Play as Zero or Michelle + Bonus 'Schoolgirl' and 'Summer' outfit for Ayumi

This guide will explain how you can play through the story mode as 'Zero' or 'Michelle' instead of Ayumi.

+ It includes the 'Schoolgirl' and 'Summer' outfits for Ayumi that are already in the game, but can't be accessed in normal ways.

Understanding the fundamentals:

This guide is different from my skin guide. This because skins are modifications. What we are doing here is just activating outfits that are already in the game, BUT can only be accessed by savefile modifications. Even Zero and Michelle are considered to be hidden outfits in the game.

How to modify your own savefile so you can play as Zero or Michelle

1. Play the game untill you reach the Desert stage, this will unlock the first ingame costume.

2. Now play any stage untill you reach a checkpoint, not the beginning of a stage. You can use the restart checkpoint option to check if you reached a checkpoint. Once you hit a checkpoint, make a mental note of what costume you're wearing, then exit to the main menu. Alt-Tab or exit the game.

3. Open your game save folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\YourID\208670\remote.
Make a backup of the 'remote' folder just to be safe in case you do something wrong and mess up your savefile.

4. Now open the original "remote" folder, and find the file 'save00.blk'. Make a copy of said file on your desktop or somewhere safe, we will need this later. Also rename it to 'save00REFERENCE.blk' to avoid confusion.

5. Launch the game again, and continue from the same save. You should be at the same checkpoint. Open your diary, open the last tab and ONLY change your costume (press Y on xbox controller). Then save and quit the game.

6. Download and open HxD[mh-nexus.de]. At the top menu click on Analyze > File Compare, and select both the just saved savefile 'save00.blk' from your savefolder and the backup you made on your desktop 'save00REFERENCE.blk'. This should bring both files up side-by-side.

7. You should see the cursor highlight the same location in both files, but with different values. Don't click anywhere inside the text. Now press F6 (Find Next Difference) untill you find a spot where the difference in numbers match the 2 current different equiped outfits in the savegames, probably 00, 02, or 04 (refer to table below).

8. Change the double-digit number in your save file (NOT in the copy 'save00FIRST.blk') to match the character you want:

06 for Zero
07 for Michelle

Save the file and start the game again through Steam. Now just load your savefile and your chosen character should be active!

You can also safely delete 'save00REFERENCE.blk' if you still have it on your desktop.

How to modify your save so you can use the 'Schoolgirl' and 'Summer' outfit for Ayumi?

Same steps as above, only you change the digits to one of these during step 8:
01 for Summer outfit
03 for Schoolgirl outfit

Reference table:

Default outfits in the game:
00 Default outfit
02 Winter outfit
04 Skyguard outfit

Hidden outfits only unlockable by save editing:
01 Summer outfit
03 Schoolgirl outfit
06 Zero
07 Michelle

All this save manipulating is too hard I just want pre-modified saves!!!

So in case you don't want to do the above steps or they where too hard and you failed or you don't want to wait untill you played as far as the dessert area or etcetera...

For those people I present my pre-modified saves: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cWh2JnrJP6N0YydUXbvqroBk0Jlmz75o/view?usp=sharing

Paste the save ('save00.blk') you want into:
C:\Programs Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\[YourID]\208670\remote

Or if your save is not stored there, then the location will be:
C:\Users\[computer name]\AppData\Local\BladesOfTime

1st WARNING: Doing this will of course overwrite your own savefile. If you don't want this make a backup first so you can revert back later.

2nd WARNING: Using these manipulated savefiles will trigger some achievements unlocks when you start up the game. While this is not harmfull some people may want to unlock said achievements themselves. By using one of these manipulated savefiles the following achievements will trigger if you haven't unlocked them yet:
-Ready To Fight: Find all types of equipment.
-Curious: Find half the notes.
-Collector: Find all the notes.
-I'm Rich: Find all the chests in story mode on the Normal difficulty level.
-Treasure Hunter: Find all the chests in story mode on the Hard difficulty level.

FINAL REMARK: Read me!!!

Once you manipulated your save to play as a specific character or you applied one of the two outfits. But afterwards you decide to change your outfit in the ingame menu or the game itself forces a new outfit on you story wise. Then you will need to redo the above steps!

So if you are doing this to play as 'Zero' or 'Michelle' I know it's annoying, but there is not much that can be done about it.

On the other hand if you are doing this for the 'Summer' or 'Schoolgirl' outfit you might want to check out my other guide with SKINS instead of OUTFITS. These are not affected when the game forces a new outfit on you. And they might contain something else you like too ; ).

What do I do if the difficulty of the game is too hard and I just want to enjoy these characters/outfits???

Well you could always use some ingame cheats.

1. Go to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\[YourID]\208670\remote
2. Open 'settings.blk' in notepad.
3. Add or change the following lines:

godmode:b=yes - Invincibility
devastation:b=yes - One-hit kill enemies

4. Save the changes you made and just launch the game through Steam.

Again make a backup copy of 'settings.blk' before you do this, just to be safe.

BONUS GUIDE: Skin collection (Including X-Blades outfit) - 12 skins: SFW & NSFW

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2523094478

Thanks for supporting my guides!

If this guide has helped you in any way please give it a positive star rating. This will help other people know it's a good guide and that it's worth checking out. ; )

Also if you really really really liked my guide, awards are always welcome! :D

[Malbec]

Yeah, looking at the pictures from your skins collection, I can see the 'Summer' and 'Schoolgirl' replacers suffer from the same problem.
I guess the meshes weren't properly finished as they're not available in the normal game.

Cheers and all the best.

[Dimi]

@Malbec

Glad some people are still getting some out of this guide. I can't remember if it looked glitched sorry.

I mainly used what I wrote in the other guide with custom outfits and used one that looked close to the original first game.

[Malbec]

Great guide, nicely done.

One small question, though (I know it's been a few years but worth a try, right?):

When I use outfit 01 or 03, the side sword position looks kinda glitched when sheathed; like the mesh wasn't rigged properly.
Do you also get that?
If I change back to the default outfit through the menu, it looks normal again.

It's a pity these outfits weren't implemented normally in the game, they look really nice.

Anyway, cheers for the guides, good stuff.