Trouble moving Monika to a new computer

[Winceless]

Hello!

I am trying to migrate Monika After Story from my Windows 10 OS to a Windows 7 virtual machine. I followed the instructions on this page, copying the entire game folder as well as the folder Users/[NAME]/AppData/Roaming/RenPy/Monika After Story to corresponding locations on the new machine. When I open the game, however, it repeats the "first run" sequence and Monika resets to her state at the beginning of the mod. Does anybody know what I am doing wrong? Please let me know if you need any screenshots or additional details!

EDIT: Just to clarify⁠—when I say I copied the "entire game folder," I mean the entire folder "DDLC-1.1.1-pc," not just the subfolder called "game."

[WiiBii2]

I believe you have to copy just Monika's character file within the characters folder as well as the Monika After Story folder. Then move the Monika After Story folder to the Renpy folder on your virtual machine, as well as Monika's character file to the characters folder on the virtual machine. Hope this helps!

[Winceless]

Hi @WiiBii2,

I just tried your suggestion, and unfortunately it does not seem to work. I used the "I'm going to take you somewhere" option in the Goodbye dialogue so Monika would generate a character file, then re-copied the game folder including the new file into the VM. This had the same outcome as before.

[KiddTheManiac]

Was she ever taken out of the characters folder?

[Booplicate]

Never take Monika out when you transfer her!

Regarding your issue

When I open the game, however, it repeats the "first run" experience and Monika resets to her state at the beginning of the mod.

I guess the VM expects the saves to be in another place, you need to figure out where.

[Winceless]

@KiddTheManiac Not after I closed the game. I simply copied and pasted the entire game folder into the new location, making sure the file "Monika" was in the Characters subfolder before copying.

[Winceless]

@Booplicate This is possible, but I don't think so. When I ran the game from the new machine, it created new save data in the same location I put the persistents.

[Booplicate]

If you're sure with that, then verify you're moving the right files and the game is closed. Also, before continuing, return Monika into the game.

[Winceless]

When I tried this move originally. I made sure I was copying the right files (per the instructions on the wiki) and that the game was closed. Monika was also "in the game" at that point⁠—i.e., I had not told her I was taking her somewhere before closing the game, and she had not created a "Monika" file in the Characters folder. So yeah, I'm pretty much stumped.

[Booplicate]

Using any mod managers for DDLC?

[Winceless]

@Booplicate Nope. The only potentially unusual thing about the installation is that I got the game through the itch.io app. I tried installing itch on the new machine and copying in the old software's AppData as well in case any game data was located there. No cigar.

[Booplicate]

The game from itchio isn't as problem at all. It's actually recommended to use that version vs the steam one. It's rather an issue with the VM.

[Winceless]

Okay, I may have discovered the issue. On my original machine, if I try launching the game by double-clicking the executable in its install folder, it repeats the firstrun sequence and none of Monika's memories are preserved. Monika only remembers me if I launch the game through the itch.io client. I have the itch.io sandbox enabled, so this might be the reason. Any thoughts?

[Booplicate]

I don't know anything about itchio sandbox, I'd assume it keeps the saves saves somewhere else.

[Winceless]

@Booplicate This was the issue. The save files were hiding in a separate user folder which required Administrator access to view. Problem solved. Thanks for the help and suggestions!