Frequently Asked Questions
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 original 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.
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 a second time on the same file will do nothing.
I entered the code and went to the Newmaker Plane. Where do I go from here?
The walkthrough discusses where to go from here.
Do I really need to watch the windmill for several hours?
If you want to experience the events from Petscop 6, then yes. However, these events are completely optional. You can reach the end of the game without seeing them.
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.
The controls seem confusing. Are they documented anywhere?
Yes. They are documented on the info page.
Giftscop's keyboard controls are a little unusual, since they are based around buttons on a virtual PlayStation controller. It's similar to how it would work if you were playing Petscop using an emulator on your computer.
I don't like the layout controls layout. Can I change it?
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, however you must configure them manually by modifying the controls.ini file inside the persistent data folder.
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 intend to make this process more userfriendly.
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.
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 a bug, please:
- Provide clear steps for us to reproduce the issue
- 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
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, these applications function in such a way that causes false positives to occur quite frequently. Assuming you downloaded Giftscop from our official download page, these warnings may be safely ignored, as Giftscop does not contain any malware.
That said, this message is coming from us, the people who created Giftscop. So, if you really don't trust it, then no one is forcing you to run it.
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 looking at the 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.
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.
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.
Do you plan to add the other homes in the Gift Plane, or to otherwise "complete" that part of Petscop?
No. This part of Petscop is unfinished in the original videos, so that's how it will be in Giftscop.
Do you plan to 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.
A lot of the gameplay is very tedious or confusing. Do you plan to do anything to improve this?
No. Most of this tedious or confusing gameplay is inherent to Petscop as it was presented originally, and therefore we don't plan to do anything about it.
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.
Is Giftscop open source?
No.
Can I contribute to or help with 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 any official Petscop assets?
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.
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 - 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 that would assist in the creation of videos.
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 here. 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.
Will you recreate any other fictional games?
No. We only intend on recreating Petscop.
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.
More information on multiplayer, including server rules, may be found here.
I heard Giftscop has extra features that weren't in Petscop, like a chatbox and custom characters. What's up with those?
While we have added several "extra features" in the past, the goal of this project has always been to recreate Petscop, and those extra features do not help us achieve this.
When those features were added, Petscop was still ongoing, and it was clear that they were not the point of Giftscop. More recently however, they have caused confusing regarding our goals with the project, and generally caused frustration for everyone involved.
Because of this, many of those extra features have been removed, and we are focusing more strictly on content relating to the original Petscop videos.
Text chat has been removed entirely, but you may still use P2 to TALK to communicate in multiplayer. Custom sheets are still usable for the time being, but they are limited to extra rooms, and may be removed in the future.
More information on these types of changes may be found in the 1.2 update guide.
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.