So just this morning I'm adding *just a few* more lots to my world, when my CAW decides to take a ROYAL dump. Without warning, I lost my ENTIRE WORLD. I tried opening up some of the backups, but even *that* didn't work. (and i was **this close** (holding up first finger and thumb) to having my world be finished)
So I come here to ask: HOW MANY SAVED VERSIONS IS A GOOD BET?
I've since then restarted my CAW, and have started ANOTHER world (this is my third time trying to create this particular world). This time though, I gave it *2* different names - saving them both and giving each its own number.
Origin ID -- MsPrissySimMy Twitch ChannelYouTube 0
Comments
Hi. I, too, am on a laptop. I always try to save whenever I do anything - no matter how small. But sometimes even doing *small* things can cause my CAW to crash. Which is why I posted the question. Backups are fine, but if *they* don't work ....
My Twitch Channel
YouTube
As I am on a desktop, I only do a save as when I change the name, and rarely need to save even after hours of CAWing.
Good luck!
I make a new Save name at different stages- just in case I change my mind on the direction it's going... Or I have this fear of loosing it all. :shock:
Longview_Sculpting.world
Longview_Painting.world
Longview_Roads.world
Longview_Lots.world
Longview_LotsII.world
Longview_TestA.world
Longview_Trees.world
Longview_TestB.world
Longview_Final.world
Longview_FinalB.world
LongviewII_Pop.world
LongviewII_FinalPop.world
might just be a few names I used as I made Longview. ~LOL
120830_MyTown
This way I could never lose more than a day's worth of work. Some days I even add a letters after the date, if I do some things I'm not so sure I want to keep.
But, this method requires a lot of HD space (I think I have about 100 saves on my town... after clearing out a bunch as well), so it all comes down to how much space you have, and are willing to reserve for backup copies.
I guess the general rule is - you can never have TOO many saves.
Something to watch out for.;)
I'm quite wary of this myself, having never deleted any of my CAW backups. Ever. My CAW folder's currently 30GB. :?
LeeMortis _ I like your idea of using the dates in your names. It gives me an idea to do that for mine, right now. That way I wouldn't lose any current work. Thanks! :thumbup:
Rflong - Wow ... I NEVER thought of saving it *that* way. I had a thought of making a new name when I was ready to test. I see that is/was one of the ways you had listed for *your* world. (i may just do that, too. :thumbup: ) {{*also, I had tried to do that CFF Explorer thing (from the link in the forums), but since my laptop is not exactly "high-end", it wouldn't work for me. oh, I got the explorer to open, but when it asked me if I had wanted to overwrite it - i said yes - it couldn't do it. so that solution is out.}}
Sneakfeline0 - Trust me, there are times when I *wish* I had a desktop. At least for just creating worlds. Since this is the *3rd* time I am trying to create my current world, I am taking things REAL SLOW; saving even the tiniest change.
*********************************
My heartfelt gratitude and thanks to all of you.
My Twitch Channel
YouTube
For my current worlds,
when terraforming, I usually don't save at all -- but I rename the heightmap for each tweak in case I want to roll back.
When doing round one of painting -- the same as above since I use layers and PNG files to get the first sweep done.
For fine painting -- this is where I save and save often, using the file name to identify what area I was working. Again - I keep the final.
Roads, lots, trees, details... I rely on the back-up saves that CAW makes. Every 10 back up saves created, I zip down into an archive. If I get to two archives with no caw issues, I will usually start dumping the oldest when I make a new one.
All that said -- I have saves from way back on one of my worlds simply because I am not really sure I like where its going and having that old version that I can just start over from makes me feel a hell of a lot better.
Okay, enough rambling-- I am late to work.
@thetideschanging - So you've never had your CAW crash on you? (even tho you also use it on a laptop? wow ... you're lucky) But I'm still thinking that maybe it's because of all the stuff I do have on it. (other than my sims games, i mean)
**************************
Again, many thanks to you all for your tips and suggestions.
My Twitch Channel
YouTube
Personally, I save a lot. I just start going through the alphabet: Rain City A, Rain City B, and so on. When I reach the end of the alphabet, I start over again. I might go through the entire alphabet in one sitting. CAW is such a twitchy program, I just don't trust it.
At the end of your session, it probably is a good idea to do a final save on another destination. That might be an external hard drive, a flash drive, a CD -- anyplace but on your main computer. Personally, I have backups all over the place.
By the way, the cloud is a good place to back up. All of these sites where we upload worlds for others to download (eg Mediafire) -- also make good backup locations.
To be quite honest, I started uploading most of my creations to Mediafire, not for the benefit of others, but so I would have an independent location for storing my work. If there is a fire or other catastrophe at my home, many hours of work are sitting safely in the cloud. I set up a blog and had links to those files, just in case someone else might find them useful. But the reason for doing it was for me.
I just hope the government doesn't do to Mediafire what they did to MegaUpload. The real pirates in the computing world are the corporate fascists who prevented people from having access to their own work.
Most of the errors/crashes I get are related to terrain painting - so I save before doing any and then soon after I have done a section of it.
I have 3 copies of my world: {Name}.world (the Master version), {Name}Copy.world (the work-in-progress version} and {Name}CopySpare.world (a last-ditch backup if the first 2 go pear-shaped.)
When I open up CAW, I work in the {Name}Copy.world file. I do a little work - about as much as I could bear to start over again if I lost it, and then save it. If that save is successful, I then immediately do a Save As and select the Master version ({Name}.world.)I only ever use the Master version for saving to in that fashion - never to actively work in. IF I'm feeling really insecure I also do a Save As to the {Name}CopySpare.world as well. Then I Immediately CLOSE THE CURRENT WORLD DOWN and re-open the {Name}Copy.world file again to continue working.
Yes, it's time-consuming and probably neurotic to the nth degree. But I can honestly say, with hand on heart, I have no longer even had the program crash on me since adopting this method (I am of course touching wood and crossing fingers as I even type these words.)So yeah, if that's makes me a basket case, sue me