Hey All,

I cannot find where Might & Magic I is storing my save files. I did a default install, which placed M&M VI set here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Might & Magic VI Limited Edition\

I have Windows configured to show hidden files. I have looked in the following directories:

* C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\DOSBox
* C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com
* C:\Users\<user>AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\DOSBox-0.74
* C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Might & Magic VI Limited Edition\Might and Magic 1 - Book I

To no avail. Anyone know where M&M puts save files?

Thanks,

joelsanda

MM1 has only one file that contains all of your characters' info. It's called roster.dat and is located in the install directory for MM1. MM2 also has this save file format. MM3 and onwards use a different saving format though.

When I played MM1 I was moving between my desktop and laptop and all I had to do was copy the roster.dat file back and forth and everything worked perfectly.

Huh. That was my first hunch - but Windows 7 reports the date modified 7/29/2009; which is about a year-and-half before my last save ;-)

Thanks for the info - now I know what to backup.

- Joel

That's weird... when I played, I was still using XP, so it's possible that Windows 7 does something weird and maybe redirects the save file to the virtual store or something. Are you running as administrator when you play?

I suppose you could also test it by keeping two backup copies and switching them. For example, backup your roster.dat, then load your game and unequip one of your characters' weapons, then save again. Now if you swap the two roster files one should have the weapon equipped and one should not. If that doesn't work, then Windows 7 is redirecting the save file somewhere else.

Oddly enough - and I just noticed this - the file I have is "ROSTER.DTA" in:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Might & Magic VI Limited Edition\Might and Magic 1 - Book I

And that file isn't storing my roster. I changed the file extension and my old save loaded.

Now I *have* to find the file - just to get to the bottom of this :-)

First, I may have been wrong about the extension being .dat... now that I think about it, I believe that MM1 and MM2 have different extensions for their roster file, one is .dta and the other is .dat. But I'm not sure about that.

As for finding your save file, check your "My Documents" folder, the subfolder "My Games", and I've also heard you should check the virtual store, but I don't know where that is.

This could have been caused by installing the game to the Program Files directory as this folder has extra security protections in Windows 7. You can get around it by running the game as administrator (right-click the game shortcut, look for a checkbox.. might be under the properties tab) or by installing to a different directory.

Actually here's a thread discussing savegame locations in Windows 7 that explains where the virtual store is:

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/might_and_magic_series/world_of_xeen_where_did_my_saved_games_go

Yeah, I checked that thread when I searched the forums. Thanks for your suggestions - I don't want to eat up any more of your time on a curiosity. I'll dig up a good search utility and search my file system after I save a game to find the latest changed files - Windows often doesn't report correct last changed dates.