HOW TO: Transfer Character Layouts & Fix Character Settings Won't Save
Upon my return to AoC from a long hiatus, I found my keys, ui, etc... in disarray. I searched the forums & web for my desired fixes, but alas, I ran into many road blocks before finally finding something that will work for me. I usually try to avoid using UIs in older games, because I become to accustomed to them, and hate having to change my UI once the devs leave and no longer support them. For AoC, I also loath the fact that I have to use an exe file to load the UI from unofficial sources. I owe quite a bit of thanks to the community of AoC for the suggestions I received in game. One method I found was to go to a solo instance and adjust my UI there, which works, but is trouble some if you forget to adjust anything, and/or adjust anything once you leave. While the information below, may not be the simplest method, it was the simplest method I found that worked for me.
Required for both Transferring Your Character Layout & Fixing your character settings that won't save.
(Please note you could perform steps 1 - 3 to find out what Char######## folders belong to which characters, You might also have to search numerous Char######## folders for the Windows.xml file to find the character files you need (Basically, repeat steps 6-8 until you track down the right character folder)
1. Find a character you can edit the layout that will save.
2. Click the small * on the chat bar, and select Custom
3. Name the tab that Character's name. (Used for tracking)
4. Press and hold the Windows Key on your keyboard (typically between the Ctrl & Alt key on the left hand side), and tap R. This should open a run box
5. Copy and paste the following into the run box and hit enter or click ok. %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Funcom\Conan\Prefs
6. This should open the 'file explorer'. You will see a folder named after your 'login' name for Age of Conan, double click to open that folder. You should see numerous folders (depending on how many characters you have) labeled 'Char########' where # are a set of numbers.
7. Open one of the character folders, and navigate to a folder called: 'Chat'. In that folder you will find an xml file called: 'Windows'. Right-click the file and select open with, then select a web browser such as: IE, Edge, Chrome, FireFox, etc...
8. Once the xml file opens scroll through the data until you come across <String value=""YOUR CHARACTER NAME"" name="name"/> Where obviously the YOUR CHARACTER NAME is the name of your character. This indicates that these files belong to the character you just edited your UI for and want to either save to another character and/or save to numerous characters. Please note the Char######## name in the browser address bar. That number is important for identifying the files you want to copy over to another character and/or save to the character having trouble saving settings.
9. Back out to the beginning folder of the Char######## and select the following files / folders to copy: Prefs_2 & other folders (if desired). DO NOT copy the preview.bin file to other Char######## folders!
Transfer Character Layouts
1. Open all other Char######## folders and paste the files / folders from above into all desired Char######## folders to copy the layout over to other characters.
Fix Character Settings Won't Save on Character
1. This typically requires you track down which Char######## folder is associated with the character having issues, however you could perform the operations on the folders temporarily to allow you to get past tracking, given that you can't track down the Char######## folder having issues. I was able to track down the character with issues, as eventually, I was able to create a chat tab with the character name on it. The name showed up in the .xml file, even though it didn't update in game.
2. Right-Click on the Char######## folders that you want to resolve settings issue with, and select Properties.
3. In the properties Window, near the bottom you should see a check box that says, "Read Only". If it is checked, uncheck it, and select apply. Then check it again, and make sure it applies to Sub files and files in the folder, this is typically the default option. Click Apply.
4. You can leave it 'Read Only' for a few days, and eventually, AoC's server settings are supposed to update. Then you could go back and uncheck the "Read Only" box. You might have to repeat the steps as necessary until Funcom fixes the bug that causes it.
Please note, any Char######## folder you manually mark as "Read Only" will not allow any UI modifications that are involved with the .xml file.
Credits Due
I got part of this idea from the following page on the forums: http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthr...Post-40/page11
Page 11, Post #107. Thank you, Laethiel!
Summary
The process is rather easy, though not without its time sink. It took me some trial and error testing and while I could perform it much faster now (I have all my character folders tracked), it did take a good bit of time to get rolling initially. If you are not comfortable with the processes, I would suggest you leave well enough alone. Otherwise, I can say it did work for me. :)
