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[R-26 Lightspeed]

In another topic, i said something about feeling cold while playing Cogmind, and later figured out that the cause is apprehension, which itself is caused by my fear of losing several hours of progress, which starts when reaching research depths (on a non-flight build).

I currently have a run in "progress" right before the start of research. However, the feeling of apprehension is so bad that i have been unable to continue playing for a while now. The run isn't even going badly or anything.

I thought about going back to adventurer mode to have access to quicksaves and get rid of that feeling and be able to play the game without making such long pauses, but the problem is that adventurer mode also makes a lot of other things easier, which i don't want; I just want some kind of safety net.

So my next idea was to use the backups automatically made by the game as a makeshift quicksave, but the problem with that is that the scoresheets of runs where i used a backup could end up in the leaderboards. So i would have to either :
A-Turn off the uploading of scoresheets whenever i use a backup; The problem being that i could sometimes forget, in both ways(forget to turn it off or forget to turn in back on), and also that such runs wouldn't end up in the run database (and not in dataminer either, depending on how some specific things i haven't tested work).
B-Turn off the uploading of scoresheets permanently, which i don't want to do because like above, my runs wouldn't end up in the run database, but also because the portion of my runs that don't end up using backups wouldn't be able to get into the scoreboards.

So yeah, i'm not feeling too great about that solution.


In the end, the only thing i can think of that could actually work is to make a suggestion here :

Either 1- A fourth difficulty mode or some kind of customization options for difficulty that could allow playing exactly the same way as Rogue mode but with quicksaves.
(Possibly complicated solution, but it would have other benefits);

or 2- (Could possibly be an (advanced) option) when the game detects a backup has been used, once the run ends, the player is presented with a choice of whether the scoresheet should be sent as A-a regular scoresheet; B-a regular scoresheet except it wouldn't be in the running for the leaderboards; (and maybe C-an adventurer mode scoresheet;)
Or something along those lines.
(Seemingly simpler solution);



By writing this post, my main goal was to explain how i felt about this, i don't think i actually expect this suggestion to be implemented.

[Kyzrati]

Yeah as you would expect I don't really plan on doing that kind of stuff. (Really the simplest option is to add quicksaving to Rogue mode, and block uploads for quickloaded runs, which has been requested before, but I don't plan to do that at this point, either.)

In your case, wouldn't another potential option be to copy your game and use that separate version (with its own upload/other settings) to continue a run that you want to play but don't have to upload? It's a tiny game, you can have a bunch of different "installations"

This would also allow you to change any other settings you'd like. A fair number of frequent players do this, actually.

[R-26 Lightspeed]

The multiple installations idea sounds useful, but depending on which folders to copy and how Steam manages its own folders, combined with the Steam version not being DRM-free, switching between the two might not be that simple.
It also wouldn't solve the problem of "backup-ed runs" not getting uploaded at all.

Side question : If i wanted to try to modify myself the second installation in some way so that its scoresheets would have "adventurer" instead of "rogue", thus putting them in the adventurer category instead, or so that these scoresheets would be considered part of a fake special mode to block the possibility of upload to the scoreboards, but still be uploaded to the database, how difficult on a scale of 1 to hellish nightmare would you say that would be difficult to accomplish?


I just wondered about something : have you ever thought about adding another option to the score uploading option, one that would allow uploading the scoresheets to the database but not to the scoreboards?

[Kyzrati]

The multiple installations idea sounds useful, but depending on which folders to copy and how Steam manages its own folders, combined with the Steam version not being DRM-free, switching between the two might not be that simple.

Well I wouldn't have suggested it if it wasn't simple. It is that simple!

There is no DRM, and the Steam install is simply in a /Cogmind/ folder--copying that anywhere, even onto a thumb drive and/or a system without Steam installed at all, plays the game all the same.

It also wouldn't solve the problem of "backup-ed runs" not getting uploaded at all.

Why not? I think you might've missed the point of my suggestion, that you copy your save into this other install to continue it, and over there the settings are such that it wouldn't upload.

Side question : If i wanted to try to modify myself the second installation in some way so that its scoresheets would have "adventurer" instead of "rogue", thus putting them in the adventurer category instead, or so that these scoresheets would be considered part of a fake special mode to block the possibility of upload to the scoreboards, but still be uploaded to the database, how difficult on a scale of 1 to hellish nightmare would you say that would be difficult to accomplish?

This would end up getting one's account banned from the system entirely, so not recommended

I just wondered about something : have you ever thought about adding another option to the score uploading option, one that would allow uploading the scoresheets to the database but not to the scoreboards?

Not something we want to do. They're the same thing, same restrictions, with good reason.

[R-26 Lightspeed]

The multiple installations idea sounds useful, but depending on which folders to copy and how Steam manages its own folders, combined with the Steam version not being DRM-free, switching between the two might not be that simple.

Well I wouldn't have suggested it if it wasn't simple. It is that simple!

There is no DRM, and the Steam install is simply in a /Cogmind/ folder--copying that anywhere, even onto a thumb drive and/or a system without Steam installed at all, plays the game all the same.

Oh. I thought i remembered seeing one of your posts saying that the steam version wasn't DRM-free. I wonder with which other game i mixed that up?

It also wouldn't solve the problem of "backup-ed runs" not getting uploaded at all.

Why not? I think you might've missed the point of my suggestion, that you copy your save into this other install to continue it, and over there the settings are such that it wouldn't upload.

I see where i said something confusing, sorry. The problem is the opposite thing. Because those runs wouldn't get uploaded at all, they wouldn't be in the database or dataminer, which would mean, among other things (and depending on how the dataminer file upload works), i wouldn't have access to the dataminer functionality of comparing such runs with my other runs.
It's a small set of relatively small problems, but they're still problems.

Not something we want to do. They're the same thing, same restrictions, with good reason.

In all of this, i maybe don't need them, but i'm not sure i understand the reason(s) you mention here?




In any case, i think once i manage to finish that one run, i'll become an almost exclusively flight player, as that seems to solve almost every problem i have.

[Kyzrati]

Oh. I thought i remembered seeing one of your posts saying that the steam version wasn't DRM-free. I wonder with which other game i mixed that up?

Nah Cogmind has never had that, although I do generally call the non-Steam version the "DRM-free version" in order to differentiate it, so that could play a part. Some people do consider having to install the Steam platform in order to install/download a game in the first place as a sort of DRM, so technically from that perspective Steam is DRM, but obviously there's also the more extreme "Steam must be active" requirement that some devs use, which doesn't apply here.

among other things (and depending on how the dataminer file upload works), i wouldn't have access to the dataminer functionality of comparing such runs with my other runs.

Dataminer was built to also be usable offline with your own local data, so that could be an option. Not something I've done before, but the instructions are probably available from the developer.

In all of this, i maybe don't need them, but i'm not sure i understand the reason(s) you mention here?

Oh I didn't mention here, or go into the details--"with good reason" just means that reasons exist