Is there a way to save Moo I games into a file, or floppy, rather than only the six slots that are used on the save game screen?
I like to save the games I have labored over, but have to erase them in order to play a new game.
Also, I like to same a game at a crucial junction so I can go back if the decisions I made at that junction tirn into diaster. Saving at a junction enables me to play the same position in a variety of ways. It's kind of a learning tool or a practice tool. Plus, if I make any goofy mistakes I can just go back and fix it. Or I can keep playing the position until I find the perfect move for that positon (sometimes).
Of course doing this could be considered cheating, but I'm not playing anybody but myself, and I am playing to have fun, and like I said I enjoy replaying a position. It's kind of like chess in that way. It can help learn the game, and, of course, I feel better when I win!!!
So, does anyone know of a way to save the game other than on the save game screen. I noticed that there were several folders or files in the download of the game from Jon Sullivan, but when I opened them with Word Pad they were all gobbledygook. I don't know enough about computers to translate the gobbledygook into a saved game that can be retrieved, so can any body help?
Thanks for any responses.
I have some saves. I just would stop at the point I wanted to save, after the six slots were used.
Open a new folder some place and copy in my 6 saves to that folder. I use this in Moo2 as well.
Now you can have as many saves as you have disk spac for.
Groc, I don't have MOO installed at the moment, but if it's anything like MOOII in the way it is handling the saves, then there should be 6 files somewhere that most probably have the file extension ".gam"
look for 6 such files - I'm using moo ii as a guide, so not 100% sure -
if they exit, then Save1.gam Save2.gam etc or whatever their names are, then:
just COPY them into some backup folder. Then you can overwrite the "originals" with new saves and at some other time when u wish to return to those you can bring them back and replace your "new" current saves. If ofcourse u don't want to lose those either then back them up as well...
As I said, this is solely based on mooII experience
Originally posted by Groc
I noticed that there were several folders or files in the download of the game from Jon Sullivan, but when I opened them with Word Pad they were all gobbledygook. I don't know enough about computers to translate the gobbledygook into a saved game that can be retrieved, so can any body help?
I know some of the files there are in WinRar format. You need to have WinRar to unzip them. It can be downloaded as a test tool for free.
Yes they are save1.gam thru save7.gam in the MPS/Orion directory. IIRC save7 is the autosave.
I would name my folders for the game and have a master folder for Moo1 and the sub folders for the game name. Then rename the saves to the year such as T2525. Then you can have as many in that sub folder as you want for that game and will know the order they are to be used in.
There you go, same as moo II
And yes, you can rename them to whatever descriptive name you like, just make sure, before you restore a specific save, that you rename it back to one of the 7 save games and it will overwrite the save that is in that "save slot" (and don't worry, it doesn't matter if it used to be in a different slot before, so u don't have to remember)
The only pain in Moo1 is that you have to go into the race screen to get the turn date.
Moo2 has it in the save name by default, so it is easy to ignore the slots and just use the timestamp.
vmxa: i was personally reffering to the actual FILENAME of the save file:
eg renaming "save1.gam" to "mysaveforthisandthat.gam"
Yeah, I understood. I was just saying that when I want to name a MOO1 save to the date, it is a bit of a pain as I have to drill down to find the date.
It is nice in Moo2 that if you take the default for each slot it has the leaders name and the stardate. so I can easily go save1 is 3500.1 or what ever it is.
IOW I was just rambling.
The only reason I mentioned it was in case he did not know where to find the date in Moo1. It is in the race screen under status.
I use A1-A6, then B1, C1, D1 to keep them deliniated in Moo1. So when I come back to the game and see b3/b4/b5/b6/a1/b1, I know b6 is my last save. I just don't know what the stardate may be.
When I come to Moo2, even if it was weeks later, I can see the dates and have no problem knowing where I am.
Should I choose to save any of those games for any reason, I have to find the dates for Moo1 by loading the game and then use the naming convention.
Gane_Bin is my master directory for all my games. It has a folder for each game. Game_Bin\Moo\Moo1\whatever\T2300.gam.
Game_Bin\Moo\Moo2\whatever and so on.
So if i wnat to see all the patches for a game I know where it is and any docs I have accumulated and saves and screenies, whatever I have.
Since many of my games are very old like Alien Legacy or MoM I have them backed up to CD's. I have encountered a lot of games where you cannot easily find the patch any longer.
Sorry to have bored everyone with that.
Hey thanks a lot for your help, guys. In general I think I understand what you are saying, but still need help with the particulars.
