Can you keep your old saved games when updating versions?

[Zombie69]

Hello, I have a question. I just downloaded the 1.17 Test Version and even though I haven't made it super far in the game I'd still like to keep my saved games from the 1.02 version. Is that possible? I just read that when installing a new version you should uninstall the older version. Will it ask you if you want to keep your saved games or does it uninstall everything? Can I just save my saved games folder and then copy and paste them in the new version without causing any problems?
Sorry if this has been asked before but I'm a fairly new player and haven't played much. I did look around real well before posting my question and did not find an answer on any of the FAQ's. If I just overlooked it then I apologize but I'd really like to know before I upgrade. I also want to know because if you have to start over every time the games updated then that would not be too cool. Thanks in advance. I'll check back in a bit to see if there's any answers.

[torangan]

No, that's not going to work. There are lots of changes between those two versions. Even the mainline campaigns themselves got quite a lot of changes.

[Zombie69]

Ok, np, like I said I wasn't super far into it so I won't lose much. So pretty much everytime the game gets updated you have to start all the way over? Or is it just on some updates like this one where the updates big and there's alot of changes? I guess it's not a major problem. You could probably keep several different versions of the game on one pc as long as they were under different folders and such so that way you could continue for as long as you wanted to with each version. At least I think you can. If not someone please say so. I don't want to cause any complications or bugs while I'm playing. Thanks for replying. I'm just gonna uninstall and start over. I haven't played it in a few weeks so I would probably benefit from a fresh start.

[Viliam]

So pretty much everytime the game gets updated you have to start all the way over?

IMHO, you should preferably play campaigns on stable versions. That's one of the reasons why stable versions exist. If you started playing campaign on development version, then either finish the campaign and then re-install game, or just give up your saves and reinstall now.

The reason is that updating saved games to reflect changes between versions would be a lot of work, with many errors, for relatively small benefit -- the work spent on updating saved games and debugging the updating program would be better spent on improving the game, and finding bugs in current version.

Or is it just on some updates like this one where the updates big and there's alot of changes?

It depends. Update in any campaign may require changing saved games for that specific campaign -- this can happen very often. Update in engine can require changing all saved games -- this probably happens rarely. Changing unit stats or scenario gold keeps your saved games valid, but can make your army stronger or weaker and thus unbalance the game.

You could probably keep several different versions of the game on one pc as long as they were under different folders and such so that way you could continue for as long as you wanted to with each version.

Yes, AFAIK it is completely possible to have all Wesnoth versions ever released to have installed on the same computer, if you wish. So you could finish the campaign in the older version, and do everything else on the newer version.