Savegames

The game's ingame editor allows you to modify existing maps or create new maps while being in-game. As a consequence, every savegame is comparable to a completely new map. Of course, players are free to share savegames and maps in any way they want.

This savegame system has another advantage. The savegame's .lua file is comparable to the configuration of your newly created map. Many configuration variables of the game that can be interesting for mod maps are stored in the savegame as well. One of those examples is the weather configuration, which means you can implement custom weather patterns by modifying your savegame. It is also possible to create an economy system for custom ski resorts.

Each savegame consists of one .lua and one .bin file. It is important to always have both of them, because otherwise the linked data in the .bin file may be lost.

Having read above introduction, you might come up with the question of what is actually being saved into savegame files. Following data is written into the savegame's .lua file:

• All ropeways on the map, with all their carriers and supports (and each individual carrier or support configuration), also including the ropeway's reset savegame
• The resort's eco system (consisting of ski lifts, ski slopes and facilities/restaurants)
• Some of the eco system's parameters regarding guests. Check out the sections on skiResort and ecoSystem within the savegame.
• Environment and weather configuration (latitude, weather situations, probabilities of different weather conditions, economic impact of weather, snow melting/snowfall, etc.)

And of course some more things:

• Current ropeway states (current speed, carrier position, etc.)
• All active vehicles
• Current accounting balances
• Environment data (current daytime, timescale, current weather, weather forecast, …)
• Current camera position (currently active vehicle or controller)
• Whether the ingame editor is activated or not
• Information on avalanches
• Currently active tutorial missions
• … and of course, a couple of other things that are not as important to mention.

The second block of properties can actively be influenced in-game using the normal gameplay mechanics. The first block of properties, however, cannot directly be influenced in-game (except for current positions/speeds of ropeway carriers of course). The good news is that you can modify all of these things in your savegame's .lua file! As a consequence, you can do something we call Savegame modding, by which you can implement various cool situations to the game, which would require scripting mods in many other games to work. Here's just a small list of your possibilities:

• Change the environment's latitude. This is just one variable, but it affects how the game looks like, just because the sun's altitude is changed. Effectively, this allows you to create weather situations for ski resorts close to the earth's poles.
• Implement new weather situations or alter the existing ones, e.g. to create more advanced weather patterns than the vanilla game (with more difficulties, like faster melting snow or more guests).
• Implement new ski lifts, ski slopes or facilities to your ski resort.
• Change the behaviour of your guests, and actually of almost any factor that influences the eco system.
• Create late summer/early spring situations with their very own economic challenges.
• Change a ropeway's carrier type, or add/remove some carriers (but don't expect the ropeway to handle everything if you mess up)
• Change or override the ropeway's spacing configuration, along with some other factors
• Since Patch 4, you can even recolor the ropeway carriers via savegame (each carrier individually configurable)!
• and many more!

Savegames are located in the Documents\My Games\WinterResortSimulator\savegames directory. Look for the respective savegame name and open the .lua file in a suitable text editor (Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code recommended).

Important: Please always create a backup of your savegame before you start editing it. Otherwise you are at the risk of losing the savegame in case the changes do not work as intended.

You can create a .zip archive containing both the .lua and the .bin files of your savegame. Feel free to share this archive with other users (e.g. by using a file upload platform). Other users will have to unzip the archive into the savegames directory themselves. As soon as they are done with this, they can start playing on your savegame!

Once you have made a backup and have the savegame's .lua file opened in a suitable editor, you can change any value you want to and try what happens.

You can add money to the savegame if you want, however we recommend the procedure using the Ingame Editor (because this does not break the game's double book-keeping accounting system).

Currently, there are following tutorials available on how to modify a savegame.

• Adding Ropeways, Slopes and Facilities
• Weather system - forecast, weather situations, season weather system
• Changing the opening hours