First of all, I did not load the game from a disk I downloaded it from .JonSullivan.com/misc/moo.php; He calls it Master of Orion I Resources. I found it via a google search using Master of Orion I as the search criteria (and later added Jon Jullivan's name to the search criteria to make it come up as the first result).
He offers two downloads: 1. one called 'download game' which loads a file called Moo_ all, which is a composite he made, and 2. one called 'download all discs', where each disc can be downloaded seperately. I tried both ways and found the 'download game' easy as pie to use, but this being his composite rather than loaded from discs means my files where labeled by Jon and have similar, but different, names (than yours). And it means that I cannot tell what kind of format the files are. This may not be an issue, I hope not. I just wanted to mention it to be thorough in my description, so as to give you the whole picture of my situation. Whew - talk about long winded! I do find the 'save' files in his composite, but as I mentioned the content is in computer gobbledygook, that I don't know how to relate to at all.
These are the particulars I need help with. When I am looking at the save game screen there is only the screen. No tool bars, no way for me to select part or all of it to be saved - no nothing. I need to know how to manipulate the information on the screen into a file. I can open file in Moo_all, or anywhere else, but, I can't even touch the save game screen ( except in playing the game). I can only look at it. I have no toolbar, no nothing, to grap hold of any of the information on the save game screen.
And if you guys can somehow instruct me how to manipulate the save game screen, then what? I have to know how to manipulate the other end of the connection, the file that I that I created W will it be in gobbledygook? If it is, I'm lost. How to I get around, the gobbledygook. I need to see the information in english in order identify the games I've saved in english. You see what I mean? And since using english is a limitation I have. I'll need to solve than end of the process also. And I forgot to mention how is the information from the save game screen dropped into the file? So, I have know: 1. how to get the information form the game screen, 2. how to put it into the file, and 3. how to get it out of the file, in english. and 4. how to put the information from the file back onto the game screen. Whew, again.
I hope I am making myself clear. I am confident that you know you know how to do it. I just need you to spell out the interim steps for me.
Thanks, again. for you heip.
Groc -> icq me 4506289
It's better to "talk live" , rather than long essays...
I do not use chat channels, so just in case it is useful, let me take a stab.
I am not sure I have a clear picture of the issue, but:
In the game you go to the load game option. Once you select that you get a screen with 6 slots. You use the mouse to select any one of the 6 and once selected it shows as green.
That will load the game. The files are in \MPS\Orion as
\MPS\Orion\Save1.gam or save2 through save7.gam.
Save7 is the auto save.
Ypu can use your windows explorer application to open the directory I just mentioned. You then rename them or copy them as you please.
I highlight the ones I want and copy them to some other folder.
In that folder you can rename then in any fashion. It is best to leave the filetype as GAM, unless you want to post the save here, then it must have filetype of sav or zip.
When you are playing the game and go to the save screen, you can select any of the six slots and back space over it to clear the current name out (if any is there) and type in any name you please. This name is not going to match the name in the \MPS\Orion\ directory as it will be save1 to save6.gam, regardless of the name used by you.
This is where I use the convention of A1 to A6, then B,C,D. Then start all over again, once I get done with D6. This is just a way to let me know the order of use. It could be anything such as the stardate. I don't use that as I never seem to know what it is at any given moment.
Once I decide that I want to save a game, I will copy the appropriate save (save1 to save6) to a new location and rename it to something useful.
I tend to do it with a folder that gives me a clue as to why I saved it in the first place and then rename the save to the star date. I look up the stardate as months later, I will not know what save1 is and also I may have 20 saves and you can only have one save1 anyway.
Actually I have very few saves form Moo1, lots from Moo2, but I treat them the same. The difference is that Moo2 has the stardate available.
Here is what I am dojing for the demo game going on in Moo2 now. I have my \Game_Bin\MOO\Moo2 directory. It has a folder called Demo1 and in it I placed saves from my run of the game last year and downloaded turns from the current plays.
So I have \Game_Bin\MOO\Moo2\Demo1\Team262.gam. This is the last one posted my Whoha. I have T0/T25 and others from my run.
I have lots of these folders from games I have played with other players at one point or another.
Hope that is what you are looking for.
The part I am not sure I follow is the part about manipulation of the files. The saves are probably in binary and you would need a hex editor to make use of them and have to understand the format they are in to do anything with.
Some eidtors do exist that change or manipulate data, such as planets and ships. I would imagine that Jon's web has links to them.
