Newbie help needed - Backups

[Guest Kestrel 2]

I have had and used FU II and FU III for a long time, but I just recently started adding on planes and I have several more downloaded that I want to install. I did have one problem with the install of one plane, but thankfully, it did not end in disaster -and that leads me to my question - I know things can go bad with the install of a mod, and I don't want to have to uninstall and then reinstall everything if something goes wrong. I looked for a sticky about this kind of question, but didn't find it. If there is one, please point me to it.If there is no FAQ, what files do I need to burn to a CD or CDs to have a good backup?Thanks in advance for your answer. I am eager to start adding on some more of these fantastic planes. Then later some of these great new locations like London and Switzerland, then ... (Better hold back and take one thing at a time)

[Guest evansgg]

Hi Kestrel and welcome to the forum for the best civilian flight sim. I dont know what your system specs are but if you have enough space and patience you can copy the Flight3 folder elsewhere and rename it. I have one called FUIII plus patch, another called FUIII plus patch plus updates without Sanfran2004 and so on. I do the same thing for my IL-2 Forgotten Battles where I have for version 1.22 another for AEP version 2.04 and yet another for Pacific Fighters update 3.01. I think this is the best way of ensuring that if a crash occurs then you dont have to reinstall everything.:)

[Guest Kestrel 2]

Thanks for the welcome and the answer, evansgg -I have a 120 GB HDD, so I can do that. How about the case of HDD failure? Do you have all your add-ons burned on a CD?I have been running Grand Prix Legends lately, and their system for backup is compact and elegant. Copy gpl.exe and any add-ons to a CD and you are set. That's what got me started thinking about FU III backup strategies.

[Guest evansgg]

This is my backup strategy,I have a directory called data on my HD. Within Data I have a lot of subdirectories for each program I use. I have word, excel, word perfect, Quattro, FUIII, Fighter Ace, Forgotten Battles, directories and also a directory for photographs and one for other where I store all my downloaded programs I paid for as well as vital information re passwords. AS double security (I also print all password info and store in a real folder incase a catastrophe happens and I need to re download the programs). I backup the entire data directory on a regular basis and keep the backups offsite. That way if the house burns down or something really nasty happens I still have all my data.This might seem a bit excessive, but I have probably had 5 or 6 major pc problems that involved reformats over the years and I guess I learned to be careful the hard way.Gary

[Guest Kestrel 2]

It sounds like you copy the entire FU III folder as well as the other assorted folders to CD. I wasn't sure if I could do that - some copy protection on newer titles would prevent that method. I guess there are no read-only attributes in the FU files.I agree on the importance of good backups and I'll do that to FU III. Just curious - how many CDs do you need to run a backup? I have tons of Word documents and internet bookmarks and they all fit on 2 cds. Copying a whole program like FU III must take at least three CDs.

[Guest evansgg]

I dont copy the programs as I have all those on the original cd's. Just the user data files and they are the files I store in the data directory. Although, if I have a shareware or paid for and downloaded piece of software I usually have that in the data directory as well to avoid having to download it again. My data runs to about 4 or 5 cd's but it is all relative to what you have on your computer. I have photos you might have music files etc.

[Guest effyouthree]

Kestrel,All FU3 files and folders may be copied, moved etc without causing problems. There is NO protection, so be creative ;)The ONLY thing you have to worry about is a file called 'region.cfg' which is a textfile that resides in each 'region' folder (i.e. inside regionsseattle). In the first few lines there is the line:reg_cd_path C:Program FilesFlight3cdromseattlemapsSimply alter the path to where you've moved the files to e.g. for an 'H' drive in 'games':reg_cd_path h:gamesFlight3cdromseattlemapsAND, you only need to do this if you wish to run the game from there. If this is just a backup copy, worry about it WHEN you need it!Now, there are issues with moving the UKS version (if you delete the original) but these do not affect backups. Just remember where to restore it to or UKS may not work properly :-roll Regards,**************Jonathan Point**************"I'd rather be down here wishing I was up there than up there wishing I was down here"

[Guest Motormouse]

Personally,I keep backups of the various .cfg files,flt3.cfg,joykeys.cfg etc. in both main flt3 and sub-folders, and the airspace.txt,and aiplan.txt.(in the 'regions' folders}. Everything else can be copied back from the cd'sI haven't yet found a limit on the number of planes you can put in the plnpile folder, I once had over 60!! Most hiccups tend to be caused by scenery packages conflicting with one another, or if you've reached the limit of maximum number of airports that the game will support.I have more than 1 packages folder, which I rename as and when I wish to use the packages inside, eg I have one for bush flying, one for Chris Low's work etc.:-wavePete

[Guest Kestrel 2]

Thanks, Everyone -That's the info I wanted. This install is clean now, so I'll back it up with the files I can't get off the CDs.Soon, I'll be back with questions about new scenery locales. Thanks for the helpfulness, everyone. I knew it would be like that here.