Frequently Asked Questions
Project
What is Giftscop?
Giftscop is a playable recreation of the fictional game depicted in Petscop.
Our goal is to remake the Petscop game as accurately as is reasonably possible, including parts which are unfinished, contain bugs, or otherwise inconvenient. We do not intend to expand beyond what is shown in the videos, except in cases where this type of speculation is necessary for things to function correctly.
What is Petscop?
Petscop is a video series focused on a fictional game (also called Petscop) for the original PlayStation. It can be found on its official YouTube channel.
Should I watch Petscop before playing Giftscop?
Yes.
We strongly recommend watching the original Petscop videos before playing Giftscop.
If you play Giftscop without having seen Petscop, various parts of the game will be significantly more confusing or near impossible. Giftscop is designed for people who have watched the original Petscop videos.
I haven't watched Petscop, but I did watch a video summarizing it. Will Giftscop still be confusing?
Yes, it will still be confusing. You should watch the actual Petscop videos first.
Most summary and theory videos focus primarily on Petscop's plot and the interpretation of whoever made the video. They do not cover certain gameplay features which have little impact on the plot itself, but significant impact on how a playthrough of the game will work. Watching the original videos best provides this information.
Who made Giftscop?
Giftscop was started by James9270. After sharing development progress, other people took interest and offered help on the project.
Currently, Giftscop is primarily being developed by James9270 and axetion. The website and multiplayer server are being hosted by ugng. The website content is maintained by perischi and James9270, with assistance from ugng.
For a complete list of credits for Giftscop, visit the credits page.
Is Giftscop finished?
No.
Are you still working on Giftscop?
Yes.
What do you plan on adding to Giftscop?
Our current plans are to expand upon the recording system so that it can fully account for events like Marvin's appearance in Petscop 8, the pink tool, and other interactions involving multiple players. We also intend to connect it with multiplayer so that these types of interactions may occur naturally during gameplay, while also aligning multiplayer more closely with the rest of the project.
These are not the only plans for Giftscop, but it is what we have in mind right now.
When will you release the next version of Giftscop?
We do not plan release dates in advance. Instead, we publish new builds when we feel like we've implemented enough changes to justify a new version, and said changes are stable enough to release publicly.
Because of this, it is impossible to say exactly when the next version will be released.
Is Giftscop open source?
No.
Can I contribute to Giftscop?
You can make useful bug reports and help us find original source textures; join our Discord server for more details.
I have a suggestion for Giftscop, can I submit it?
You can (through our Discord server), but keep in mind that most suggestions will be rejected unless it is beneficial to our goal of accurately recreating Petscop.
Does the creator of Petscop know about Giftscop?
Petscop's creator knows about and has no issue with Giftscop.
Does Giftscop use official Petscop assets?
Only the soundtrack, which was used with permission.
Besides images ripped from the videos on YouTube like loading screens and such, the only "official" Petscop asset Giftscop uses is the soundtrack, which we have permission from the creator of Petscop to use. Everything else is recreated by hand or from the original sources that Petscop used.
Can Giftscop be used to understand Petscop better, or discover things not shown in Petscop?
While Giftscop may help in understanding parts of the Petscop game itself, it cannot be used to discover any information that is not shown within the original series; Giftscop is a recreation of Petscop, only looking to replicate what is shown in the videos.
Will you add the other homes in the Gift Plane, or otherwise finish that part of Petscop?
No. This area is unfinished in the original videos, so that's how it will be in Giftscop.
Will you add the censored objects?
No. These parts of the series are intentionally ambiguous, and we would not like anything we come up with to be treated as the "correct" interpretation by fans of Giftscop.
Petscop 20 shows four "caskets" which presumably correspond with several of the censored objects, but we do not intend to use these in place of the censored objects, because the versions seen in Petscop 20 are stated to be unfinished; What's actually behind the censor boxes would not be identical to the caskets from Petscop 20.
Why not add the black boxes from the videos?