Thanks, vmxa, and my apology, Brutalisk, for being so long. I what you mean by saving the game and copying it to a special file with a more useful name. That is what I meant by manipulating the file (content).
Just to be sure, inorder to load a game that I have saved, I would put that back into the Orion file thne return to the save game screen and simply select and load the appropriate. But - say, if I put a 'saved 6' game back into the Orion file I would then have two 'saved 6' files How will the computer know which one to load, or do I just delete the extra one I won't be using. I should just try deleting it and find out but I am gun shy to delete elements from programs, it may disappear forever. So, better to ask and be sure rather than experiment with deleting.
As you said, if I ever wanted to post a game I don't know if I could because, as far as I know, I can't tell what format it is in. It has to be in some kind of format, I'll givve Jon a call on that one. It will probable be a while before I want to post a game.
Thanks again.
P.S. This game is a lot of fun, and am surprised that it never came out in human vs human version. That would be fun - and instructional to the newbies.
They made MOO II a multiplayer game and ppl r sitll playing it
As for the file groc, you jsut need to "right-click" on it and select "copy", then copy it to some other folder and it's your to keep. it leaves the original file intact
Yes you copy it into the Orion directory and if one exist already it will ask you if you want to replace it. You cannot have two files in a directory with the same name.
Sometimes, just want to look at a save and rename the existing Savex.gam to savex.old and copy in the one I want to load.
When I am done, I will delete the one I just copied in and rename the savex.old back to savex.gam.
I can delete the one I brought in as the save exist in the folder I copied from.
No they never make it MP or PBEM. It was 1993 and no one was using emails then, well almost nobody. I suspect that Steve did not know how to coe for MP as it was rather rare. As you can see they are still having trouble getting it to work in games now.
If you look on this board you can find at least one game I posted from a friend of mine that was just learning the game. It was called save this or some such thing. He was playing at some low level and got into a real mess. I played it out for him and won it and though a few people my enjoy doing the same. A few player did.
Hello, again,
Well, I told you so. When I tried to replace SAVE4 in the MOO_all file with a file I had saved I got a blank in the 4 slot of the load game screen. Then I had the bright idea that the fille I had put in had a differnet date than the other files on the load game screen (although I had not included the date in the names of any of the files I had saved) - and needed to replace all of the SAVE Games in the MOO_all folder. So, I deleted SAVE!, SAVE2, SAVE3, etc...all of them, and replaced all ofthem with e1, e2, e3, etc. I remembereded to change all of the names of the files back to the corresponding SAVE1, SAVE2, SAVE3, etc. WHEN I WENT TO LOAD THE GAME IT WOULD NOT EVEN GO TO THE LOAD SCREEN. Somehow it did not even recognize the files I had put into MOO_all and named SAVE1, SAVE2, etc.
Fortunately, I had saved the file I had saved the games into. So, I reinstalled MOO I. But - now, I can only start a new game. The game I had been playing is temporatily, or permanently, lost. I have a copy of it that I called 'e4 Espi Human' (meaning that I started to espionage the humans that turn), but do not know how to insert it into Moo_all in order to run it. ( MOO_all being the name of the file that I down loaded from JonSullivan.com.)
So, any tips?
I have sent Jon Sullivan this information also, but he hasn't had time to get back to me.
I suspected that if I deleted the SAVE1, SAVE2, SAVE3, etc. that something bad might happen.
Can you tell me what I did wrong, and what I have to do right in order to reload the game I was playing?
Thanks, again.
Let me see if I can get on the same page as you. I do not really understand what exactly this Moo_ALL is.
Is it a directory name? Is it a Winrar file? Your saves need to be in the \MPS|Orion directory or its equivalent.
If open your windows explorer to the MOO_ALL and select view and choose details. It will show it to have a file type of RAR or Folder.
If it is a folder (directory), what is in that folder? Is it another folder named Orion? If not does it have the .lbx files? When you start the game what is the icon pointed to?
The properties has a tab for Program and it has the path used to find the Orion.exe. This the location the save must be placed in the form of name.gam (save1.gam).
Groc:
The file of the original save was for example:
"SAVE1.gam", correct?
CREATE A NEW MOO GAME and save on SLOT 1
CREATE a new FOLDER called "MyMooSaves"
RIGHT CLICK on the SAVE1.gam file and select COPY, then paste it into the "MyMooSaves" folder. This leaves the original savegame in the proper folder while you also have a copy of it for "keeps".
Create a new game again and save it again on SLOT 1.
Notice that it has now over-written the previous save.
