[minnelli]

OOTPSAVE Utility

I posted this back for 2006 before we had an "in-house" utility built in. However, we still need to backup our files on a regular basis. So in case you missed it first time around...

This batch job will save/update your league file. It only updates files that have changed since the last save. The best time to use it is after you save your game file. This will allow you to always go back and grab a good copy. I created this because of the save corruptions I kept encountered. Since this synchronizes the files, it will always capture new files and purge files that have been deleted by OOTP.

Required – WinRAR (http://www.rarlab.com/) – Install in default location. It works with my unregistered version...

Process:
Step 1 – Open up Windows Explorer to you saved games directory (i.e. My Documents --> \data\saved_games\test123.lg)
Step 2 – Right click folder to create a new text document (right click – new – text document) File named New Text Document.txt will be created
Step 3 – Open the new document (New Text Document.txt) and Paste the following in the file

"c:\program files\winrar\rar" u -as -m1 -r -x*.rar OOTPSAVE.rar
pause

Step 4 – Save as OOTPSAVE.bat
Step 5 – Within Windows Explorer double click OOTPSAVE.bat

The first time this is run on a league it will take a few minutes, but have no fear, subsequent backups/updates will work a lot faster. Note - at year end, I close OOTP. Go to the folder OOTPSAVE it, take that rar file and rename it 1-1-2012 OOTPSAVE.rar -- this way I have a full copy to fall back on at any time.

Code breakdown:
Rar – is the command line executable for winrar
u is the update switch
-as synchronizes the files
-r allows it to capture all the sub folders
-m1 makes it go faster than other compression formats
-x*.rar stops it from including other rar files in the folder
OOTPSAVE.rar can be anyname you want with a .rar
Pause shows you that it completed – if you remove it the window will disappear when the update is complete.

I’m sure a lot of folks can probably improve this, but I wanted to get something out that was working for me. Post any complaints here…I am not responsible for accidentally rar’ing up your whole drive and screwing something up…Give it a test and let us know what you think.

Original thread for 2006 - this also has some comments on 7zip and WinZip OOTPSAVE Utility - Backup Restore Save

Enjoy,
Kevin Minnelli

[battists]

Hey Kevin,

Any updates to this, or has this proven pretty robust? Looking for something like it myself!

Steve

[endgame]

Yes, Kevin. Thanks for taking the time to develop this little gem. I want to start using it with v2007. I would assume there aren't any needed changes? In addition, is there a way to point the output to a particular drive?

[battists]

Dola,

I wonder if there is a way to modify this batch to exclude some of the files that aren't necessary...

For example, none of the HTML files are really required, and that would probably save quite a bit of space.

Just a thought.

[minnelli]

Hey guys - yep you can exclude files like this: -x*.rar
So if you wanted to exclude html I would assume (test it yourself) -x*.html or htm

Full command would look like:
"c:\program files\winrar\rar" u -as -m1 -r -x*.rar -x*.html OOTPSAVE.rar
pause

Good luck,
Minnelli

[battists]

Hmm, this worked great. Unfortunately, I realized you do need HTML files if you want to keep box scores or logs.

Still, I'm sure there are ways to tweak this further and make the process faster and generate smaller files. For example, if you use facegen, you could add:

-xplayer*.jpg

Because FaceGen doesn't really need you to keep the pics, because it can regenerate the same pic.

[Tony M]

Originally Posted by battists

Hmm, this worked great. Unfortunately, I realized you do need HTML files if you want to keep box scores or logs.

I've always turned off saving of box scores and logs because of the large number of files it creates, but I would like to be able to recreate box scores and logs, but there isn't enough data in the game summaries that are stored in the database to do so. (awaits Database Suggestions thread)

[endgame]

Originally Posted by endgame

Is there a way to point the output to a particular drive?

bump

[battists]

Originally Posted by endgame

bump

I'd try this:

"c:\program files\winrar\rar" u -as -m1 -r -x*.rar -x*.html c:\mycustomlocation\OOTPSAVE.rar
pause

Not tested yet tho'.

[endgame]

Originally Posted by battists

I'd try this:

"c:\program files\winrar\rar" u -as -m1 -r -x*.rar -x*.html c:\mycustomlocation\OOTPSAVE.rar
pause

Not tested yet tho'.

Thanks. I'm hoping to be able to shoot this over to the external hard drive for archiving and safe-keeping. On the other hand, it's not such a big deal to simply move it over there when completed.

[endgame]

Originally Posted by minnelli

Required – WinRAR (http://www.rarlab.com/) – Install in default location. It works with my unregistered version...

Does not work with my unregistered version.

[battists]

Originally Posted by endgame

Does not work with my unregistered version.

That's weird. I wonder if they upped the protection scheme or something. Mine is unregistered too, but I'm using it regularly now with no issue!

[Tony M]

Originally Posted by battists

That's weird. I wonder if they upped the protection scheme or something. Mine is unregistered too, but I'm using it regularly now with no issue!

My WinRar is happily running unregistered. It does occassionally tell me that the 40 day trial period has ended (so it must be a random nag screen)

[eriqjaffe]

I had posted this in minelli's thread last year, and I feel it bears repeating: if you don't want to deal with the nag screen, you can use 7-Zip, which is freeware.

If you install 7-Zip to its' default location, just change step 4 in minelli's list so that the command is either:

"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" u LEAGUEFILE.zip -up1q1r2x1y2z1w2 -x!*.zip,*.bat -tzip

or

"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" u LEAGUEFILE.7z -up1q1r2x1y2z1w2 -x!*.zip,*.bat,*.7z -t7z -ms=off

The first version will create a ZIP archive, the second will create a 7Z archive - ZIPs are more universal, 7Z offeres better compression (although it is a bit slower).

[Sweed]

Finally got around to trying this and it is great

Previously I was using winzip and zipping the entire .lg folder and burning to dvd.
Acceptable 5 minutes or so to zip the league.

With this little gem the first compression took a few minutes the second was less than a minute. To keep multiple save points I then rename the file to
"xx-xxxxOOTPSAVE.rar" where xx-xxxx is the game number of my current season and the year. So if I've played 50 games in 2015 I name the file "50-2015OOTPSAVE.rar" and burn to dvd. Then rename back to OOTPSAVE on my HD for the next time I want to backup.

DVD's are cheap while backups are priceless