How to export and import saved games

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UesugiKenshin
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How to export and import saved games

Beitrag von UesugiKenshin »

If you create advance save games, please share them in this topic. This saves many folks a whole month of play and then they can wage war earlier.

How to import a save game?
1. What you do is download the files (sav and png) to your drive, then in the "load" menu,
2. click import from that directory you save these to,
3. Then BotE will load it as a new saved game slot.
4. Have maximal fun instead of all the micromanaging.

How to export a game?
1. What you do is click export within the "load" menu,
2. Then click export,
3. Then save it to a designated directory,
4. Then upload the sav and puffins to this part of the forum.
5. There is a limited number of attachments associated with your membership.
6. Pat yourself on the back as you did something kind for struggling players or way simplified a new game for an established player, so save both immense amounts of time.
7. Creating these need not be perfect. Think of this as "creating scenarios" for others to enjoy.
8. Real war is problematic as you seldom are "in the lead" as most are underdogs just trying to survive. This makes them challenges for established players.
9. They think, "Could I win such a scenario?", as some may be mildly difficult to be near impossible.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: How to export and import saved games

Beitrag von UesugiKenshin »

Why do you need to upload both the sav and png?
1. The sav is the actual save game
2. The png is the map and most will click the map so they understand the "card" the jargon used to describe the random map result.
3. A difficult start position is not attractive to new players as just playing BotE is quite complicated.
4. When you attach the files, place them inline as this makes them visible and tracks how many times they have been downloaded.
Zuletzt geändert von UesugiKenshin am Samstag 19. September 2020, 14:33, insgesamt 2-mal geändert.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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Write some sort of description of the scenario in the advanced save game too. Including the png let's players know how difficult the map is and how much exploration and espionage has taken place as by turn #400, the whole map can be exposed with adequate espionage levels. Exploring too much with a "scout" is liable to get them killed when there are many hostile minor alien races plus many opponents. Espionage is expensive but safer.

A brave scout in the Advanced Omega Sandbox turn#700+ save game with a huge map and maximal minor aliens explored since turn#1. That is gutsy and flying by the seat of your pants in a defenseless ship.

"What? You want someone to spend three decades of their life in a cramped cockpit of a defenseless ship, explore strange new worlds, initiate first contact with weird dangerous potentially homicidal malevolent species, and the ship is so barebones it doesn't have a bathroom? Hell yeah! When do I start!"
:mrgreen:

Bad example
1. Test
2. This save is fun.
3. This should be hard.

Good example
Cartare
Turn #500
Easy difficulty
Classic range
4 opponents: Khaoran, Terrans, Heyoun, plus the Omega
30% minor aliens
No random events. 10 % anomalies. No anomalous entities. No random events.
40x40 galactic map.
The Cartare have 120 inhabited systems. They are in 1st place and rated 1.3. They have 2x the average in science, 2x the GDP of the average, and the largest military.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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Why not sign up and become a member and upload your our own best save games? Many would be thrilled as they don't have months to get that far. Then they can wage war with many ships and troops and have large treasuries.

Maybe you have a favorite turn#700+ Terran or Cartare game and already beat some major and minor races? If so then straight away someone can alter the existing ships with better tech in the ship designer.

Please upload it. If shy, I can download it and write a description. I need one as an example so I can better explain how to use the ship designer. I don't think most understand how to use it, yet it is awesome and you can make outstanding ships albeit at a higher cost. You might make not only a more lethal ship, but a far more manueverable or faster ship.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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One thing people do as players and modders is upload a game where you should be winning, but made some near fatal errors. That is called "Save my disaster type games". Then some who are excellent at winning can spin a coal into a diamond save game.
:shock:
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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There are six main types of save games.
1. Regular games in which the player has major alien race opponents.

2. Regular games where the player has major and minor race opponents.

3. Multiplayer save games where the player is battling against human opponents.
This uses the beta multiplayer BotE version in development.

4. Multiplayer test save games where the player is playing as all the empires and hopefully to create a situation where it's saved at a high level where all the empires are built up and either multiple players can play against each other or it can be saved and the player will take over one empire and then play against the AI.
This uses the beta mutiplayer BotE version in development.

5. Sandbox mode save games where you hold down on various empires to turn them all off except your own. Then you would raise the number of minor alien races by percentage of the galaxy (I believe there are 144 minor alien races according to some.documentation I read today). Then the player is at no risk of ever being invaded as minor races, that are spacefaring, do not leave their home systems. [Kind of. In actually,they can be driven to flee, but then sit still or return, and do not attack your systems.] The player explores the galaxy, meets minor alien races, subverts some, and eventually invades, and conquers or is defeated by them.

6. If you turn on anomalous entities and random events, even in sandbox mode, you will encounter rogue ships. It's like the bottle episodes of Star Trek where they faced the alien doomesday machine.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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There are various ways to "win" the game and an open ended game with all goals turned off.

1. If goals are turned on, then the game may end suddenly. For example, if the research goal is activated, the first major species to achieve a trigger point, then causes the game to end.

"Okay! Game over! The Heyoun are the weakest but managed a research victory so nobody will attack them!"

Yeah, right. Everybody would in fact attack them.

I suggest that any uploaded advanced save games have all goals turned off. Players may forget and 300 turns later and within millimeters of victory, a goofy triggered goal ends the game.
:evil: :x

2. I dislike that. I don't want that to ever happen. In fact, I turn them all off so that the AI is not trying to do a total conquest game, but just play.

