How to downgrade and quickly swap (1 click, instant) between different versions in Lies of P having common savegames (steam only)
Preface
This is a small guide how to softlock/downgrade a game to an earlier version and be able to quickly switch between versions with a click. The savegames are also compatible between versions, so this will work nicely to our advantage.
Note that when the DLC gets released, this will become obviously obsolete if you want a new content - though the savegames might still be compatible. We will see.
For simplicity, this guide assumes basic steam installation on C: only. Adjust accordingly if you are using separate disk for your steam stuff.
Personally I recommend using FAR manager or any other similar dual pane file manager for doing stuff like that (esp. managing symlinks, hardlinks or reparse points).
Basic info
usual directory where games are installed: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common
depot directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\content
Note: manual downloads via steam console always go to this content
directory; you might have to change it to a symlink pointing to some more spacious place depending on your setup (e.g. you have small sized system partition).
Preparation
- set Lies of P to upgrade on launch only
- shutdown steam
- backup your saves NOW - they are under
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Lies of P\LiesofP\Saved
; shit might happen and future update(s) might not be so compatible - prepare the directory for custom versions and savegames, for example let's use
C:\content
- create dir
C:\content\LoP_saves
- from existing LoP installation, move game's savegames (
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Lies of P\LiesofP\Saved
) there - move the Lies of P itself (
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Lies of P
) toC:\content
and rename it toLoP_HEAD
- create symlink to common savegames:
mklink /d "C:\content\LoP_HEAD\LiesofP\Saved" C:\content\LoP_saves\Saved
- create symlink to the actual game:
mklink /d "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Lies of P" C:\content\LoP_HEAD
- start steam with
-console
flag - or - typesteam://open/console
into Run (LWin+R) - download Lies of P v1.1.2.0:
download_depot 1627720 1627721 6414528620246400900
- once it's finished it will be under:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\content\app_1627720\depot_1627721
- move the
depot_1627721
toC:\content\
and rename it toLoP_1120
- create symlink to common savegames:
mklink /d "C:\content\LoP_1120\LiesofP\Saved" C:\content\LoP_saves\Saved
- you can now remove empty
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\content\app_1627720
You should now have:
Prepare two trivial batch files,
LoP_HEAD.bat:
LoP_1120.bat:
Copy them to some convenient place, e.g. your desktop.
How to use
- use the batch files to swap the game version; if you copied them to desktop, just click on them - the swap is instantaneous
- If steam lists LoP as "upgrade required", switch to HEAD and upgrade
- you can switch versions whenever you want - no need to close steam; but obviously don't (try) do that when the game is running or steam is updating this game
- despite juggling between versions, the game remembers what you bought (e.g. extra quartzes); it will still inform you whenever you "upgrade" that you got new skins