Go into your "MyMooSaves" folder and right click on the SAVE1.gam file and select COPY, then PASTE it into the original MOO folder where your original save files are. It will ask you if you want to overwrite it, say "YES".
Start the game again and load the game on SLOT 1 and notice that it will be the OLD save...
Brutalisk,
What you said to do worked, even though some of the details were different. I did not load a commerecial version of MOOI, but a compiled version, from JohnSulivan.com. My saved games had not types at all, it just was named ' SAVE2', for example. When I renamed the file in myMoogames to SAVE2 it did just as you said, asked to write over, and then was the game that was loaded from that slot. If I recall right, I tried that before, but it didn't work. I must have did something differently.
At any rate, it works now, and thanks very, very much.
Vmxa1,
Thanks for hanging in there. If you read my response to Brutalisk, that is the latest.
Just for the record, in case you what to have closure, MOO_ALL is compiled file that I downloaded from JonSullivan.com. You know more about what a compiled file is than I. Perhaps I am using the wrong terminology. He selected what "components' of a commercial version of MOOI to include in a file that includes the lbx files, Orion.exe (which is name Orion in MOO_All) etc.
The icon points to Orion. There are no rar files. In my "layman" terminology, Jon Sullivan, picked and choose what files to include, and compiled a file that in its whole loads and runs MOOI. In the process it looks like he changed some of the names of the files. You could just download it, if you want to. One look and you you would know what it is. But that is up to you.
I don't know shy what I did didn't work, I did pretty much what Brutalisk said, only I deleted the SAVE1 that the computer generated and manually replaced it with the file I had saved. The only difference was I never got a prompt asking if I wanted to overwrite the computer generated file with mine.
Perhaps I should change my handle to Plog because I have to plog through this issues before getting a solution.
As I said, I appreciate your hanging in there.
Thanks again, very, very much.
No, prob Groc, glad I could help
Now that you did it correctly once -> it has sunk into your memory banks right?
I DL it and it was a rar file of the game. I suspect that once it was extracted you would have a compele game. So if you ran WinRar and extracted to C:\MPS\Orion, you should have a full game and it would behave as expected.
It comes with only save7.gam. This menas when you first load the game, it will have no saved games to load and play. You could then copy in any valid Moo1 save into \mps\orion\saveN.gam and it will be available to load and play.
The MOO_ALL has 48 file. If it have all 7 saves, it would have 54. This is the proper number and what I have.
So my question is when you extracted, what is the name of the directory you created? If it is not \MPS\Orion, I would rename it to that.
Vmxa1,
Believe it or not, I am not sure about the difference between a directory, and a file. I extracted MOO_All to program files, and retained the name MOO_ALL. It has a folder icon, so I thougt it was a file. Is it also a directory? I had one introductory computer class in college way back when, back before Windows I think, and I think of directories as a:, B:, etc. in DOS.
Be, glad to follow your advice, but out of curiosity, what difference does the name make. (And, my apology, I don't wish to bore you with perpetual elementary questions.)
Thanks, again.
Directory is the same thing as a folder - just a different name for it. Think of it as "PATH".
C:\MPS\Orion
would mean:
- It's in the "C:\" drive (=disk)
- It's in the "MPS" folder
- In a subfolder called "Orion"
Folder -> just like in real life is like a "case" or an "envelope" that contains papers (=files)
In short, a folder CONTAINS files, but is not exactly a file in itself. (it is but n/m, I am keeping it simple for you)
You can then have a folder that has subfolders and those subfolders behave in the same manner as that folder.
eg:
You are in C:\ drive (hard disk)
You have a folder called "Program Files" and when you double click it, you open it to see what files and subfolders it has inside. Click on a subfolder and youg et to see what files and subfolders it also has inside, etc
As for the letters of the alphabet: they are a relic from the past:
Old computers used to have two floppy drives
A:\ and B:\
Then you had the hard disk
C:\
And then you had any other kinds of drives or extra disks such as:
- a partition (=when you split ONE harddisk into more than one drives)
- another hard disk
- a cd-rom (when they appeared)
- a dvd-rom
- a cd-writer
- a dvd-writer
- a tape
etc
Each one of them gets a letter. Convention has it that A:\ and B:\ are floppys while C:\ is your main harddisk
Click on "my computer" folder (hehe) and look inside there:
You have a floppy driver called "A:\" and a "C:\" which is your main hard disk and the most important disk on your computer (that's where your operating system (eg windows) is) and you also have atleast a "D:\" drive which is your cd-rom or dvd ...
