How To Send and Use A Saved Game File  

How to Send a Saved Game File

First you need to find the saved file you want to send. If you are unsure where your game folder is, just right click on the game icon on your desktop, click on Properties and look at the “Target” line. This will tell you the path to your game folder. For instance "C:\Program Files\Himalaya Studios\Al Emmo\Al_Emmo.exe" tells you to go to your Program Files folder, find the Himalaya Studios folder and then find the Al Emmo folder. Now the trick is to figure out which one of those files is the one you want to send. Most saved games will have a numbering system such as Al_Emmo.015 or perhaps sav.015. Moving your mouse over the save file should give you the date and time the game save was created and that may help you decide. Sometimes you simply have to play to a certain point, save the game and then go to the game folder and find it.

Once you have your saved game located, the rest is all downhill. Either remember or write down where it is. Now open up your e-mail client, attach the file and hit send.

Outlook Express : Open up a new e-mail. Click on Insert; click on File Attachment; go find your file location and click on it to highlight. Click on the Attach button and you are ready to click on send. Or you can simply right click on the game save file, click on Send To and then click on Mail Recipient. That will automatically attach it into an Outlook Express E-mail.

Yahoo Mail : Click on Compose; click on Attach Files. You can either type in the path or use the Browse button to go find your file. Once you find it, click on it to highlight and click Open. Now you have to click on the Attach Files button and then click on Continue to Message. Your file is attached to your e-mail and you are ready to send.

Gmail : Click on Compose Mail; click on Attach a File. As with Yahoo Mail, you can either type in the path or use the Browse button to go find your file. Once you find it, click on it to highlight and click on Open. The file will now be attached to your e-mail and it is ready to send.

AOL : Click on Write Mail; click on Attach a File. As with Yahoo Mail, you can either type in the path or use the Browse button to go find your file. Once you find it, click on it to highlight and click on Open. The file will now be attached to your e-mail and it is ready to send.

How to Load a Saved Game File

So you've reached a spot in a game that you can't work around and you've downloaded a saved game file to get you past the roadblock. Or perhaps a friend has kindly e-mailed you one. But you don't know how to go about using the file. Here's a little guide to walk you through it.

Step One is actually obtaining the file. If you get it from the Mystery Manor Attic, just click on the link. You will be asked where on your computer you want to save the file. For ease, you may want to choose Desktop as the destination. If someone has e-mailed you the file, you should click on the paper clip icon in the upper-right corner of the e-mail preview (This assumes you are using Outlook Express) and select Save Attachments. You will then be asked where you want to save the file.

Step Two is determining where the game itself stores its saved games. AS A RULE, most games will have a folder specifically for saved game files. It may be called DATA or something similar. However, some older games (particularly old Sierra DOS games) use your My Documents folder as the default location of saved games. If you are unsure about the exact location of saved games on your computer, try using the Find function on your Start Menu. Generally speaking, every game has some kind of unique extension (the three letters after the dot in the file name) . Simply search your hard drive for similarly named files with that extension. For example, if the file is named something like "sav12.pog" then enter ".pog" in the search field of the Find utility and it should locate where the other saved game files for that particular game are located.

Step Three is determining whether or not you need to rename your new saved game file. Check to make sure if any of your currently existing saved games have the identical filename as your new one. If so, putting your new file in that folder will overwrite your existing saved game with that name. (Note that this is not always a bad thing. It just depends on if you want to keep the old save or not.) Many games use sequential names for saved games. In Syberia, for example, the saved games are named S01, S02, S03, etc. (Those are zeroes, not letter O's.) Many such games will have problems is there is a gap in the sequence. So if you are going to install a new saved game for Syberia and you only have three previous saves and the saved game file you downloaded is named "S08" you will want to rename it to "S04" so that the names stay in sequence. You can rename a file by right-clicking on it and selecting Rename from the popup menu.

Step Four is the easiest of them all. You've found the folder where the new save should go and you have the file named the way you want. Now just right-click on the file and select Copy. Now go to the saved game folder and right-click again on any empty space in the folder. Choose Paste. Voila! You have installed your saved game file. You may now delete the original copy of the file from your desktop or wherever you stored it if you wish.

Good luck and happy gaming.