.txt] is a normal text file. But a [Notes] is an extensionless text file. It is still technically a text file, but your normal Notepad app won't be able to open it normally( by double-clicking it).

But don't worry! You still can edit it with other text editing app such as Notepad++(which I recommend). Just install the program and then right click on the file > "Edit with Notepad++". Voila! You're now editing your save file.

With this, you can "cheat" the game however you want. You can add/remove money, increase/decrease skill points even relationship points with ease. But please only edit the option that you're sure about, as messing with the wrong thing will make the save file corrupt and unplayable.

For example, in PPC's save file, I want to change my name. So I change the "pcname":"JackyBoy" to "pcname":"BUMBUM"

Or I want to change my reputation level with the werewolves, I edit the "wolf":5" to "wolf":"18"

Make sure you change the name or the numbers only! Leave the " " intact or else you might corrupt the file.

Also avoid the true/false section unless you're absolutely positive you know what you're doing.

After done editing, just hit CTRL+S to save your edit. You then can load the modified file to the game's save folder and, after deleting the "statetemp" file, you can play the game and voila, you just cheated Fate!

But remember to always ALWAYS backup before editing any file! Just in case.

I guess that's it. I hope it's understandable enough for you! Feel free to share it with others if you want.

Happy playing! :D



EDIT: Some newer CoG games these days have different save file locations, for example:

For Vampire: The "Masquerade — Sins of the Sires" the saves are located in [%USERPROFILE%\Documents\PLAYER\1523990]

For Choice of The Vikings the saves are located in [%USERPROFILE\AppData\Roaming\Goldberg SteamEmu Saves\1975530]

Yeah, like I said different games have different save paths depending on the steam emulation program that "cracked" it.

At first, we used the SmartSteamEmu, then GoldBerg's, then the newer one like the one in Sins of Sires(I think this is the latest "cracker")

To run the game, f or the first two, you actually gotta click the [LAUNCHER.exe], not the [game.exe]. [LAUNCHER.exe] launches the steam emulation program, to trick the [game.exe] to think that they are running in a "legal" Steam API. But in the newer ones these days you can just click the [game.exe]. Convenient isn't? :D

For save files, the general rule of thumb is to check:

The game folder itself(where the game.exe is).
- Roaming's SmartSteamEmu.
- Roaming's Goldberg SteamEmu Saves.
- Your Document folder.

I guess that's it. I hope this helps you all somewhat. Always try to support the game devs legally by purchasing their games on Steam, especially during Summer and Winter sales!