Backing Up Rail Simulator

[scooby1066]

Hello,

Could someone please advise me which folders within the main Rail Simulator on I should back up? I've downloaded routes, scenarios ,engines, wagons and the various new signals, scenery objects etc which have been specified to make certain downloaded routes work.

My current logic until today was to back up the whole folder, then after a re-install of windows I would reload Rail Simulator from disc, apply the update then overwrite the Rail Simulator folder with my backup hence restoring everything I have downloaded without spending hours re-installing each individual item.
Unfortunately there is a flaw in this as my current install has developed a problem where it will crash out with a runtime error. My recovery method will only result in me re-introducing the error. What I want to do is re-install Rail Simulator from disc but only re-apply the folders with my downloaded content in. Hopefully this will cure the runtime error I am seeing.

Any advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[emrhd01]

Hi scooby1066,

I back up the 'Content' and 'Assets' folders and check the Routes.xml file (found in the Content Folder) as per RS Adam's Post (link shown below) for any errors before saving the Content Folder.

http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. ... 18&t=81514

This was recommended to me by Capt Scarlet, thanks John.

As you have probably discovered, Routes are filed in the Content Folder and the Rolling Stock, Signals & Scenery in the Assets Folder.

[Retro]

Good advice above. If you have done your own Route Templates, Marker Files, Track Rules don't forget the Source Folder.
Regards James

[scooby1066]

Thank you both. Your advice is much appreciated.

[TheTazman]

This is something i have been meaning to ask also.

At the moment I back up the entire folder. I am OK with that as i have plenty of diskspace available.

Will have a read on the above forum links later to see what others advise.

Cheers for posting the initial topic Scooby.

Tazman

[Acorncomputer]

Hi

I still also back up the whole Rail Simulator folder which takes about 12 minutes on my computer with 320gb disks - plenty of space.

I do replace the whole folder on rare occasions and everything works OK on restarting the game. I try to avoid full re-installation if at all possible and have only had to do this once early on.

[scooby1066]

I went ahead and did an uninstall. Maybe my experience can help someone here so here is how it went.

I was getting the runtime error and a crash back to desktop at random and occasionally when pressing F3 or the 2D map.

I made a copy of the Rail Simulator folder (just in case but only with the intention of restoring the assets and routes folders).
Uninstalled Rail Simulator via add/remove then deleted what was left of the Rail Simulator folder, rebooted and then re-installed from disc .
I then applied the patch, which failed! It failed because it thought the patch did not match the installed version of Rail Simulator. The only reason I can think for this is that the marker in the registry with the version number was not removed on the uninstall therefore the patch though it was patching an already patched version.
Rather than re-install windows or spend time going through the registey I just deleted the Rail Simulator folder and put back my copied version. I expected it to run but with the same runtime errors as before. To my amazement I haven't had any errors since. So it was worth doing. Next time I re-install windows hopefully I will just be able to restore the routes and assets but for now I'll keep periodically making a copy of the whole folder.

I mention all this in case anyone else has the runtime error. This cured it for me so may be worth a try.

[Acorncomputer]

Hi Scooby

RS seems to behave differently for everyone and this forum is full of experiences which plague some people but totally unaffect others. When you reach a stage where something works for you then it seems best to stick to it. Copying the whole RS folder before every new routebuilding session has worked for me over the last six months so I will stick with it. I also occasionally keep a back up folder as a long stop in case of total disaster - but perhaps that is too cautious.

I hope you enjoy using RS as many of us do already.

[boleyd]

There are probably a critical set of folders/files that are absolutely needed for backup. For now they seem to be in Routes, Assets and Source. There may be others. The point is that most problems can be fixed with a limited backup versus the entire multi- gigabyte folder. Not many customers want to spend disk space and time doing a full backup.

RS could write a fairly simple program to backup those areas that are critical to restoring normal operations such as the folders (or specific files) mentioned, plus any more. They should want the customer to be confident that they are protected from failures (themselves, their PC & RS).

As an added thought, RS should create a project, with a long horizon, that is targeted toward placing clear language in error messages. A message that says that a specific XML is corrupted would go a long way to bolster confidence in the product. Granted this does not directly make money but the returns are in increased sales and reduced customer service loads. The less people who complain on forums the stronger the product appears to a potential customer base.

[ightenhill]

Hmmm.. would there be a reason I dont seemto be able to find a routes folder? EDIT ** (found it didnt realise it was inside another folder)..