Problem Saving Games

[solops]

How do you save games with different names? I.e. I want to save a game at every few turns so that I can re-start it from that point if disaster strikes. This is a standard feature in all of the 80 plus games I own (or have owned), so I am sure it is here somewhere, but I cannot find it. It does not seem to be in the menus.

[Endoperez]

There isn't an in-game system for this. You can copy the game's folder from savedgames subfolder.

There's been some discussion about this feature in here lately. There was also some discussion about this when Dominions II was released. I think there also was some discussion about this when Dom:PPP was released. It's been part of the series for a long time.

[solo]

Dominions does not have the save and reload option featured in most computer games.

If you need a copy of a saved game in progress use Explorer to copy the desired set of game files into a separate folder before continuing your game.

[solops]

Endoperez said:
There isn't an in-game system for this. You can copy the game's folder from savedgames subfolder.

There's been some discussion about this feature in here lately. There was also some discussion about this when Dominions II was released. I think there also was some discussion about this when Dom:PPP was released. It's been part of the series for a long time.

As a newcomer to the games I can only say that I am amazed and baffled. What is there to discuss? Its a simple and straightforward feature that is pretty much a standard convenience in PC games. Adding it should be simple and would save a lot of time for players. Players that are not PC literate are pretty much left abandoned.

[Arralen]

solops said:
How do you save games with different names? I.e. I want to save a game at every few turns so that I can re-start it from that point if disaster strikes.

CHEATER !!!


[i]Honestly,
opening up the dominions3/savedgames/*gamename* - folder isn't that hard to do, isn't it? And you should have a ZIP-program (or another packer) installed .. just mark the *nationname*.2h, *nationname*.trn and ftherlnd file and zip them up e.g. into "turn1.zip", and the next turn into "turn2.zip" etc.
That way, you can always decompress any turn you like... . Simply reload the game afterwards.

Why it is this way, one can only speculate. At first, I would guess, the devs don't like anyone cheating around their random events ... furthermore, as Dom3 runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, a OS-independant file selection screen would be needed, which is not that easy to do, unless you use certain libraries, which where AFAIK not used for Dom3 (or 2) anywhere else.

edit: additonal text .. sry, hit the wrong button...

[DominionsFan]

Arralen said:

CHEATER !!!

I wouldn't say so, in fact just think. Save function like that could help a lot to the newbies, to continue from a given point, because more than likely they are making many mistakes.
Anyways you can backup old savegames, as Endo has mentioned it already, if you want to do that at all costs.

[thejeff]

The counter argument is that a save function makes it harder for a newbie, because they don't have to learn from their mistakes.

Probably it started without a Save because of the emphasis on multiplayer, where a save is useless.

Personally, I prefer it this way. Unlike most FPS or RPG type games, where getting back to a certain point requires repeating the same process over again (and again), losing a game in dominions due to mistakes just means you can start over again with a different set of challenges, even if you set the game up the same way.
But then I'm a nethack fan too.

And you can always copy savegames, if you want the security or just to experiment.
No real need to zip them either, unless you're really short on space. Just copy the file and change the name. Add a turn number or something.

[Gandalf Parker]

The game does have a switch for pre-execute and post-execute before each hosting. You can create a script or batch or desktop shortcut (depending on your system) to automatically copy the game files to another directory before each hosting. That way you have another "game" which will always be your previous turn.

[PDF]

I vaguely remember someone made a DomSave tool a few times ago for Dom2, that did exactly that : copy the old file to a backup directory, rename it with turn number, then launch the game.
It should be obvious to adapt it to Dom3 if we find the initial author

[Peter Ebbesen]

From a user perspective, the way it is handled in Dominions is just plain silly. Dominions 2 was not an "MP only" game and Dominions 3 is even less so. A considerable number of players play singleplayer only or primarily. Thus, not having save game functionality in-game because the game is multiplayer based is a poor choice, since having the ability avaible does not impact multiplayer adversely.

Yes, you can copy files manually by hand if you want to, but that takes considerably longer time than e.g. choosing save, enter filename, hit save button would do, [and given how Dominions 3 ****s up when alt-tabbing, you probably do have to leave the game to make that copy by hand] and as a result it is something you either write your own script to do automatically (requiring code literacy) or, for all practical purposes, don't do at all. Which leaves you in the cold when the game ****s up and corrupts a save file since this on the spot ends your game. It also presents the "irreversible-death" scenario to new players. YES, they learn by irreversible death, as I'm sure some of you will argue, but they learn much more if they after suffering defeat can retrace to an earlier save and retry their approach to see how they could have changed the outcome, than if they just have to say, tough cookies, let me start all over from the very beginning again.

As for the line of player groupthink that goes "the developers don't like people to cheat on random events/battles/whatever by not rolling with the punches"... as any good developer knows, as far as fun goes, the point of a game is for the players to have fun, not the developers (or even worse, the computer), and anybody not wanting to load an older savegame is free to not do so without any lessening of his gaming experience. (Though it is nice when the developers too have fun, even if it is vicious or satirical fun, it should never be the priority)

It is a baffling newbie-unfriendly design choice that is no doubt a legacy of the MP design of the game and which should have been reconsidered a long time ago. Players cannot be assumed to be Nethack-nerds used to that approach or assumed to be happy with an forced ironman-mode.