Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Saved-games in co-op

I asked a question like this on the Kickstarter comment page, and I got a response ("you can save anywhere in co-op, just like single-player"), but the issue seems a lot more complicated.

Co-op is said to be drop-in, drop-out, letting you freely switch from single-player to co-op and back again.


How does that work though? Let's use two examples, of players "Hosty" (hosting the game) and "Guestav" (joining the game).

What if each are at different stages in various quests? My guess is that Hosty's quest settings are used, but what if Hosty starts a quest that Guestav has already finished? Does Guestav get the reward again?

Can Guestav even join a game if Hosty is farther along in the main quest?


This stuff seems like it could be complicated. It's got to be hard enough to make sure quests don't conflict and break when there's only one character.

Sorry for not explaining well enough - you always join the host's game, so it's going to be his savegame. IF you were the joiner, you can take his savegame and continue on your own, but then he'll have to join your game and play with the progress that is stored in your game, if you want to continue your session together.

Thanks for clearing that up. Much appreciated!

That is in fact the same than some other co-op game and it is in my opinion the smartest one. Just a question, do you make any difference between solo games and co-op game (I think not but I want to be sure) I mean can you begin a game alone and then a friend join your game at your savepoint?

Yes, co-op is drop in / drop out. The only difference in co-op is that the other person takes over some of the characters you would otherwise be controlling yourself; if they drop out, you regain control.

So basically the same as Dungeon Siege III?

So you can take over the second character in another player's game but you are not able to save the progress because you're obviously playing with the host's character? That means that you can only play with your own characters if you always play with the same partner in co-op?

I hoped that there would be a co-op system like in Dead Island (if you know the game) where you can join a host's game with your own character and even save its progression in your own game.

Or did I get you wrong on the system?

I think the joiner can save his game just fine, but if he saves, quits and continues his game, he won't be in sync with the host, so he'd have to join a game the host loaded (or the host would have to join a game that the joiner is hosting... if you follow me).

You can keep going with your own saves, but if you want to play an entire campaign, you'll both need to be working with the same game on the system of whoever is hosting.

I can't really follow you here, Stabbey....

Let's take the situation in wich I join the host's game who has played with 2 characters in SP mode. So I will take over one of his two characters res. his second character. So I can't play with any of my own characters (the one from my "own" game). Why should I want to save any progress made with the host's character?

So for "progress-driven co-op" it only makes sense if I play with a partner a whole campaign together from the beginning. There is no possiblity to choose between SP and co-op mode with savegame progression. Or not?

Correct, you can not bring in a character you made when you join another person's game (you will likely be able to customize the appearance of the character you take over, though). In the majority of cases it would be best to have the person hosting the game make the saves.

However, if you get half way through a game playing co-op with someone, and then your schedules get out of sync and you don't expect to be able to play together for the foreseeable future, you would at least be able to each finish the game on your own if the person who joined in also made a save.

If one person usually hosts a game, but their computer or internet connection become flaky, it could be helpful for the other person to save the game so they could host it, and any crashes/disconnections of the first person's computer would not be a big problem. I'm not sure what happens if the host computer crashes, but one of the previews mentioned the computer that join in co-op mode crashes while they were playing, and they simply got control back of the other character.

this lead me to another question : will we have a save folder (I mean on some game it is really hard to find the configuration and save files)? In this case a player can send the common save to his mate if they want to continue their game alone.

Well, there were people who found the configuration and save files with Divinity 2 hard to find (in the user folder path), so I imagine Larian will keep that in mind for D:OS.

Thanks, Raze.:)


As a suggestion/question to Larian: have you guys thought about a co-op modus in which you can transfer a character into the game of another player (host)?

In Path of Exile for example there are notice boards in citeis where you can find other players. They can be recruted like henchmen. That way the host could keep his two basic characters and the player who wants to join could bring his/her own character(s) with him (replacing the host's henchmen). Perhaps this could be a nice addition to the co-op modus with is already implemented because you don't have to start a game together and play together all the time.

I don't know how many times I've read over this thread but I still can't fathom what it all means. Pleas excuse my ignorance but could someone simply explain the coop situation for me?

What are you trying to figure out, how co-op works, or how saving works?

In the single player game you control 2 main characters, up to 2 mercenaries and up to 2 summons. Anyone joining your game in co-op mode will take over the non-lead main character and then the mercenaries (for up to 4 players).

For saving, consider the situation where you are writing a book with someone else, where you get together, brainstorm and write down everything said (with no edits or backtracking). After a couple sessions, you friend makes a copy of the book so far, goes home and writes another chapter. In your next session together, you have the story at 2 different points; you can open your book and start at that point (either ignoring or recreating your friend's work), or your friend can open his book, and you can go from there. Or you can each stick with your own book, and write the rest of the (diverging) stories yourselves.

Thanks for clarifying that in a comparison, I can understand those ;p