I posted a message similar to this about 6 hours ago on the Helpers Forum but got no responses so I'll try my luck here.

Is TWGS absolutely necessary if I plan on using a helper? I have a locally hosted game (created from 2002v309.zip from the EIS site) that's almost a week old and the participants have apparently played hard to get to this point. I would like to make a helper available to them for their current local game (tw2002.exe) without making them have to re-start. Is there a way I can do this?

I fear that if I register TWGS, then everyone will have to start over again. Or do they? Is it possible to transfer the game data from my local game (tw2002.exe) to TWGS directory (TWGS.exe)?