Assassin's Creed/Segmenting

The game allows only one save slot on consoles and no way to copy save games between different profiles on Windows, so segmenting can be a challenge. The alternative is to make a single-segment run, but along with the common challenges of a SS run, you'll also have to endure the unskippable cutscenes, which drags out the game interminably, especially after multiple tries.

Suggested segment spots are before each major section in a memory block, which usually means separating the investigations from the target assassination, as these are likely the parts you'd have to redo over and over. Separate segments could also be helpful for the mandatory times you must ride through Kingdom, and the Masyaf parts from where the memory block loads to reaching the warp at Kingdom.

PlayStation 3

You can segment on the PS3 by creating new profiles and copying your save game over to the profile. On your main account (the one you'll be playing), go through the game, then quit after the first save after the segment. From the PlayStation Home, create another user and name it something appropriate to the next segment. Go to the Save Game Utility and copy your current Assassin's Creed file over to the user you just created.

Go back in to your game and play the segment. If it fails or you want to redo it, log into the profile named after the segment and copy the file over to your main account. Log back into your main account and load the game again. You never play in the other profiles – they're just there to hold save games up to certain points.

Example

You just finished the investigations in Damascus in Memory Block 2 on your main account, Joe Shmoe. Talk to the Bureau leader, after which the game saves. Quit the game and create a user profile called MB2 Tamir. Go into Save Game Utility and copy your current saved game to MB2 Tamir. Go back in and play your game. If you need to restart the segment, quit the game and log into MB2 Tamir, then copy the saved game to Joe Shmoe. Now log back into Joe Shmoe and restart the game.

Xbox 360

Segmenting on the Xbox 360 is a more expensive and arduous task than on the other systems. It requires a Transfer Kit and Xport 360 software, as well as going back forth between the game console and your computer with a memory card. It also assumes that your Xbox 360 has a hard drive and your computer has a USB port.

Enter your memory card into the Xbox 360, but when you go to play the game, make sure to select the hard drive for saving. Play through the game normally, and when you want to start a new segment, wait until after the game autosaves, then tap the Xbox button to bring up the dashboard. In the System Settings tab, find your Assassin's Creed save game in the Hard Drive and copy it to the memory card. If you already have a save game on the memory card, it will be overwritten, so make sure you've archived it to your computer before proceeding.

Saving a game to your computer

To archive the saved game, plug it into the Transfer Kit and plug the Transfer Kit into your computer's USB port. Open the memory card from inside the Xport 360 software that comes with the Transfer Kit and you'll see a file tree (in Windows). All your saved game data is under the Content branch, but they're not usually named anything meaningful, so expand them in turn until you locate one that has "Assassin's Creed" in parentheses after one of the sub-directories. Expand that sub-directory and you'll see your saved game file. If you click on it, you'll see in the display pane that it's called "assassin.sav" and the type is "sav File". You can back up the entire contents of the memory card with the Xport 360 software, but you only need this save file. Copy it over to your computer and put it into a folder named after the segment it starts so you don't have to change the actual file's name if you're archiving multiple save games.

Restoring a saved game on the Xbox 360

The process from above is reversed, so after plugging in your memory card via the Transfer Kit, you'd copy the file on your computer to the memory card. Make sure it's going in the correct folder and overwrite the existing "assassin.sav" file. Take out the memory card and plug it back into your Xbox 360. Go to System Settings, select the memory card from the Memory option and find the Assassin's Creed save data in the Games section. Copy the file to the hard drive, which replaces the existing save file on the hard drive. Now you can load the game and you'll be back at the last save.

Windows

Just like the other two methods, you can back up after an autosave in-game. Quit the game and navigate to your home directory:

• Vista: Username\AppData\Roaming\Ubisoft\Assassin's Creed\Saved Games\
• XP: Username\Application Data\Local Settings\Ubisoft\Assassin's Creed\Saved Games\

In this folder you'll find a bunch of files with .hdr, .opt, .sav and .map extensions. You want to group all the files with the same name and different extensions from your latest save. In Details view, order the files by last changed to get the most recent files at the top. Now copy all the files with the same name (e.g. 1231231.hdr, 1231231.opt, 1231231.sav, etc.) and paste them back into that same file. Rename the copied files something meaningful so you'll know where in the game that save file will take you when you load it.

Next you'll need to change the AC profile associated with those files so that you can switch between any saved files you have on your system. For this you'll need to use a hex editor, so use the Assassin’s Creed Profile Renamer from granjow.net (requires Java). Click the download link on the page and select "Open with Java" from the dialog box. Click "Load" when the program starts and it will automatically pull up all the saved games in your Assassin's Creed folder. Select the one you just renamed and make a new profile name in the next screen. You can load the program again and click the save file from the list to see whether the profile name has changed in the display box on the right.

Now just archive the copied save files you renamed to a different folder. If you want to replay that segment, you would just copy those save files back into the main Saved Games folder, overwriting the current ones. The Saved Games folder will have save files for each segment, with a different profile name associated with each set. When you go back into Assassin's Creed, you'll see all the profiles you've created by altering the copies save files. Now you can select the one you want to replay it.

Save warping

There is save warping in the game, with the most notable/useful one being the warp back to the Assassin's Bureau after completing all the necessary investigations to unlock the assassination. You don't actually need to save to perform a "save warp" – you can just exit the Animus and re-enter it for the same effect. Another save warp is after entering Kingdom (not the first time where you have to do the View Point though). Exiting and re-entering the Animus here puts you a little farther into Kingdom at the closest village to Masyaf.

The load times out and back into the Animus prevent this from being very useful, but if the quickest investigations lead you away from the Bureau, it might make sense to utilize it.