Changing Character Types (Make a controllable character, convert characters, personal paramedics, etc.)

Overview

Found a hidden feature in the code that allows you to have a controllable character

Editing The Save

Sadly, this requires editing the save file (saved in a .prison format with UTF-8 encoding, so it should be editable with any text editor). All you need to do is locate the save file (Username < AppData < Local < Introversion < Prison Architect < Saves or alternatively click ‘Open saves folder’ in the exit menu).

Now, in the save file, find (ctrl + f) any character type. This can be Guard, Prisoner, Workman, etc.
You should see something like this:

BEGIN “[i 32]” Id.i 32 Id.u 34 Type Workman SubType 1 Pos.x 85.9826 Pos.y 44.1956 Or.x 0.979305 Or.y 0.202396 Vel.x 0.190306 Vel.y 0.0393312 Dest.x 87.5000 Dest.y 44.5000 Timer 4.86395 END

What we want to edit is the Type, which is the kind of NPC it is.
To do so, just edit ‘Workman‘ into ‘Avatar‘. For alternate Types, look at the next section

BEGIN “[i 32]” Id.i 32 Id.u 34 Type Avatar SubType 1 Pos.x 85.9826 Pos.y 44.1956 Or.x 0.979305 Or.y 0.202396 Vel.x 0.190306 Vel.y 0.0393312 Dest.x 87.5000 Dest.y 44.5000 Timer 4.86395 END

Don’t worry about all the other variables, such as Dest.x, the game will resolve those for you.

Other Types

Here are the Types that I’ve found are possible:

Type

Workman

RiotGuard

Guard

Prisoner

Cook

Lawyer

Chief

Dog

DogHandler

Avatar

Paramedic

Fireman

Common Editors

Currently, there is no official editor for editing .prison files, but any text editor should work.

Some common ones are:

Name

Recommended?

NotePad++[notepad-plus-plus.org]

Yes

NotePad[notepad-plus-plus.org]

Sublime[www.sublimetext.com]

Yes

Know of others? Leave a comment/message me and I’ll add it.

Prison Architect Guide

Overview

Editing The Save

Other Types

Common Editors