Loading and Saving Character Files

Table of Contents

• Loading a Character File
  • Advanced Loading Options
  • Loading NPC Appearances
  • Loading Extended Appearance
• Saving a Character File

Loading a Character File

As with regular character editing, loading character (.chara) files must be done outside of GPose, with the exception of Extended Appearance, which can be loaded prior to posing. Anamnesis has full backwards compatibility with Concept Matrix .cma and .json files, as well as stock .dat files generated when saving character appearances in-game.

To load a character file, ensure you've selected the correct actor in the list on the left, then click the Load button to bring out the Load flyout:

The left column of this flyout contains your file sources, which are predetermined folders containing specific types of files:

• Anamnesis Character folder (1), which contains .chara files
• Final Fantasy XIV folder (2), which contains .dat files
• Concept Matrix Saves folder (3), which contains .cma or .json files
• Desktop (4), for those who like to save files to the Desktop before sorting them into folders

You can hover over any of these buttons to check what the current path is if need be. Additionally, you can use the regular Windows Explorer browser to manually navigate to a file you have saved outside these predetermined folders by clicking the ... button (5).

Once you have selected your source folder, simply browse the files in the right column, which lists the folders and files within those source folders. You can further refine how files appear in this list with the following options:

• Creating new folders within the tool (6)
• Flattening the folder hierarchy (7), which will show all files within all folders and hide the folders temporarily- this is a cosmetic change, and no actual changes to your folders will be made
• Changing the sorting mode (8) between 'By Name A-Z' and By Date 'Newest to Oldest'

Once you have selected the desired appearance file, simply click the 🗸 Load button (9).

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Advanced Loading Options

By default all character elements are selected, but specific aspects of a character can be loaded from a .chara file.

To achieve this, simply click the ˅ button (1) beside the Load button. This will present you with an additional menu where you can pick and choose specific aspects of a character file to load:

• Appearance (2) - Everything in the Customize, Model, and Extended Appearance panels
• Equipment (3) - Everything in the Equipment panel
• Clothing (4) - Any item in the Head, Body, Hands, Leghs, and Feet slots
• Accessories (5) - Any item in the Ears, Neck, Wrists, Right Ring, and Left Ring slots
• Weapons (6) - Any item in the Main Hand and Off Hand slots

However, if a file contains no equipment data, such as FFXIV .dat or Concept Matrix .cma files, only the data that can be loaded will be loaded. In most cases this is simply appearance data.

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Loading NPC Appearances

Many NPCs use assets that, while not accessible to users natively in-game, can be equipped using Anamnesis. As a rule of thumb, if an NPC appearance can be manually applied by selecting individual attributes such as head mesh, face, and clothing specific to them, then they can be treated as a Player actor, and have their appearance loaded in much the same way as a standard .chara file. An even more basic way to look at it is, if the NPC uses the standard Midlander skeleton (middy.json), then it can be loaded like a player.

However, some NPCs use their own skeletons and items that cannot be equipped by players, and as such are classified as Monsters. These NPCs include but are by no means limited to Zenos, Gaia, Varus, Vauthry, Ran'jit, and others. Loading the appearances of such NPCs has been detailed on the Loading Models page of this wiki.

Loading the appearance of an NPC is as simple as clicking on the NPC button (1), filtering your search in the flyout, selecting the desired NPC from the list, and clicking the Load button. Please note that this list of NPCs is pulled from the game and is not maintained manually.

Additionally, as with normal appearance files, you can also Advance Load specific aspects of an NPC's appearance. To achieve this, click the ˅ (2) button beside the NPC button. This will present you with an additional menu where you can pick and choose specific aspects of an NPC to load:

• Appearance (3) - anything in the Customize panel
• Equipment (4) - anything in the Equipment panel aside from Main and Off Hand gear
• Weapons (5) - anything in the Main and/or Off Hand slots

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Loading Extended Appearance

Extended Appearance is one of the only aspects of a .chara file that can be loaded whilst in GPose. To achieve this, simply load your selected .chara file again while in GPose.

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Saving a Character File

Character files made in Anamnesis will be saved in the .chara file format, containing all appearance and equipment data by default, and are easily saved by simply pressing the Save button to bring out the Save flyout:

Two predetermined folders are provided as sources:

• Anamnesis Character folder (1)
• Desktop (2)

Using Windows Explorer to manually navigate to a folder of your choice outside the predetermined folders is also possible by clicking the ... button (3).

As with loading character files, you can refine how your files appear with the following options:

• Creating new folders within the tool (4)
• Flattening the folder hierarchy (5), which will show all files within all folders and hide the folders temporarily- this is a cosmetic change, and no actual changes to your folders will be made
• Changing the sorting mode (6) between 'By Name A-Z' and By Date 'Newest to Oldest'

From there, simply give your new file a name (7) and click the 🗸 Save button (8). Note that all aspects of a character are saved at this point, including but not limited to race, tribe, equipment, etc.

❗️ Note: Anamnesis cannot save files in the .cma, .json, or .dat formats for use in Concept Matrix or in-game. You will not be able to load .chara files in Concept Matrix.

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