How to make a backup of the local files from Trainz 2019 ?

[stroakle]

Hi there,

Unfortunately my 16-years-old WD hard drive just died last night, taking with him my 19GB of Trainz content backup (among ather important things).
The mourning time has gone now ... it is time for me to make sure that I save my Trainz content already installed and which is more or less identical to the lost one.

Please anyone knows the best way to make a backup of all my Trainz 2019 data ? Does anyone know how to save the local content for future game reinstallations?

Thanks.

 

[oknotsen]

Please post in the related support forum.

Topic moved.

 

[ZikChil]

There are two main bits to this. 1) Application 2) Data folder

1) The game itself may be archived if needed but if you have the installer, this isn't too necessary. We usually only talk about this when folks are creating content in a beta build. At that point it's a good idea to back up your game folder so when you patch up, you have an easy method to roll back if the new beta "breaks something".

2) The data folder is fairly straight forward. If you're like me and do not like dealing with the alphanumeric system generated name TRS/TANE uses for the data folder, you probably are already creating your own directory with a user friendly name. Either way, these steps will help:

• ...from the Launcher click "Trainz Settings"
• ...click the "Install" tab
• ...see the path in "Local data folder" (copy this to the clipboard)
• ...click the ellipses button (...)
• ...paste the path into the "select a folder" dialog address bar, <enter>
• ...you are now looking at the data folder contents (backups, cache, editing, etc...)
• ...go up one level (you are now looking at the data folder)

Copy this to an external drive, compress it if you like.

Next time you have to reinstall Trainz, restore this folder and point the game to it. Done.
You may also use this method to maintain and manage multiple data folders.
Tip: When you archive data folders, provide the build number\date in the file name (i.e. - "dataBak_<date>_<build>"). This may be useful in the future and is generally good for reference purposes.
Note: These instructions may also be accessed from the Install tab by clicking "Instructions for moving your content".

 

[JCitron]

Sorry to hear of your loss. With the mourning period over and coming to grips with what to do going forward, let me give you some tips.

First of all I believe in the KISS method. Yes if there's a quick, no brainer, way of doing something I will seek it out.

With that said, here's what I've done.

1) I put my TRS19 data on a separate hard disk away from the system drive. This ensures that the data is easily accessed because it's out of the confoundingly awful users/..../app data path!

I setup my data folder on my E: Drive and called it TRS19_Data.

This allows for easy access to the User Data/editing folder for content repairs so much easier.

It allows for data integrity and safety because if there's a system issues, which require a system cleanup or reinstall, then the data is still safe and it's a matter of reinstalling programs and there's no data loss.

2) I use a simple copy method for backups using a program called Fast Copy.

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]https://fastcopy.jp/en/
[/FONT]
This has a bunch of options, which I use the barest number to get the job done. Increase the amount of RAM allocated to copying (it's a buffer), and most importantly, I backup my E:\TRS19_DATA folder to my BACKUPs folder on my external Seagate Desktop drive.

The full backup is run frequently, with differential backups done in between, or about once or twice a week and more frequently if I've been Trainzing more often, and the process runs overnight. When I'm up the next morning, the backup is done and I'm good to go. Since the data is copied and not compressed or turned into an unusable format outside of the backup software, accessing the backups can be done in a snatch, and should Fast Copy not work for some reason, the data can still be copied back again using File Manager in Windows.

Others may recommend synching data with the cloud, but given the huge amount of content we have, that can rack up some hefty disk space and expenses. The other issue with sync'ing is there's a possibility of overwriting a good backup with bad data.

In the end, pick a method that works for you and keep the KISS method in mind. The fewer steps and fewer convoluted processes means a much easier and simpler process to handle.

 

[boleyd]

Even quicker, and cleaner, is to use a commercial backup program. In my case I send money to Carbonite and they backup selected files to their "cloud". Probably the Amazon farm. Each file is recoverable in a format that is identical to the original and thus easily moved and viewed to insure the recovered data is what you expected. All of my important files, beyond just Trainz stuff, is insured in this manner. I also, backup passwords using a program from 1996. A basic encryption is used but the current crop of slime have probable never seen it. Yes, a program from 1996 runs on Windows 10 with no special adjustments. As I recall we still had light bulbs then.

I could not justify the cost for TRS19 alone. However, files that I have become dependent upon more than account for the the cost.