IIRC you should not need to change your party in order to load it. I suspect the issue is that it is not looking for the save file where you expect it to look. I recall struggling with this a bit last I played the Krynn series.

Another workaround would be to download the Gold Box Companion. I believe it allows you to create and modify characters to your liking, so that you could just recreate your characters in SotSB instead of transferring them.

If it's not looking for the save file where it's supposed to be, then where is it looking for the characters so I know to put them all there? I use the Gold Box Companion a lot, but I've never quite figured out how to add or remove equipment in the characters inventory. So I could recreate my party with the same stats no problem, but my party had some pretty cool equipment at the end of Secret of the Silver Blades game and I don't want to have to resort to using basic equipment as I have heard that Pools of Darkness lets your party keep them when transferring them over.

Thanks for helping me with this.

The GoG version of Pools of Darkness is set to look for the save game and saved character files in SECRET\SAVE\*
under its own folder. Secret is set to save its saves and characters in its own folder under SAVE\*
So, If you copy the FULL Secrets folder to SECRETS under Pools, the SAVE should be there and loadable.
Otherwise, all you really need to do is create SECRET (make it full caps just to be sure) and copy the folder SAVE in Secrets to that SECRET folder.

Secret of the Silver Blades\SAVE = where Secret saves stuff with GoG version
Pools of Darkness\SAVE = where Pools saves ITS OWN saves in GoG version
Pools of Darkness\SECRET\SAVE = where Pools expects to find the Secret saves, in the GoG version.

This is true for most of the GoldBox games, except the first game in a series (Poo of Radiance and Champions of Krynn). You can often just load the games <blah>.cfg file in a text editor to see where it thinks saves are, for itself, and for importing. They usually say somehting like "C:\SAVE" and "C:\SECRET\SAVE". You can think of C: as the games root folder when GoG installs it. It is a DOS thing, and how they configure DOSBox to "mount" the game.

Well I tried copying the files to the appropriate folder, but no gave save appears in the Gold Box Companion now! This is where I have the Pools of Darkness game saved....

"D:\Programs\Games\GOG Galaxy\Games\Pools of Darkness"

I then copied the "Secret of the Silver Blades folder from the GOG Galaxy\Games folder into the Pools of Darkness folder and renamed it to "SECRET" in all caps.

Then I copied the files from Secret of the Silver Blades\Cloud Saves\Save folder into Pools of Darkness\Secret\Save but when I launch the Gold Box Companion the letters to load the game are greyed out.

Strangely enough, when I start the game via the GOG Galaxy program, I can load the party fine, but of course,I cannot use the benefits of the GBC program. I tried deleting the GBC program and unzipping the file I got from the website I downloaded it from [url=]http://gbc.zorbus.net/[/url], but that doesn't work.

I'm not sure, but I think that one of my mages is the reason why. I may have made a mistake in editing her in the character editor program of the GBC. I can now unequip her Cloak of Displacement, but when I re-equip it in the "Secret of the Blades" game, it shows on the HUD that she is displaced, but there's also three effects appearing above that. They are titled "$00", which appears twice & below that "$09" and I cannot remove them as they do not show up in the "Effects" section of the editor. Now when I try to unequip it, I can't as the game doesn't respond and the only thing I can do is exit the program by clicking on the "X" in the upper right corner of the DOSBox window.

The only option I can see doing is removing her from the party in the "Blades" game, saving it, recopying all the save files in the SECRET\SAVES directory, but I don't want to lose using another mage & having to create a new one from scratch. Or is the solution so simple that I am not seeing it in front of my face?

Try making a separate save without the mage. Then you can at least know whether she is the problem.

jabbahut1972,

I can take a look if you send me the Silver Blades save that you want to import in Pools. For the email address, check GBC documentation.

Joonas / Gold Box Companion

So, more technical stuff. Might only be useful to someone who is somewhat familiar with DOS and DOSBOX, and DOSBOX overlay GoG likes using. Sorry if this is not very understandable otherwise.

