How does one play a game once it's been updated? Is it usually enough to just unpack the archive in the old folder on top of the older version? Aside from the case where the author specifically warns that old saves are incompatible, I should be good right? I am always worried if I do it like this I'll miss out on something due to the branching and choices introduced but I don't feel ike restarting a game every time a new update comes out. For instance I played Becoming a Rockstar on version 0.90 and now it's at 1.0 final. Can I just install 1.0 on top of 0.90 and continue? I sometimes keep the old versions just to make sure, especially where the mods haven't been updated with the latest release, but I'd like to get rid of some of them since they are taking up too much space.
Playing an updated game - safest way
- Thread starter faramata
- Start date
If we're talking Ren'Py, there are 2 main ways a dev can release an update. They can release the whole thing, which will be the whole game from the start, until the end of the update, or they can release the update as a patch that needs to be applied to the previous version. In the case of a full game, just download it and play. Doesn't matter where you put it on your computer, it should be able to find and load your save files from the previous version either way. If it's a patch, just copy the game folder over the top of the existing game folder, and it'll add the new content. Again you should be able to load your saves.
Whether your saves work or not is down to the changes the dev made in the update, not how you "install" it. If they say old saves are incompatible, then there isn't really anything you can do about it without unpacking the game and looking through the whole thing to work out why they're incompatible, and then modding the game to fix it.
As for missing out on choices, using an "incompatible" save could possibly result in this, but it depends heavily on how the game is made, and this is assuming the old save works at all. Sometimes it'll just throw an error at you as soon as you load it. If you're worried about not getting the proper experience, best to start a new save if the dev says old ones won't work. No need to keep previous versions of the game though once you've got the new one, except for mod compatibility purposes.
So in the case of Becoming a Rockstar, just download 1.0 and play it, and it should find your save. If the dev says old saves are compatible, then they should work fine. If the dev says they aren't, then they won't, to put it simply.
Again, this only applies to Ren'Py games. I know nothing of how saves work in anything else.
Whether your saves work or not is down to the changes the dev made in the update, not how you "install" it. If they say old saves are incompatible, then there isn't really anything you can do about it without unpacking the game and looking through the whole thing to work out why they're incompatible, and then modding the game to fix it.
As for missing out on choices, using an "incompatible" save could possibly result in this, but it depends heavily on how the game is made, and this is assuming the old save works at all. Sometimes it'll just throw an error at you as soon as you load it. If you're worried about not getting the proper experience, best to start a new save if the dev says old ones won't work. No need to keep previous versions of the game though once you've got the new one, except for mod compatibility purposes.
So in the case of Becoming a Rockstar, just download 1.0 and play it, and it should find your save. If the dev says old saves are compatible, then they should work fine. If the dev says they aren't, then they won't, to put it simply.
Again, this only applies to Ren'Py games. I know nothing of how saves work in anything else.
Yeah, I'm talking RenPy games mostly, except for Long Story Short 
So it is kind of how I was thinking it would be. I was more concerned that sometimes a new version may create bugs the developer may not be aware of and so I'd miss stuff. Also, it seems some RenPy games save inside the game's main folder and others in Appdata (Windows). Or do they save in both places? And if possible, I'd like to get them to save inside the game folder rather than in AppData. Is there some option like the one for enabling the developer console that does that?
So it is kind of how I was thinking it would be. I was more concerned that sometimes a new version may create bugs the developer may not be aware of and so I'd miss stuff. Also, it seems some RenPy games save inside the game's main folder and others in Appdata (Windows). Or do they save in both places? And if possible, I'd like to get them to save inside the game folder rather than in AppData. Is there some option like the one for enabling the developer console that does that?"If they say old saves are incompatible, then there isn't really anything you can do about it without unpacking the game and looking through the whole thing to work out why they're incompatible, and then modding the game to fix it. "
I don't have the skill or the time do that :|
I don't have the skill or the time do that :|