Error loading from character file: Character version is not compatible

[Knoopington]

No description provided.

[gahstanz]

Few questions.

1. Did you recently update your client?
2. What version is your current client?
3. Can you please provide a sample of the file that is causing the issue?

[assBuk]

The version of the client and the game is most likely the latest ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[Ecksters]

@jensbrak To my knowledge yours was the only version of Loki that supported post-Mistlands update. However, it seems like the Hildir's Request update has broken the character editor again, any chance you'd be willing to fix it since Wufflez seems unavailable?

[jensbrak]

However, it seems like the Hildir's Request update has broken the character editor again

I noticed that and started look at the changes. It's more than a few new items, the save format has been quite extensively updated. Nothing advanced but more than the usual tweaks for sure (new stats system and some updates to the skill system too IIRC).

any chance you'd be willing to fix it since Wufflez seems unavailable?

I'll see what I can do. Nothing particular complicated but a little more to test. Not sure if I will extend my branch of the program or the main one. I'll give a heads up here if I get the time to do an update. If no one beats me to it that is.

Other than that I've played some more with Unity and dived a little deeper in the Valheim code base (already made my first mod. Nothing worthy a release but it's even more fun to fool around with the code at runtime than with the save files.)

[jensbrak]

A little update: just as I had made the changes in (my version of) Loki to make it work with the Hildir update, Valheim was updated once again. And of course it included changes affecting how characters are loaded and saved. I have now updated (again my version of) Loki once again. It seems to work but needs a bit consideration and testing I feel. Why?

The main problem is it seems the official Loki version is not actively maintained, or so it seems. My version of Loki might be the latest one updated to be compatible with Valheim as it has changed, but I have no intention of becoming the maintainer of Loki. As Valheim is evolving (with respect to character/player data), it becomes more and more difficult to "just throw in" things into Loki without having to do design choices and more.

I'll see if I can redo things but base it on the official Loki code instead of my branch with its own life (sigh). If not, I'll just complicate things even more. I made my branch to toy with Loki, not with the intention to change it in the long run.

(Since I've learned loads of stuff about Unity in general and Valheim in particular since I first started to toy with Loki, I now can give pointers for anyone wanting to modify their characters. Each solution with their pros and cons respectively).

[Ecksters]

@jensbrak Thanks for your work on this, I totally understand not wanting to take over maintenance of the project. Is there a different tool that you think is preferable for making these modifications, such as an in-game mod? I just tend to like restarting when new content is added, but being able to skip the resource grind a bit makes it more enjoyable.

I just found this: https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/1536/

And an in-game one: https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/104

Seems to be being actively updated, maybe that's worth recommending over Loki.

[jensbrak]

@Ecksters (and anyone else missing a working version of Loki):

I have made a custom release of Loki that works with the latest (at the time of writing) version of Valheim (0.217.24, Hildir update). It's available in my fork of Loki and released as Loki version 0.13-beta (aka Phivoc Hildir Update).

Please read the release notes of it carefully before downloading and using it.
Link: https://github.com/jensbrak/Loki/releases/tag/v0.13-beta

[jensbrak]

Just curious. Would it be of any interest with another update?

I didn't stop after releasing the update. Mostly out of curiosity (of the answer to "how hard could it be?") I added some features and while they do work just fine already, it would require some small tidying up if anyone else would be interested. Right now I have a version with:

• Button to repair ALL worn items in inventory, with one click (rather than doing it manually on all items in need of repair)
• Button to fill ALL stacks in inventory, with one click (applies to all stackable items not full, from foods and materials to trophies and money)
• Button to modify ALL skills by a selectable percentage (right now limited to be -100 to +100%) where default is increase by +5% (which "happen" to match the amount skills are lowered by death, default setting that is)
• A new Stats tab with ALL the new stats provided with the new Valheim save format. Non interactive to begin with, after all they're just stats, right? :)

There are other things that could be added quite easily (like "the rest" of the new stuff in the new save format) but I stopped with the above. After all, I don't use Loki for playing normally - these were just the things that I felt was missing the most.

[Ecksters]

Haha, that's awesome, I'm still using it for now, so I certainly wouldn't complain, but you've brought to my attention that there are other tools, so certainly don't feel compelled to keep maintaining it.

[jensbrak]

Allrighty then! It's just a matter of cleaning up some test code and make a new release on github with what I already have. I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't ready to do it. After diving in to the rabbit hole of creating mods and reverse engineering unity code and content, I realize how much I appreciate the isolated world of just managing save data. Both are great fun but have their pros and cons respectively :)

[jensbrak]

@Ecksters woop woop!

https://github.com/jensbrak/Loki/releases/tag/v0.14-beta

[jensbrak]

If anyone still use this program, I have just updated my fork to work with Ashlands update (that came today).
From the looks of it, only minor changes have been made to character save file format, it seems to work fine.
However, I want to test it some more first before considering a release.

[jensbrak]

Updated my fork and made a new release with Ashlands support.
At least somewhat tested but there could be things missing/wrong, let me know.
As usual, read release notes before considering using it.

https://github.com/jensbrak/Loki/releases/tag/v0.15-beta

[DarkJellyfish]

@jensbrak Thanks for the update! I couldn't comment on your release itself, but I've played around with it a bit and no major issues so far. No crashes in game, inventory/skills are as expected, files load just fine, backups work.

One small peculiarity - when using the .exe to open, characters load fine into the dropdown, everything works great. When opening the app with the character file (right click the file, open with, choose the .exe) the inventory doesn't load properly: item names are missing and nothing can be changed. Just something odd I stumbled upon.

Again, this is great, thank you.

[jensbrak]

@DarkJellyfish Just had a look. It is actually my code that is to blame. When separating the item database to a separate file, I made an assumption that seems to be false if starting Loki using "Open with..." (a case I didn't consider). The fix is super easy and will make inventory look as expected. I'll publish that fix at some time!

A note though: Loki is NOT built to take "Open with..." into account. In other word, original author did not consider this case either, as far as I can see: If you launch Loki with a right click on a .fch-file, Loki will discard this information. It will instead load ALL files within a predetermined directory. Which likely is the same directory where the file you right clicked on is, making it feel like the right click actually loaded that file into Loki as a result.

You can easily verify this: copy an .fch-file to a completely different location (say Desktop), right click and choose Open with. Loki will open a number of files. But look closely in the paths of each file (within Loki - under the title of the save files). The one you right clicked on (on the Desktop) is not there. But likely the original copy of the one you copied.

Even this can be fixed but is more work to do. Mainly because the intention of Loki is to open all files within the save dir only. Adding the file being right clicked is easy. But then you also might wanna skip the loading of the files in the save dir. Or combine those results (with the risk of user mixing up the version of the file in the save dir with a specific copy of it elsewhere). Bottom line: design choices affecting usability will have to be made. Implementation is rather easy though.

[jensbrak]

In case anyone wonder, yes, I have adjusted Loki to work with the 0.219.13 "The Bog Witch" version (which was released a couple of days ago).
Also added possibility to explicitly open a .fch file anywhere with Loki using "open with..." (as mentioned in previous answers here). This wasn't supported by Loki previously.

Testing the new version of Loki out myself and will make a release if anyone else is still using Loki.

[jensbrak]

Updated my fork and made a release that works with The Bog Witch update.
Read the release notes before use. While it works for me and the files I've tested with, I cannot guarantee it works for everyone (ie I have not done much regression testing when it comes to older save files, even though it should work).
Let me know if you find any odd behavior or issues.

https://github.com/jensbrak/Loki/releases/tag/v0.16-beta