--

I forgot about the DOSBOX overlay stuff (cloud_saves) GoG adds to their DOS games in their Galaxy client.
So, here is the update. Best to do this with the game NOT running. Not sure how the cloud_saves thing works and if Galaxy will overwrite this stuff depending on timestamps or if game is running or not. You can turn off the cloud_saves sync with Galaxy in the "Manage Installation -> Configure" setup. Note: the DOSBOX overlay will still be there... so cloud_saves is still used, even if sync is turned off.

First: Secret IS configured to use the SAVE. But the default save and default characters that come with the game are in the root folder and not SAVE. If you make your own characters, this does not matter. Just something I noticed. Any new characters or saves would end up in SAVE. (or rather, cloud_saves\SAVE, see next paragraph). Otherwise, fresh installed game with no personal saves you care about, you can copy all the CHRDATA#.SAV and .SFX (not all characters have an SFX), as well as the SAVGAMEA.DAT to the SAVE folder (or cloud_saves\SAVE folder, see next paragraph).

Second, both games have overlay on. Therefore, ANY files updated are actually stored in cloud_saves, maintaining the folder structure.
If you want to use the defaults, provided they are in the correct location, and provided the cloud_saves is empty, it will load them fine in the regular SAVE folder. When you actually make changes and save back as slot A, the modified new files will then exist in the cloud_saves\SAVE folder. From here on, these override whatever was in the main folder and SAVE folder in that main folder for the games.

So. I fixed my Secret files. I started game. I loaded game A. I then immediately saved as game J. Closed game.
SAVE folder only had original A files. cloud_saves\SAVE folder now had the slot "J" saves (not the A files because I did not change save A or resave A).
I copied this cloud_saves\SAVE folder to a fresh Pools of Darkness with an empty cloud_saves folder.
I copied it to SECRET\SAVE, which upon loading Pools of Darkness, I could load a game, choose Secret and then slot J was listed and I could load it. Or you could put the SECRET\SAVE folder in the Pools cloud_saves directly if you want (cloud_saves\SECRET\SAVE\). If you do, these will override any versions of the same files in the Pools of Darkness\SECRET\SAVE folder.

So, updated locations:
Secret of the Silver Blades\SAVE = where Secret loads its stuff with GoG version, though default save files are not in here so do not work, saves in cloud_saves hereafter
Pools of Darkness\SAVE = where Pools loads ITS OWN default saves in GoG version, saves in cloud_saves hereafter
Pools of Darkness\SECRET\SAVE = where Pools normally expects to find the Secret saves, provided cloud_saves is empty in the GoG version.

Secret of the Silver Blades\cloud_saves\SAVE = where Secret saves any new stuff with GoG Galaxy version
Pools of Darkness\cloud_saves\SAVE = where Pools saves ITS OWN new saves in GoG Galaxy version
Pools of Darkness\cloud_saves\SECRET\SAVE = where Pools CAN find the Secret saves if they exist, in the GoG Galaxy version.

I can understand the usefulness of cloud_saves and overlay stuff to sync your games if you use the Galaxy client. Though I tend to not use multiple machines, and manually back up any saves for games myself. So I don't pay much attention to this feature.
It certainly makes trying to use a games import or export saves features more complicated.

Your character may be messing things up though. Not sure.
As to GBC, I leave that to Joonas since he is the creator. I do love GBC, but I have only used it on my Gold Box game installs from media I owned before GoG/Galaxy thru my own configured DOSBOX installs. Though I do have the games on GoG as well.

Thanks you guys for all your advice. I actually was able to resolve the problem by loading up a saved game in "Secret," removed my mage that I thought was causing the problem, saved & exited the game, then transferred that save to the "SECRET\SAVE" directory , loaded up Pools of Darkness, and added the mage back to my party & saved the game. Then I ran the "Darkness" game again and lo and behold the party loaded up with no trouble at all. My mage still has those strange markings listed in the effects area of the HUD, even when I unequip all of her stuff, but that doesn't seem to be causing me any trouble so far.

Joonas, I appreciate you offering to take a look at the files but I don't think that is necessary now. However, if I ever do have trouble with this game regarding the files I'll be sure to send you an email for help, if that is alright.

Sure, I'm glad you got it working. If those effects bother you, you can use the Save Game Editor that comes with GBC to remove effects from a character. Just make a backup save first.