Because the black boxes were edited onto the video footage after it was recorded, rather than being a part of the game itself; our goal is to recreate the game, not the video footage.
Will you recreate any other fictional games?
No.
Why does it say "Recreation" in the corner of the screen? Can I turn that off?
We added a recreation watermark to the game in order to make it directly clear to the player that Giftscop is not an official version of Petscop. Additionally, if anyone shares screenshots or videos of Giftscop, people won't be misled into thinking it's from the original Petscop series.
It is not possible to disable the watermark, as this would undermine its purpose.
Can I use Giftscop to create fanmade Petscop videos?
Yes, but we don't want Giftscop to be used in such a way that would trick the audience into thinking it's official Petscop content.
If you create fanmade Petscop videos, we ask that you make it directly clear to the audience that the video is fanmade - please do not hide this information away or make it hard to find out that it is fanmade. If the recreation watermark is visible, no special action is necessary.
Additionally, please keep in mind that Giftscop was not designed for this purpose, and we do not intend to implement any features to help with this sort of thing.
But Petscop ended years ago. Why do you care if someone makes fake videos now?
Having been a part of Petscop's community, we have observed that not everyone understands official Petscop content can only be found on the original YouTube channel, and even though the series is over, new people are still finding out about Petscop and are looking to experience it for the first time. With this in mind, the fact that the series is over is irrelevant. People can still be misled, and some people are still intending to create misleading (or "gamejacking") content.
Additionally, there are numerous parts of the series where the exact functionality of the game is very ambiguous. For Giftscop, we've implemented things according to how we interpret those parts of the series, but we don't want them to be seen as the "correct" interpretations or to poison people's own perspectives on the series.
Gameplay
How do I save my progress?
Open the pause menu (via the start button), select the Quit Game option, and then select Save and Quit. Your progress will be saved, and the game will return to the title screen.
I locked myself in Amber's cage. How do I get out?
You cannot.
This is intended to be consistent with Petscop 19, where a recording shows the player trapped inside Amber's cage.
That said, as long as you did not save the game after getting stuck, you may quit without saving and return to where you last saved.
I entered the code in Roneth's room but nothing happened. Is this a bug?
If nothing happens when you enter the code, chances are that you simply entered it wrong. This part of Giftscop has been tested very thoroughly, and we are certain that it works.
If you are completely certain that you are entering it correctly, it may be an issue with how your controls are configured, or an issue with the keyboard or controller you are using.
When you enter the code correctly, a sound will play and the music will stop, like in the original Petscop videos. Entering it again on the same file will do nothing.
I entered the code and went to the Newmaker Plane, but I can't find anything. Where do I go from here?
The walkthrough discusses where to go from here.
Does the Newmaker Plane loop?
No. In Giftscop, we did not add any boundaries to the Newmaker Plane. You may continue walking in the same direction indefinitely, and it will never loop.
Can I skip watching the windmill for several hours?
Yes, you can skip this part. You may continue with the rest of the game if you do not want to watch the windmill for several hours, as this event is entirely optional in reaching later portions of the game.
If you don't want to wait, but still want to see what happens, you should just watch Petscop 6. The event in Giftscop is the same as the event in the original video, so you won't be missing out on anything.
Can I change my appearance to look like other characters, such as Marvin or Tiara?
No.
In Petscop, everyone always sees themselves as the regular guardian. The other appearances (e.g. Marvin's green head) are only visible from the perspective of other players, as shown from Tiara'a perspective during Petscop 12, and Marvin's perspective in Petscop 20. This system has been implemented in Giftscop, and other players will see you with the red triangle head, like how Paul appears to Tiara during Petscop 12.
Petscop 12 and 20 also include additional differences in Tiara's and Marvin's copies of the game, such as there being no pieces in Marvin's game, or different rooms being accessible. Because we only see a very small amount of the game from the perspectives of other players, Giftscop is designed to function like Paul's copy of the game. As a result, you will appear with the red triangle head to other players, as Paul does in Petscop 12.
