PoL User Backups

I wanted to post this in support but like.. it's not windower or site related. So I guess it goes in general for now. Admins can move it if they want.

I was tinkering around with backing up PoL user directory. I found that this does not work with clean installs of windows/PoL. The user will just get gibberish and be forced to wipe the "login_w.bin" in order to fix it.

It'd be really nice to fresh install 11 and not have to be forced to redo the entire user entry list each time windows decides it needs to be reinstalled or say when a new pc comes along.

Is there a way to fix this?

It's easy enough to just manually back up your user information if you want to keep it safe. Go to the location where your Final fantasy XI folder is stored. The directory will end like this

PlayOnline/SquareEnix/Final Fantasy XI

That folder will have the Rom folders which contain the games dat files, the sound folders, and several other things that make the game run, and along with it will be a USER folder. That's what you want to back up. The user folder contains a sub folder for each character you've logged in with on that PC, and inside will be your in game macroes, user settings, chat filters, font colors, etc etc... If you ever need to reinstall a fresh copy of FFXI on a new machine then it's as simple as copying the USER folder from your current install to the new one and all of your settings and configurations will be carried over with it. I keep a backup of mine on a separate hard drive in case I ever accidentally log out improperly and end up losing all my in game macroes. It happened to me once a long time ago when my power went out and ever sine then I've kept a relatively up to date backup just in case.

I don't think you understand what I said,

Lemme try to say it again..

There are 2 folders for clarification, the ffxi & PoL.

When I take the "user" dir with all of its folders like "home01" and say move it to a clean windows install or a new pc with a brand new install of 11/PoL and move this folder into the "same place" as it normally would be = PoL sees the data from "login_w.bin" as gibberish and I cannot login like this.

This wasn't me asking how to back up character files from the ffxi dir with names like a12345b which contains macros and configs.

This was the PoL viewer login data from "login_w.bin" loading incorrectly on a new install when moved there.

Do you get it now Melliny?

It's currently not possible to transfer login_w.bin from one POL installation to another (across PCs) as a means of moving credentials. Playonline uses specific parameters about your machine (like GUID) to encrypt, sign and obfuscate your credentials from others. This prevents a bad actor, or anyone with access to your file system or hard drive, from stealing your account credentials.

TLDR: Every new POL installation requires you to manually enter/install the 4 POL accounts that can be configured by default. (Yes, there's a patch out there to let you store more than 4 accounts in the POL screen, but that doesn't negative or remove or bypass the necessary security restrictions that SE put in place.

A patch to expand beyond 4 users you say, since when an where? This is news to me.

If I don't ask questions I never know of such things, just like finding out from you that the encryption is what prevents the bin file from being able to move around.. sad but reasonable given things.

https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/58584/ffxi-manager-login-chaos-has-been-nerfed/