TS2014 backup

[va2sg]

Hi all,

Thanks for this nice website. I'm back to train sim after many years (previous was Trains 2006!)

I downloaded TS2014 and many addons and wondering if there's a way to make a backup, in case the computer crashes.

Any suggestion is appreciated. Thanks.

[thebigroyboyski]

Welcome to the site.
You will only need to back up any 3rd party add ons, routes or scenarios you make or files you mod.
The actual game and add ons are in your Steam account so you shouldn't lose anything.

[Toripony]

RWTools contains backup routines that will create a full backup including your third-party addons or incremental backups of just your changes/additions (details appear when you run them). Set up your backup path first in the RWTools Options menu.

Good thinking on your part to back up your work/additions, especially if you plan on modeling or routebuilding... disasters do occur. When I am routebuilding, a program called FileGee backs up my progress every 10 minutes.

[PapaXpress]

Good thinking on your part to back up your work/additions, especially if you plan on modeling or routebuilding... disasters do occur. When I am routebuilding, a program called FileGee backs up my progress every 10 minutes.

+1

I use a more archaic bat file (zip/copy) to an external drive but I must stress what Tori has says "disasters do occur". It has happened to me a couple times now and having a backup has saved my butt.

[Chacal]

To make a backup of your whole TS2014 you just need to copy a folder to a different location on your computer, usually an external drive.
This folder is, usually, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\railworks".

There are several ways you can do this and they all amount to the same, the choice is yours:
- manually copy the folder using Windows Explorer (drag and drop, copy/paste, etc.);
- manually copy the folder using a 3rd-party utility such as RW-Tools;
- program it using a batch file (using XCOPY);
- program it using a 3rd-party utility such as SyncBack or your favorite backup utility.

Be aware that this folder will grow up fast as you add DLC and freeware. Your external drive needs to have the space.

[PapaXpress]

Is Machinist's batch file still around here? I still use that for copying back my 3rd party DLC and it can be easily altered to do a simple backup.

[Chacal]

Code: Select all

REM Railworks complete backup
REM Chacal 2013
REM Edit the two following lines to suit your own installation

SET rw="C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\railworks"
Set backup=K:\

XCOPY %rw% %backup% /Y /S
PAUSE

[PapaXpress]

Nice

[Toripony]

The RWTools routine actually uses xcopy32 (Mike used a simple .bat that I wrote). The first time you run the Incremental version, it does a full backup because none of the files exist on the target. Subsequent runs copies only new or changed files.

Filegee is a little cryptic because the English is translated. But it's decipherable, reliable, lightweight and quick (and free). It runs in the background with three different backup jobs I created. One job scans my Alleghany route content every 10 minutes for changes and completes in less than a minute without any drain on game performance. One job scans my Assets folder daily for new additions or changes and the other job makes a full backup weekly. All I do is check the job log daily to make sure it's running. It has only shut off one time after installing a new A/V software. It is a huge relief to not be worrying about remembering to make backups.

[PapaXpress]

I am curious about Filegee. I will give it a try tonight.

[Ericmopar]

I see we have a Canadian Ham here... Me thinks...

CQ CQ CQ DX? KM6YW.

[Chacal]

Yes, it looks interesting.
WHen I'm working on a project, I like to make backups while keeping previous versions.
This is my batch file for doing this. I put it on my desktop and use it at least once every night, more often if I'm making a lot of changes.

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF
REM Backup of WIP Railworks scenario
REM This will copy all files from the source folder to a new destination folder
REM The name of the destination folder is the current date and time
REM Change variables Source and Destination in the two lines below to suit your project
SET Source=I:\Steam\steamapps\common\railworks\Content\Routes\00000032-0000-0000-0000-000000000000\Scenarios\57474de9-8eef-4fd8-9896-a76b1464693d
SET Destination=K:\Backup\Railworks\WIP\Scenarios

REM We use current date and time for versioning
REM Note that the output of date and time is locale-dependent
REM You will have to adjust the parsing to fit the output of your DATE and TIME commands.
REM To do this, open a command window (Start / Run / cmd)
REM Type DATE. Whatever comes after "The current date is: " is your localized date format.
REM Type TIME. Whatever comes after "The current time is: " is your localized time format.
REM Then adjust the following SET lines to set variables correctly for year, month, etc.


rem Parse the date (e.g., 2013-01-01)
rem Example: the line below takes the first 4 characters of "2013-01-01" and puts them in "cur_year".
set cur_year=%date:~0,4%
set cur_m0=%date:~5,2%
set cur_da=%date:~8,2%

rem Parse the time (e.g., 16:20:08,69)
set cur_hh=%time:~0,2%
if %cur_hh% lss 10 (set cur_hh=0%time:~1,1%)
set cur_mm=%time:~3,2%
set cur_ss=%time:~6,2%
set cur_ms=%time:~9,2%

rem Set the timestamp format
set timestamp=%cur_year%-%cur_mo%-%cur_da%_%cur_hh%h%cur_mm%
rem Example: 2013-01-01_16h37

ECHO %timestamp%
CD %Destination%
MD %timestamp%
CD %timestamp%
XCOPY %Source% /S
PAUSE
rem Clear environment variables
set cur_year=
set cur_mo=
set cur_da=
set cur_hh=
set cur_mm=
set cur_ss=
set cur_ms=
set timestamp=
Set Source=
Set Destination=


[va2sg]

QSL on all the info ;-)
Thanks!

[Ericmopar]

QSL on all the info ;-)
Thanks!

I thought as much! 73s

[Toripony]

Is Machinist's batch file still around here? I still use that for copying back my 3rd party DLC and it can be easily altered to do a simple backup.

I've been looking for this. If it's in the File Library I didn't recognize it. Anybody have a link?