Failed to save if place game under Program Files

[RyanBram]

Dear all,


When building RPG Maker Game as Windows application, it will automatically create its save file inside game directory, not in Appdata directory. This will make the game failed to save if installed under C:/Program Files.


If we want to sell our game, we will likely to use installer and place it in Program Files. As Program Files folder required administrator privilege, how to change save folder directory?

 

[Zalerinian]

That's not omething easily changed, and this has been an issue for makers in the past. I think the easiest solution would be to have your installer install the game to Program Files, and then for settings, saves, and other files, I'd say use the My Games folder in My Documents. This is a standard folder that is intended to be used by games to store saves and other content. It's not used by all games, though it is used by some. I'd say this is the recommended location due to its easy access for the player to get to if they need to change something.

The only bad thing about this folder is that you'll need to get the current username of the logged in user, as the folder is under their profile, like so: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games. Alternatively, if you want to give all users access to the files and save yourself the trouble of finding the username of the current user, you can put them in the public profile: C:\Users\Public\Documents\My Games

Aside from that, I'm not personally aware of any solutions for writing in the program files folders, and I believe the general consensus is to not put the games in there since they require special permissions to edit.

 

[AlecMachet]

For compatibility, Windows is supposed to put data that a program tries to save in it's own Program Files directory into a matching ProgramData one. I'm not at home, so I'll take your word that that isn't working. I know it works on rm2k/3 games, but they have a completely different engine.

Regardless, a plugin for a custom save path would be welcome. Hudell made a plugin for changing the save file name. It might be possible to modify that for save path, or it might be possible to specify a path under the plugin parameters.