Viewing my Dom3 stuff

[happygeek]

Hello all, perhaps you can help an idiot out? I would like to do 2 things:

1. Find out where my saved games are (so that I can copy some and experiment if need be).
2. View my Pretender builds.

I used Windows Vista (Home), and do not find any files or folders for saved games (Program Files/Dominions3 and /Documents/My Games). What am I doing wrong?

Perhaps there is some 3rd party program from a fan which lets me load up my Pretender builds and see what I have done? It's odd, I can use the "Game Tools" to design a pretender god, but I dont know where they are stored, and I cannot seem to browse through them -- I even tried Creating A New Game with all my Abysia and Pangea and Whatnot attempts, but you can only load 1 identical nation per game, and you still cannot really see the scales you chose, and if you chose a dormant god, you also can't really see what magic you chose.

Any tips are appreciated, thank you!

[Scarmiglione]

Saved games are in "Program Files/Dominions3/savedgames". Pretender builds created in the create pretender tool are located in "Program Files/Dominions3/savedgames/newlords"

As far as I know, there's no way to quickly browse through your created pretenders, you just have to load them in a game.

[Tolkien]

Aha, I know exactly what's the problem. Look in the following file directory:
C:\Users\(insert your user account)\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\dominions3\savedgames

On Vista, there is a default security feature that separates user account information, so that if one account were to acquire corrupt files, viruses, or something, it would not be passed on to the other users. Or at least, that's the gist of it.

So yeah, at the present, Vista isn't saving your files to programfiles, but onto a separate folder on your account. You can turn this security feature off and have it save directly into programfiles, but I forgot how to do so.

[lch]

Have you read through the FAQ yet? The first question should be answered there. For the second one, there is a "catgod" program, and Arralen made a Windows interface I believe.

[Gandalf Parker]

Yes there is a 3rd party god viewer called CatGod. (cat is the linux command for displaying a text file)

Actually half a dozen or so people have worked on it. The original C code, upgrades to it, a Windows port, a GUI (graphical user interface) menu for it. Here is what I think is the latest version.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=34716

[happygeek]

THank you all, I will try that out when I get home.
Tolkein, do I have to enable "View all hidden files and folders" too? I can't seem to find that directory!
If anybody were to know how I can turn that option Tolkein mentioned off, I would be grateful. Thank you!

[Tolkien]

Yeah, you'll have to enable hidden files in your user directory to access it. You could also turn off the security settings and have your computer save directly to program files from now on, just go to your security center, go to the Other security settings section, and turn off User Account Control.

[happygeek]

Thank you! Sorry, but would you happen to know where I find this "Other security settings" section? It is Vista Home. I tried the windows F1 help, and searched for it, but no luck. Thank you.

[Ballbarian]

I really can't recommend turning off the UAC since there are other ways around the problem. Rather than repeat everything I will quote a couple of past posts:

Originally Posted by Ballbarian

I am going to say it again (with experience as a Vista user):
I HATE Vista.

Have your friend look under:
C:\Users\YourFriendsVistaUserName\AppData\Local\Vi rtualStore\Program Files\dominions3\savedgames

The above is roughly the path where Vista put mine when I tested an install under Vista in this post. *snip*

Another wonderful feature of Vista is likely the reason that he can't find the folder via the hard drive search. You have to be sure and click the barely noticeable "Advanced Search" arrow and change the location selector from "indexed" to the hard drive and also check the box labeled: "Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files".

*snip*

Originally Posted by Ballbarian

I don't think that the dom install touches the windows registry at all. It basically just creates a folder and plops the game files in it...

Ah.

I renamed my original dom3 directory and did a fresh install.
Vista is your problem. (Have I mentioned anywhere that I HATE VISTA?)

I created a new game with the new install and low and behold, no saved games folder appeared in my new dominions3 directory.

I named the game StupidVista and then clicked through a hundred buttons to make vista search the entire hard drive and not just the "indexed" locations (thank you very much MS...) and found the game here:

C:\Users\Ballbarian\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Pro gram Files\dominions3\savedgames

Well of course! Why didn't I think to look there in the first place.

Probably the easiest solution to your troubles would be to just copy the game folder back from your old PC again and put it in a location that makes sense to you.

Mine is in: C:\Games\dominions3
Then just make your own shortcut by right clicking on the dom3.exe and put it on your desktop, or in your start menu.

Hope that helps.

[Tolkien]

Bah, Ballbarian explains it better then I do.