I started a new save file, but the Garalina logo is still tilted. Is there a way to fix this?
Certain things carry over from previous playthroughs and other save files; Giftscop refers to this as your global data. Deleting your save file does not delete your global data, so starting a new file will not be the same as starting from scratch.
If you want to completely start over, go to the persistent data folder and delete the entire savedata folder. You can also delete the recordings folder to remove past recordings.
Some parts of the game are very tedious or frustrating. Will you do anything to improve this?
No.
These parts of the game are based on how Petscop was presented originally; while many of them are completely optional in reaching the end of the game, we do not plan to do anything to make them any less tedious.
Our utmost goal is to recreate Petscop as accurately as possible. This means that we intentionally implement all the tedious, annoying, and confusing parts of Petscop, because that's how it is in Petscop. We are NOT trying to make something necessarily fun or enjoyable; we won't be sacrificing accuracy for convenience, as that isn't our goal.
If you want to experience Petscop's story without this type of gameplay, we recommend simply watching the original videos. The original series contain further context through Paul's commentary and video descriptions, which you will not find in Giftscop. Additionally, Giftscop does not contain any story information that cannot be found in the original series.
Support
What are the controls?
They are documented on the info page.
You should think of Giftscop's keyboard controls like they would be in a PlayStation emulator: Keys are mapped to buttons on a virtual controller.
Can I change the controls?
Yes, you may change the controls by modifying the controls.ini file inside the persistent data folder.
To open the persistent data folder, press F10 while the game is running. After saving your changes to controls.ini, you must close and reopen the game for said changes to take effect. Each button may be configured to use any of Unity's KeyCodes.
Can I play Giftscop with a controller?
Yes, but you must configure them manually by modifying the controls.ini file inside the persistent data folder, which may be opened by pressing F10.
You may use gscontroltest, located in the same folder as the game's executable, to query the names of controller buttons as they are detected. A list of controller input names may be found below:
- JoystickButton0 through JoystickButton19
- Axis00+ through Axis27+
- Axis00- through Axis27-
In the future, we hope to make this process more intuitive.
Can I play Giftscop in fullscreen?
Yes. Press F11 to toggle fullscreen.
Can I turn off the composite video filter?
Yes. It can be toggled via the ntsc option in the settings.ini file. More information may be found here.
I found a bug, how do I report it?
You may report Giftscop bugs using the #bug-reports channel in our Discord server.
When reporting issues, please:
- Do provide clear steps for us to reproduce the issue.
- Do provide details on what you're running Giftscop on.
- Do not report bugs that appear in the original Petscop videos; they were added to Giftscop intentionally.
- Do not report inconveniences as bugs/issues; Giftscop is intended to reflect these accurately.
If you are not sure whether something is a bug, feel free to ask in our Discord server.
I found an issue with the website, how do I report it?
You can let us know about issues with the website by joining our Discord server and letting @perischi or @ugng know with details.
My antivirus says Giftscop is dangerous. Is Giftscop a virus?
Some antiviruses (particularly virustotal) are known to incorrectly label Giftscop as malicious. This is a false positive. These applications function in such a way that causes false positives to occur quite frequently.
In some cases, these same antiviruses will flag extremely simple, nonmalicous applications, such as default Unity projects, or C/C++ applications that do nothing at all, e.g. int main() { return 0; }.
Assuming you downloaded Giftscop from our official download page, these warnings may be safely ignored, as Giftscop does not contain any malware.
The exe file is automatically deleted when I try to run Giftscop
This can be caused by antivirus software. As mentioned in the previous question, Giftscop will appear as a false positive in some antiviruses. To make it stop deleting the exe, you must configure your antivirus to allow Giftscop to run.
Does Giftscop record what I do? What data is recorded?
As shown in Petscop (particularly Petscop 14 and Petscop 19), the game creates recordings from all of your gameplay sessions. Because our goal is to accurately recreate Petscop, we have implemented this functionality into Giftscop.
Giftscop's recordings store the following data:
- Game save data from the beginning of the session.
