Sharing profile.ini files

[Jheresy]

The mods that I have made aren't really mods, so much as save files. All of them were made for Dragon Age Inquisition, and I used mods while creating them, though I removed the mods before making the save that I shared on this site. I have had a number of people who have been unable to use the saves, and it has been difficult for me to determine why. Some of them just needed to update their patch number; frequently enough, they would have to increase that patch number quite high. 

Recently, someone mentioned that I had not included the profile.ini and the ProfileOptions_profile files with the saves, and they suggested that it would fix the difficulties that others have with using the files. My concern is that I have little understanding of exactly how those to files work, and what information they have in them. Is there some risk of sharing personal information when putting those files for others to use? Can anyone help me with this? I'd love it if someone could help explain it to me, as I am new to all this, but eager to learn. Thanks in advance for any help that can be given!

[UsernameWithA9]

I don't play Dragon Age: Inquisition but figured I'd give your query a shot since I assumed that the files mentioned were similar to what's used in Morrowind, the Morrowind.ini file, for game configuration settings. It turns out that I was correct, at least in the case of the ProfileOptions_profile file. Through a little digging, I found evidence that you can rest assured in not revealing any personal information. Here's a sample file posted on Pastebin. If you're on Windows, you can find yours by navigating to the following folder, %USERPROFILE%\Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age Inquisition\Save\ If you're on Linux, look here: <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1222690/pfx/. The app ID, 1222690, may differ in some cases. 

From what I understand, the ProfileOptions_profile is editable in a text editor. Notepad for Windows should allow you to open and view the file but if you'd like to edit the file, Notepad++ is recommended for it's added functionality. I use Linux and in respect to text file editing, I use Kate. It's the equivalent of Notepad++, I guess you could say. Whichever one you choose, you should be able to now open your file and see what's there.

As far as the profile.ini file, it's unclear. From reading this thread about a user requesting a relevant .ini file to enable him to launch his game, it seems no one knows where it is or even if it exists. One user commented that the ProfileOptions_profile was the '.ini' file. Another user states that the .ini file is created whenever you save your game. From reading all of that, I concluded that it's just another configuration file with no sensitive personal information. But do go read it for yourself.

I also found a page on PCGamingWiki that may provide you with some useful information on tweaking your configuration settings.

Although not definitive, there's all of that, for what it's worth. Make your own conclusions.

Edited May 11 by UsernameWithA9
Added some clarification

[Jheresy]

Bless you and your superior researching abilities! I'm afraid my attempts to learn more about the .ini files was hampered by my difficulty in narrowing down the specificity of what I was looking for. I was able to find much about people using said files, but not whether or not the information in them was sensitive. I feel better with the understanding that there is no personal information in those files, and am more comfortable with the idea of adding them to the save files that I have uploaded here. Thank you so much for your response and help!

[UsernameWithA9]

2 hours ago, Jheresy said:

I was able to find much about people using said files

You're welcome. That's pretty much all I found, with the exception of the user uploaded file on Pastebin, which I believe seals the deal on the file's contents. I'm glad it could help though.

[UsernameWithA9]

Just for posterity, here are the search terms used in DuckDuckGo: Dragon Age Inquisition modify profile.ini for one search, Dragon Age Inquisition profile.ini contents on another and Dragon Age Inquisition wiki on another and profile.ini files for yet another. It all comes down to choosing the right key words. Sometimes it takes a few searches to dial it in. I actually took a little information from each one of those searches to comprise my answer.

Cheers

Edited May 11 by UsernameWithA9