How to Cheat (Savegame Editor)

Got into a situation you'd rather not be in, but don't want to restart from a savepoint way earlier?
Want your relationship stat to be higher, so you don't miss out on all of the cute relationship stuff?
Accidentally chose a lame colour for your cat?

Fret no longer, because I wrote a savegame editor for the game.

How to Cheat

Got into a situation you'd rather not be in, but don't want to restart from a savepoint way earlier?
Want your relationship stat to be higher, so you don't miss out on all of the cute relationship stuff?
Accidentally chose a lame colour for your cat?

Fret no longer, because I wrote a savegame editor for the game.
Using it, you'll be able to retroactively change facts or relationship stats.

Warning: This program was only tested using a savefile for a complete game. But you probably should play through the whole game first anyway...

Step 1: Download the Program

- Navigate to https://github.com/JanFrederick00/DNESaver/releases/latest and download the DNESaver.zip
- Extract it into a folder of your choice (location does not matter).
- Run the program by double clicking the DNESaver.exe file.
- The Program will complain that the library `oo2core_5_win64.dll` is not present. This is normal. The game uses the oodle compression library to compress the savegame, and since that's a proprietary library I couldn't include it in the zip file.
- Download a copy of the library. The program should open your web-browser with a helpful google search when you click "ok". Place the dll file in the same folder as the DNESaver.exe
- Run the program again.

Step 2: Edit your Save

The Program will first locate the savegames. Note that this currently assumes that the Savegame folder only contains savegames for a single steam user ID. If more than one are present, the first one will be used.
Also note that only the savefile in the first slot will be modified.

If the game detects that the savefile was saved by the game itself (and not by a previous instance of the save editor), a backup of your file will be created.


You can open the game's save directory by the menu option "File>Open Savegame Location".

You will notice that the save editor is broken into two tabs. The first one edits all the "facts" - i.e. all of the choices you made over the course of your playthrough.
The second tab is used to adjust the relationship values between the characters.

2.1: Facts

A fact is a piece of information used by the game to store a choice which you or another character made.
Usually choices are points where the animation of a tree growing is played.
Some choices are yes or no options, others are numbers, and some can be selected from a list of options.
As an example, let's say we want to change the color (and name) of Swann's cat.

First, we need to find the fact we want to edit. We will therefore enter the term "cat" or other related words in the search bar.
We can see right away which option stores the cat color. We can select between "Orange", "Black" or "White". Simply select the new value in the drop-down and mark the property to be changed.
Only properties where the check-box on the right is checked will be adjusted.

Note that we can see a history for each property under it.
The game needs to keep track of your savegame at the start of each scene which is selectable from the main menu - otherwise it would have no way of reloading it.
The save editor performs some analysis to show you in which scene each fact changed. Most facts are only set once (like the one for the cat's color - it is set when swann reminds her mother of the cat's name).
Some other facts are set more often. For instance the game keeps track of how many violent vs non-violent choices you make during the game, or which outfit Swann is currently wearing.

2.2: Relationships

Switch to the second tab, which shows the relationships between the characters. Don't be alarmed about all the numbers, it's really quite simple.
The relationship data is stored for each scene snapshot individually as well.
The game keeps track of a lot of different relationships - most notably the relationship between Swann and each of her three friends in both the past and present time-zone.
I'm not quite sure all of them are used. In my playthrough I never saw the value of the Relationship between Swann and the Bartender change, for example.
For each scene (Note that the scene name refers to the values at the start of the scene), we can adjust each relationship value individually.
Each relationship has a "Level", which corresponds to those seen on the stats screen after finishing an episode. Since this level isn't very granular, the game also keeps track of a "Growth" and a "Decay"-Value as well as counters for both of them.
It is currently not fully understood how exactly the game calculates when the Growth or Decay wraps around to the level values, or how the specific numbers are calculated. But basically the values other than the level are used as a tie-breaker when the relationship between swann and multiple of her friends is the same.

