converting char from 1.1 to 2.1c

[Rogermayhem]

I am looking to get my characters from v1.1 converted to 2.1c. I've been playing 2.1c of late but recently found my original game files (v1.1O) on a thumb drive. is it possible to get those characters on the latest version? ive tried to just copy and paste the file but fails to load. im certain all the version changes are preventing this. do i need to get every version in between and slowly step the save files up to the version i am currently playing? if so, how do i obtain previous versions to do so?