In my experience, no diplomacy will actually exist in total conquest games. The AI becomes ruthless. It dumbs down the AI so that it fights needlessly in battles it cannot win. I want the AI to get strong for the most part. I have tested many aspects, and 3 out of 5 times, you want most major aliens to survive.

The other 2 out of five times are ruthless games where the Cartare and Rotarians are sabotaging everything. Sabotage is not enjoyable and it is unrealistic. Some may like it but not until late in the game. In my opinion, espionage makes sense, but sabotage of anything anywhere is absurd...especially capital ships. Because of this, a player may want these two to be in the game, but deal with them harshly and early. Then conquer them while weaker, and so learn how to custom design their ships.

My guess is if you fail, sabotage by attrition will end the game...a terrible frustrating unrealistic ending.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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You will notice when exporting that a little file is also created: a settings.ini file. Now it looks like a Windows OS legacy file for how the game is set up. However maybe someone can hex edit it and glean some information? That may be how a multiplayer game where a single player painstakingly plays as all six empires, and then when it's turn six hundred and everything is built up, then you hex edit the settings.ini and make it a single player game as the Terrans?

It may be a way to load an advanced save game on easy difficuty, and change it to a harder setting.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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Now the Holy Grail.

In the old BotE alpha version, you could hex edit sav games and do things like reveal the map or even change gas giants to different classes that could be terraformed.

It seems like they are encrypted, but if we could figure this out, then it's likely we could change the treasury for players, infrastructure, ships, troops, tech level, diplomatic stance, research level, etc.

Hex editting is old school modding, so we sorta kinda have a scenario editor. You could change which empire you are playing. You could make an empire much stronger or weaker. If you play BotE and you are a coder or programmer, look at these files and see what data is encrypted in there.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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BotE has no map editor.

But if we could reverse engineer the map data, then maybe you leave the home sectors for all six empires the same in turn #1, but carefully redesign the remaining galactic map.
:idea:

You could place anomalies on the map. You could place a wormhole entrance and exit. You create whatever map would best create various difficuly levels.


You could create blank space time and you could design sectors so they don't have gas giants. You might use gas giants as buffer zones ie obstacles. You could make it so there are only 3 ways to quickly enter an empire's sphere of influence and thus heavily defend those 3 regions.

Then load a now fantastic map and build it up as a single player playing as all six empires. That would be marvelous.

Between those two basic ideas, a true campaign could be created.

If you can do that, and alter the required tech for 60 intelligence buildings (30 are for the five levels x six empires. 30 are for minor races special intel buildings.), then sabotage would happen late like turn#700.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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Imagine a future BotE game where all six empires are strong and have high treasuries and can use the best ships and troops with developed infrastructure and plenty of energy.

Gigantic cataclysmic apocalyptic galactic war could take place, and in response at such high turns, then espionage and sabotage as asymmetric warfare are taking place.

Then it would be a Battle Royale of Titans.
Zuletzt geändert von UesugiKenshin am Samstag 19. September 2020, 17:48, insgesamt 1-mal geändert.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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With a hex editor and a clever programmer perusing the save game files, we would learn what memory address locations and values are needed at that location.

Then a mapper designs a galaxy map on paper or the computer, then meticulously transposes the values needed to correspond in the map save game data.

It's impossble to design a campaign like that now, but we know enough that we can design simplier scenarios on random maps.

Maybe you help the minor races so their system is optimized and so taking them out will be very difficult and a challenge for the better players.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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I had a strange issue where I could not export files. What happens was I deleted the autosaves. By playing one more turn, and then there being an autosave, it then let me export. BotE has limited save game slots, then writes over existing ones. So since I am doing extensive testing and loading them so you can play them, I have to have a save game system as bote4 is meaningless.

You can create a directory and that is what I do, then have another directory with subfolders and organize them so I can look at older ones, and zip up some and store some on Google drive and load others to the forum.

The save game png files are useful as they illustrate the galactic map.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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If we just had a list of what each memory address does in the save game files and in the settings.ini, then quite a bit of scenario editing might be done.

It's a black box right now and I don't understand why.

Likely for the map of a 40 x 40 matrix has a memory address for each part of the array and that designates what is in that sector. Or something like that. So in turn#1, you would immediately save and then alter the map so it improved. There even is a way to play the same galaxy so once the entire map is revealed, then you would know every one of 1600 sectors and then improve them.

You could eliminate useless small population sectors. You could create many giant population sectors. You want the map to have balance so the empires as somewhat equal in total population. Maybe each empire has 200 inhabited sectors, but maybe the Rotharians have twice the population, thus it is not balanced. Maybe one empire has 150% more deritium.

Mapping has be to be done first.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: How to export and import saved games

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http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... e=Bote.ini
This is the old Bote.ini file that saved how your game was set up.

Now it is a far different file called a settings.ini file that only appears when exporting save games.

It may be theoretically possible to reverse engineer the addresses by changing the settings, exporting a save game, and watching how the addresses change and repeat such changes. It might be possible to begin at one difficulty and then switch to a high difficulty. It may be possible to start with no alien space monsters, then turn it on in advanced turns in save games.

Such things are done with a hex editor.

That would be extremely useful for modding.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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