You can adjust the relationship values for each scene separately. Note that changing the value in one scene only rolls over to the next scene if you restart the game from that scene. If you replay consecutive scenes in collectible mode, the numbers shown in the editor are loaded for each scene.

A good place to see an obvious difference the relationship levels make are at the end of tape 1 when one of Swann's three friends will do her make-up for the band concert. The friend doing your makeup will always be the one with the highest relationship level between Swann and her. If that level is 2 or higher ("BFFs" or "Something more"), the scene will play out slightly differebtly.
Some options are only available if your relationship level is high enough.

2.3 All Done

When you press the button on the bottom right or use one of the options in the "file"-menu, the tool will update your savegame. Remember, you still have that backup.
You can select the option which starts the game afterwards if you want to optimise your workflow (very useful during testing!).

If you encounter any problem, feel free to open an issue on the GitHub page linked above.
If you'd like to hear more about the way in which the game saves data, check out the Readme on the same page.

I encourage you to try out some variations for certain scenes (even if they are not "better" than the ones you got on your playthrough), as there is a surprising amount of variation.

Some important facts

I'll leave you here with a list of "facts", which you may be looking for if you want to use this tool:

1-1: S1000_DIA_CatColour -> Color of the Cat

DigitalPet_ActionPlay
DigitalPet_ActionFeed
DigitalPet_ActionClean
DigitalPet_HasPoop
DigitalPet_HasEggHatched -> Associated with the tamagotchi on Swann's Desk.

Meta_NonViolentChoices
Meta_ViolentChoices -> counts how many of the choices made are violent or non-violent.

1-6: S1500_EVN_RetrievedTheKeys -> Whether or not Autumn got her key back. Used for an achievement.
1-6: S1500_DIA_ManholeCovered -> Manhole covered with cardboard
1-7: S1600_INP_AUTKeysAvailable -> may need to be set in combination with the other two facts.

1-8: S2000_10_DIA_AutDrinks -> Drink choice for Autumn
1-8: S2200_DIA_OrderingDrinks_ChoseSoftDrink -> Swann chose a soft drink for herself when ordering
1-8: S2200_DIA_MysteryPackage_ChosePayNow -> Swann chose to pay directly

1-9: S2300_EXA_ChosePick_03 -> Swann chose Nora's favorite guitar pick.

1-11: S2600_DIA_BestActess -> Who did Swann say was the best actess?

1-16: S2750_DIA_HideoutName -> Fawn's Curse / Fawn's Rest

1-17: S2760_NoraPiercing -> What piercing location was suggested to Nora
1-17: S2760_DIA_SwannRecPiercing -> Did Swann recommend a piercing?
1-17: S2760_DIA_NoraBraceletGem -> What Gem on Swann's bracelet?
1-17: S2760_DIA_NoraBracelet_ForSwann

1-24: S3200_20_ConcertOutfit -> Makeup choice
1-24: S3200_20_MakeupHelper -> Who did your makeup? (note that this is what is used for the recap. When replaying that scene the variable is set according to the relationship level).

2-4: S4200_20_ReturnedPamsBook -> Found & retuned book to Pam.
2-4: S4200_FoundPamsBook
2-4: S4200_DIA_InterviewedDylan
2-4: S4200_DylansAgainstCorey
2-4: S4200_RejectedByDylan

2-6: S4400_EVN_AutumnLeft -> Autumn left swann alone.
2-6: S4400_EVN_AutumnsBetrayal -> Set in this scene, used later.

2-7: S4500_NoraLeaves -> Nora decided to leave in "Nora's Grief". (set the next one appropriately)

2-16: Sxxxx_BAR_Ending_IsPresent_SUM -> Set according to S4500_NoraLeaves.
2-16: Sxxxx_BAR_Ending_IsPresent_AUT -> Set if autumn has decided not to leave.