If you got any more letters in there, it's because you got several hard disks or a partition or several cd-roms dvd-roms
Groc, my icq is 4506289, I can "talk you through" these things much betetr rather than posting about them, if you want to
The fact that you have used the name of "MOO_ALL" as the directory iis the cause of the confusion.
Simply open the windows explorer and drill down to folder named "Program Files\MOO_ALL" if that is the name you have.
Right click on it and select copy. Copy to the root directory. Use the name C:\MPS\Orion. This is the default location for Moo1.
Moo1 is a DOS game. Folders are directories and subdirectories.
Anyway, I see no reason why it should matter. You should be able to copy any saved game from the directory to any other directory. You should be able to copy them back and load them in the game. The only requirement is that they not be zipped and have a filetype of GAM (save1.gam) and filename of save1 to 6.
As I said the name you choose to use when you save them within the game, is not denoted in the windows explorer, that name is internal to Orion.exe application.
If you took any game from save1.gam to save6.gam and renamed it to anyname.sav and posted it here anyone could download it and copy it to the directory that cntained Orion.exe as long as they renamed or saved it as saveX.gam. Where X is 1-6. I do it all the time with Moo1 and Moo2.
The reason they need the filetype of sav is a board restriction here at Poly.
Hmmm,
I have the general concept of files and folders. I finally see what you mean by copying from the 'Orion program', be it called C:\mps\Orion or whatever, I think. I ended up calling it 'HOME' (of the progam). Named the actual game being played 'Game'. So I send a copy of SaveX from 'Home' to 'Game' and then rename them to something meaningful, and conventional, for me.
And I get how to place a file from 'Game' back into 'Home', i.e. change the name back to SAVEX and send a copy to 'Home'.
It is working great this way. Again, thanks, alot.
And since it is working great, I didn't make a copy and put it in C:\mps\Orion. I have 'Home' and 'Game' in a file called 'MOO'. That ergonomic, or something, for me. I I see that using subject titles may not work if I ever want to post on the forum.
Were you referring to that when you said to make a copy MOO_ALL in C:\mps\Orion? I haven't grasped that yet I don't think.
Now for a digression.
I was feeling guilty, and rightfully so, about playing MOO too much and deleted the whole thing. But I ended up downloadeding it again, of course. But had lost the files 'Game' and 'Home' and could not therefore load the game that I had quit on. I downloaded the free 'PC File Recovery' program. The files I deleted went through the recyle bin. PC file Recovery found the files but THEY NO LONGER HAD THE NAMES I HAD GIVEN THEM. Folders were called things like DC42 and had nothing in them at all. Game files were called things like dc257.game. I could recover them back, but they wouldn't load.
Once recovered, I changed the name from dc257 to SAVEX and copied it back into 'Home', but when I clicked that SAVE in the load game screen the MOO application shut down (the game completely quit), and I was sent to a DOS screen that told me that the LBX number was too high. Meaning, think, that I had not yet played enough games on the new download to equal the dcX number of the old download, X being the number of games that were saved on the first download. In particular the highest game that PC File Recover showed was dc257.game. I tried to trick the computer by renameing de257 to dc11 before I copied it to 'Game', and that worked. I renamed it SAVEX and sent it to home and that worked, but it still quit the when I tried to load it from the load game screen, and game me the message about too high a LBX number.
So, I said all of that, yes ALL of that, just to point out that underneath MOO_ALL calling the saves SAVEX, it is really calling them SAVEX.gam, or something close to that, i.e. it has a suffix, but just doesn't show it in MOO_All file.
End of digression (and unintended digressions. I am resigned that I lost that game.)
Back to...
If I would ever post on the forum, how would I need to label the bile inorder for it to be recognized by the Forum computer?
Feel free not to answer this. Be free to safe your brain cells, and time, trying to explain this to me. I don't want to abuse your helpfulness by perpetuating technical questions that are over my head. I was just wondering/wandering. It isn't too likely that I'll ever post on the forum, anyway. But, curisioty.....
Again, thanks for all your help, and patience.
I was just wandering.
Here is my directory:
You likely have C:\MOO_ALL. This has the same files as mine, except for the saves.
If you create a directory (folder) called \MPS and the create a subdirectory called \Orion. You can then copy all of the contents of MOO_ALL into C:\MPS\Orion and it will be like mine, which is the default name.
Create a short cut to Orion.exe and put it where ever you like. I have it in my start menu and changed the icon to something distinct.
Here is some saves I have in a seperate folder and how to rename them"
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