BTW-compatible Automated World Backups?

[MaxAstro]

So this isn't really something I've looked into before, but since I now have a world I care about very, very much my paranoia is getting to me. :)

Con someone recommend me a good utility for automatic world backups that works with BTW? Preferably one that keeps multiple backups - the more I can customize i.e. how many backups and how long to keep them the better.

I keep worrying that I'm some point I'm going to mis-click and destroy the water source that powers my entire base or something. Or, you know, that my computer will randomly eat my world.

Or that I'll load the world without checking that I have BTW activated (It's happened before)...

Heh, like I said, paranoia. :p

[Mud]

What kind of frequency are you looking for? I do a full back-up of my entire machine once a week and that indirectly backs up my worlds in the process.

[MaxAstro]

Something that backs up my world every half hour or so would be perfect. Basically just something I can roll back to if something silly happens, without losing a whole mess of progress.

I tend to play several hours a day, so once a week would not be ideal. :)

[Gunnerman21]

Something silly just happened to me (letting go of shift) and I REALLY wish I backed up my world, cause it was the only world I've made in almost a year that I got iron in...

[eternal8phoenix]

Not to sound too "holier-than-thou" but isn't restoring from a back-up a bit cheaty in the case of

I keep worrying that I'm some point I'm going to mis-click and destroy the water source that powers my entire base or something.

or

letting go of shift

Since it's basically using an out of game solution to an in-game problem, as the term was recently defined by FC in the cheating thread?

I understand wanting back-ups in case of computers just eating half a save, but for messing up a block placement or dying? It seems a bit underhanded.

[FlowerChild]

Well, your finger slipping off of shift, or a missclick filling in a crucial block are arguably out of game problems in the first place.

Not everything needs to be put under the cheating magnifying glass man, nor does a crusade need to be launched every time somebody mentions straying slightly into metagame territory :P

[MaxAstro]

Thanks for that, FC. :)

Actually, the water source bit is the one I'm mostly concerned about. My roommate and I already play with cheats enabled to bypass HC spawn, so we could in a pinch fix most mistakes short of world corruption or loading the world without BTW installed.

However, even with creative enabled there's no way to place source blocks - which definitely leads to a certain degree of paranoia around water sources.

In short, no, I'm not looking at backups as a way of helping me cheat, just to prevent legitimately irreparable damage to the world.

[FlowerChild]

Thanks for that, FC. :)

...

My roommate and I already play with cheats enabled to bypass HC spawn

Talk to the hand man.

Nevermind, anyone who cares to, lynch this guy at will :)

[Gunnerman21]

HC spawn is hard man :( I just delete worlds where I hcs too far away. I know I'm never going to make it back to my base anyways, so why keep playing there? I just start a new world I hope I don't make the same mistake again.

[FlowerChild]

HC spawn is hard man :( I just delete worlds where I hcs too far away. I know I'm never going to make it back to my base anyways, so why keep playing there? I just start a new world I hope I don't make the same mistake again.

Because it gets easier the more you play on the same world. I've died probably 20+ times on my own one in different locations, building up each. Now, there's hardly a time when I don't respawn in sight of a developed region or the many landmarks I've put up around them. My average recovery time has been reduced to about ten minutes.

By constantly restarting you're making it way harder than it needs to be. That's why.

[Pfilson]

However, even with creative enabled there's no way to place source blocks - which definitely leads to a certain degree of paranoia around water sources.

Yes there is, but.. Nope!

If you are that concerned about your source block I suggest that you just stay away from it and just work further down the stream.

That said, anything that will backup vMC should work with BTW unless it's actually reading through the world files for individual block changes, but that seems very very unlikely. The difficulty with backing up those files every X minutes is that you risk corruption when copying files that are in use; unless you are using professional backup software that is built to do so. Your best bet is to copy the world folder in your save directory after each session to a backup location, then at least you can revert to the last session.

Additional: Bypassing HCS? Noobs!

[wizardglick]

HC spawn is hard man :( I just delete worlds where I hcs too far away. I know I'm never going to make it back to my base anyways, so why keep playing there? I just start a new world I hope I don't make the same mistake again.

Yer missing the point. HC spawn making you start over and build new little bases actually helps you get to the later game. Once you have several bases, and signal posts set up (very important, just some structure you can recognize from a ways away), you can often find your way back just by nosing around, and you are building a real map of the world via game play that will help you get out of the spawn radius and into later game play.

[MaxAstro]

Ah, I knew I shouldn't have mentioned that. Figured it would derail the thread.

Just quickly then: I entirely support HC spawn. In my single player world I play with cheats off. My roommate and I bypass it in multiplayer because it does not create the game experience we are looking for in a co-op game. If we ever both die at the same time, we pick one of us to warp to and do the HC spawn thing.

I am aware that this is not the FlowerChild-approved game mode. I can live with that. :)

Back on topic: Thanks, Pfilson, that is useful info. I'll look into vanilla MC backup software, then, and try to avoid doing too-regular backups.

[FlowerChild]

Just quickly then: I entirely support HC spawn. In my single player world I play with cheats off. My roommate and I bypass it in multiplayer because it does not create the game experience we are looking for in a co-op game. If we ever both die at the same time, we pick one of us to warp to and do the HC spawn thing.

Just to verify: you know about the soulsand piles right? The "rescue mission" mechanic it creates is rather fun in itself.

[MaxAstro]

I am aware of soulsand piles, yes. If it was entirely my call, I'd probably learn to be okay with that and just use the warp to reunite us when we both die.

However, my roommate finds the "rescue mission" very stressful from either side - she's not really comfortable playing on her own for extended periods of time. I would call "haha, noob" on her, save that she is prone to panic attacks (as in the IRL, non-hyperbole, medical condition kind) and dealing with mobs without me there as a "safety blanket" results in her getting overly freaked out.

That's... probably more than you needed to know, but there it is.

[FlowerChild]

It's all good man. Just wanted to make sure you were aware of the mechanic since it was implemented with that specific purpose in mind.

And yeah, I can certainly hear that. Sounds like she isn't particularly suited to that style of play.

[MaxAstro]

It is an awesome mechanic, by the way. Took me ages to figure out how it works ("but by the time I have a nether portal I'll already have a compass...?"), but once I stopped derping and realized it was for the survivors to make use of.... well, as usual, I applaud your game design. :)