Does Trainz automatically backup game files in any way?

[Brayson06]

I figured the answer to this question is a resounding "no", but I decided to ask anyways.

Recently my computer crashed and had to be replaced due to a hardware error. I was able to fix the issue myself, but I had to factory reset my PC to do so. Unfortunately, this means that ALL of my Trainz files, both within the game and saved as CDP files are unrecoverable as they were deleted in the process. I didn't have any of the saved CDP files on an external hard drive either sadly.

What is incredibly frustrating is that I lost all progress I was making on my latest route. Which was a re-creation of the Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad in it's ENTIRETY as it would've appeared around 1979 to 1981-ish. The project was about 80% complete, with only a few sections of the route needing scenery and terrain forming. I only archived two screenshots of the route prior to my PC failing sadly, one of which is what would've been the thumbnail for the route. Appearing in both are some of my private reskins of Trainz Forge's Baldwin RF-16A models to be accurate to their appearance on the ELS.

https://flic.kr/p/2raikpq

https://flic.kr/p/2rajYkS

I'm almost certain everything has been lost, but since I haven't attempted to re-install Trainz 2019 yet, I'm wondering if there's anyway Trainz might've saved or backed up these files that I'm unaware of.

Thanks in advance for any response.

-Brayson06

 

[martinvk]

If your C: drive died but you had installed Trainz on another local drive, i.e a separate physical drive, not a logical partition on the same disk as your C: drive, you could recover things. If not, there is not much to do except pay a recovery service to try to pull off any data that is still viable on the dead drive.
One reason that while buying an extra drive is an upfront cost,, it saves a lot of headaches and potential recovery costs down the track. That and saving important data elsewhere.
Backup now before disaster strikes.

 

[JCitron]

You are partially correct in your assumption. Trainz does have a backup system built into the program but this system only backs up the assets prior to being modified. The back-up data is located in dated folders that will be removed chronologically from the oldest first. You can have up to 7-days' worth of backups that don't have to be consecutive. After the 7th day, the first backup folder is deleted.

External backups are an important part of computer ownership and owning an external hard drive, not thumb drives, is a must for backups. We rely on the cloud for backups today, but with Trainz content adding up to gigabytes and then leading to terabytes of content, it's imperative that the content be backed up off the computer.

As Martin says the upfront cost of an external drive is there, but it's like having car insurance for that time when something goes terribly wrong. The difference here is you don't see an increase in cost for using the hard disk.

Trainz data is not only easily moved or copied to another location, but is also easy to backup and restore. Simply copying the Trainz data-folder, the build xxxxxx folder, to an external drive, comprises a backup. Restoring the data is the same and since the user log in information is stored in the data-folder, restoring the folder then pointing the program is all that's needed to get up and running.

Whenever I download content from third-party websites, including payware from sites such as Jointed Rail, I save the downloads on an external drive that contains other software. This has saved me the trouble of downloading content again after suffering from a hard drive crash about a year ago. I also have a second backups-only drive where I put full backups of my Trainz data-folder. This drive also contains documents, photos, my own music creations, and other important things I don't want to lose.

 

[rwk]

It's important to back up downloads from external sites in case they shut down. Sometimes after a site closes you can't even download the files again through wayback archive then you are sol unless someone is willing to send you the files privately. There is some content from the Backshops and Control Point Simulations for example that is simply gone and not obtainable anywhere anymore. Some content appeared on other sites with permission like Approach Medium. You should save CDP's of routes you build and keep them in a safe place like an external drive. Centon makes a really tiny USB 1tb SSD for under $100.