- All game inputs that occurred during the recorded session.
Inputs are stored according to their function within the game, and it is not possible to determine which keys were pressed by just looking at a recording file.
During playback, the game simply replays the inputs from the starting location stored in the recording's save data. No audio or video is necessary, as the game will reproduce these at runtime using the save and input data.
Recordings are stored inside the persistent data folder.
Can I change the persistent data folder location?
No. Giftscop uses Unity's persistentDataPath property to determine the folder's location, and it is not possible to change this.
The game crashed in Odd Care, what should I do?
This crash has been added to Giftscop intentionally, to replicate what happens in Petscop 9 and 10.
When the crash occurs, your progress is automatically saved. To continue playing, close Giftscop and reopen it to return to the title screen, then reload your save file.
My question is not answered here
If you have a question that is not answered on this page, feel free to mention it in our Discord server.
Multiplayer
How do I play multiplayer?
You may use gsmp, located in the same folder as the game's executable, to connect to the multiplayer server.
Only the most recent version of Giftscop supports multiplayer. Older versions may not connect to multiplayer, even if they previously could at the time of their release.
More information on multiplayer, including server rules, may be found here.
Why does everyone else in multiplayer have a red triangle head?
See "can I change my appearance to look like other characters?".
How do I communicate with other players in multiplayer?
The P2 to TALK system is the main method of communication within multiplayer.
P2 to TALK is difficult to use. Will you make it easier to communicate?
No.
As discussed previously, accuracy is a higher priority than convenience or user-friendliness. That said, the P2 to TALK page contains information that will help you understand how to use it, including a tool to retrieve the button sequence for a given word.
I heard Giftscop has extra features that weren't in Petscop, like a chatbox and custom characters. What's up with those?
Text chat and custom sprite sheets have been removed; you may still use P2 to TALK to communicate in multiplayer.
When these extra features were added, Petscop was still ongoing and it was clear to everyone that they were not the point of Giftscop. More recently however, they have caused many to misunderstand the intent of the project, leading to frustration for everyone involved, and making us lose interest in developing them. Because of this, we are focusing more strictly on content relating to the original Petscop videos.
We do not want people to view Giftscop solely as "Petscop but with custom characters," or "Petscop but with [other features that don't exist in Petscop]." Instead, we hope people follow the project for its main goal of recreating Petscop itself.
If you previously used a custom sheet in multiplayer, but no longer have access to it, you can download every sheet you've uploaded on multiplayer HERE (requires authorization).
NOTE: This only works for original sheets which you uploaded before anyone else. If someone else uploaded the sheet before you did, it won't be included here.
More information on these types of changes may be found in the 1.2 update guide.
Is multiplayer itself an "extra feature"? Will it be removed?
No. It is not inherently an "extra feature," and we do not plan to remove it.
We believe the school demos from Petscop 11, 15 and 23 involve some form of multiplayer. By implementing multiplayer in Giftscop, we hope to make it possible for similar kinds of interactions to occur naturally, without implementing any scripted interactions with characters like Tiara and Marvin.
In its current state, multiplayer includes several extra features that do not exist in Petscop, such as console commands. These types of features have resulted in many treating Giftscop multiplayer as something fundamentally different from what we intend to do with it, and we are working to remove or replace many of these features so people's expectations are less likely to deviate so far from our plans for the project.
Our goal with multiplayer is simply to make it possible for interactions like those in the original Petscop videos (from a technical standpoint) to happen within Giftscop.
I was banned from multiplayer. How long is the ban? How can I get unbanned?
Bans are issued for severe or repeated violations of the multiplayer rules. Multiplayer bans are indefinite.
If you wish to appeal a ban, please join our Discord server and ask to contact a moderator. If you are banned from our Discord server, or have previously had your appeal rejected, consider the ban permanent.
Additionally, if you attempt to bypass a ban, such as by using an alternate account after your main account was banned, you will not be eligible to appeal your ban.
Please follow the server rules to avoid being banned.