Take The Biscuit Quest Bug Fix

This is a walkthrough on how to fix the Mooncalfs disappearing from the cage in "Take The Biscuit" Quest.

Introduction

The Bug is caused after the player opens the cage and then leaves the area - causing the Mooncalfs to despawn and never spawn back again.
The simplest solution is to reload an old save before opening the cage, but if you made too much progress and don't want to lose it all this guide is for you.

⚠️ Warning

Follow this guide with your own discretion. I cannot and will not take responsibility for broken save files - make sure to backup your save file before starting.
The save files sit under `C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Hogwarts Legacy\Saved\SaveGames\<SomeID>`

Disclaimer

I did not write or come up with any of the steps detailed in this guide, I only combined a few different guides into one comprehensive guide.

Sources:

• Take The Biscuit Bug Fix (Reinstate Lock)[www.nexusmods.com] - using the way back machine
  
• Hogwarts Legacy Save Tool[www.nexusmods.com]
  
• Hogwarts Legacy Save Game Editor[www.nexusmods.com]

Needed Resources

The following are the tools used by the guide:

• Hogwarts Legacy Save Tool[www.nexusmods.com] - referred to as HLSaveTool in the guide.
  
• Hogwarts Legacy Save Game Editor[www.nexusmods.com] - referred to as hlse in the guide.
  
• Sqlite file editor (e.g. DB Browser for SQLite[sqlitebrowser.org])

Creating an Editable Save File

The game save files as is are not editable, the following steps detail how to make them so.

1. In Windows Explorer, go to C:\Users\[yourusername]\AppData\Local\Hogwarts Legacy\Saved\SaveGames\
   
2. There will be folders with an eight or nine-digit number name. Each folder is for a different character - Identify yours.
   

   Originally posted by tip:

   The "last updated" of the folder and the files within can hint which one to look for

3. Identify the save file you want to edit based on the date it was created.
   

   Originally posted by tip:

   It will be the same as the save time in game

4. Rename it from .sav to .orig (e.g: HL-03-05.sav to HL-03-05.orig)
   

   Originally posted by tip:

   Remember to backup the save file before making changes

5. Copy that file (e.g. HL-03-05.orig) to the HLSaveTool folder.
   
6. First Left-Click your HLSaveTool folder, then press SHIFT and Right-Click your HLSaveTool folder.
   
7. Select "Open CMD window here" or "Open Powersell window here" (whichever is available or whichever you prefer), and then type the following commands in the new window that appears:
   
8. Decompress your save file, e.g: .
   

    \hlsaves.exe -d HL-03-05.orig HL-03-05.decomp 

Fixing the Quest

Now with the `.decomp` we created we can edit the data within to reverse the quest to a state before the Mooncalfs despawned.

1. Open the hlse html file.
   
2. Click `Upload Save` in the upper right corner and choose the `.decomp` file created in the previous part.
   
3. Click `Save File` in the left navigator.
   
4. Click Download Database 1, it should download an sqldb1.sqlite file.
   
5. Launch your SQL Editor and open the downloaded database.
   
6. Look for the table LockableComponentsDynamic.
   
7. Locate the following ID in the Data table:
   

    PadlockComponent /Game/Levels/Overland/SubLevels/HN_AP_Mission.HN_AP_Mission:PersistentLevel.COM_23_MoonCalfCage_0.Padlock 

8. Edit the value under the "Locked" column to 1.
   
9. Commit the change.
   
10. Back in the HLSGE, still in the Save File menu, under custom DB Upload, attach the updated sqlite file in Database 1.
    
11. Click Generate Save File, this would download an hlcustomsave.sav file.

Applying the Changes

The `.sav` file created in the previous stage is still decompressed, DO NOT TRY TO LOAD THE GAME WITH IT - it won't work.
The following steps are to re-compress the save file so that it can be loaded by the game.

1. Copy that file (e.g. `hlcustomsave.sav`) to the HLSaveTool folder.
   
2. Rename the file and save it with the `.edited` extention (e.g. `hlcustomsave.edited`).
   
3. First Left-Click your HLSaveTool folder, then press SHIFT and Right-Click your HLSaveTool folder.
   
4. Select "Open CMD window here" or "Open Powersell window here" (whichever is available or whichever you prefer), and then type the following commands in the new window that appears:
   
5. Compress your edited file, e.g:
   

    .\hlsaves.exe -c hlcustomsave.edited hlcustomsave.sav 

6. Rename the file to the name of the save file (e.g: `HL-03-05.sav`) and copy it to the SaveGames folder.
   
7. Load the game with the edited save and go to the cage in the location of the quest, the Mooncalfs will respawn.
   
8. Catch Biscuit.

[Peridotte]

My brain does not understand how to do this. Is there any easier way???

[TN-LUNA]

What a coincidence. I just finished my game by doing exactly what you described in your post. I decompressed my saved file, but in the LockableComponentsDynamic table I modified another value (there's a video on Youtube that explains it). It took me several days to find the guides to help me finish this quest. I suspect they are the same as yours. Thank you for posting this!