Latest revision as of 11:15, 27 April 2025

The information in this Wiki Page applies to TANE, TRS19, Trainz Plus and TRS22. This guide will explain automatic and manual backups in Trainz.

Main Points:
	Trainz will automatically backup your current route and session in Surveyor while you work. You can set the number of backups created each day
	You can use Content Manager to manually create backups of routes, sessions and assets as often as you need
	Both the manual and automatic backups can be restored to Trainz by Content Manager
	You can backup all your user data (built-in assets, DLS downloads, DLC purchases, your own creations)

[edit] Automatic Backups vs Manual Backups

	Automatic Backups	Manual Backups
Pros	set and forget - no need to remember to perform the backups backups are stored in a set location automatic restore after a crash	you control where the backups are stored and for how long you control the backup file names any assets can be backed up, not just routes and sessions
Cons	identifying the exact backup file to restore may not be easy only routes and sessions can be backed up last 7 days of backups only are kept	you have to remember to perform the backup you have to remember where you stored the backups manual restore after a crash

[edit] Automatic Backups

[edit] Creating Automatic Backups

In Summary:
	Only a set number of backups are created each day
	Only 7 days of backups are kept

This is a Set and Forget operation. You simply tell Trainz how many backups you want created each day and the program takes care of the rest.

Steps:

To set the number of backups, select Trainz Settings from the Launcher and then click the Dev tab.
One data entry box in this tab will be named Daily backups to keep and it will have a default value of 7. Set it to the number of backups you want each day.

		If you are working on developing a new route or session then 7 daily backups could be a suitable number.
		If you are making minor changes to existing routes or sessions then 3 or 4 daily backups could be a suitable number.
		If you are not working on any routes or sessions then 0 daily backups could be a suitable number - but remember to reset this when you do need the automatic backups again.

Warning:
	If you set 0 daily backups then there will be no option to restore your route/session to the latest automatic backup after a crash

Large Number of Daily Backups	Small Number of Daily Backups
more backup storage space is needed shorter time between backups so less work could be lost	less backup storage space is needed longer time between backups so more work could be lost

Only the last 7 days of backups are kept and this number cannot be changed.

[edit] Restoring Automatic Backups

The automatic backups are stored in a backup folder in your Trainz local data folder. The location of this folder is held in your Launcher - Trainz Settings - Install tab.

Steps:

	Highlight the Local Data Folder address and copy to your OS clipboard - press Ctrl C
	Open Windows Explorer and paste ( Ctrl V ) the address into the Address Bar

This folder can also found using Windows Explorer by following a similar folder path as shown below.

Where idname is the first 5 characters of your Windows logon name and random will be a random sequence of letters and numbers identifying the Trainz Build Number.

Notes:

	The drive letter (C:) and the path will be different if you have previously moved your User Data Folder to a different drive and/or location. If this is the case then use the folder address from the Launcher Install TAB
	If you are using TANE or TRS19 then that will be shown instead of TRS22
	If you are using Trainz Plus then its folder will be shown as TRS22
The TANE/TRS19/TRS22 folder may have several different build folders. If so then select the one that has a Date Modified entry that matches the date/time of your last route modification.

WARNING:

The "usual" method of dragging and dropping the backup folder into Content Manager to restore it no longer works. Instead the following method is recommended.

Steps:

Open The Backups Folder:

Using Windows File Explorer, open your local data folder and then open the backups folder.
	the backups that have been created will be listed by their dates using the YY-MM-DD date format
	only daily backups from the last 7 days will be kept

Identify the Backup to Restore:

Open the backup folder for the date that you want. A list of backup files and folders created that day will be shown.

	if you know the time of the backup then sort the entries by date and time
	if you know the kuid of the backup (it will be the same as used by the route/session) then sort the entries by name (but there may be several files with the same kuid)

Restore the Backup To Trainz:

select the .tzarc file that contains your backup (e.g. the last created version by date and time)
copy it into the Editing folder - this folder will be directly under the same build <number> folder that contains your backups
if the .tzarc filename is followed by a number sequence (e.g. kuid 45176 100893.tzarc_323888034) then rename the file to remove all the characters AFTER the .tzarc so kuid 45176 100893.tzarc_323888034 becomes kuid 45176 100893.tzarc
open Content Manager
run a database repair
IF Content Manager shows your restored asset as Open for Edit then submit it

More details, including tips on troubleshooting, can be found in the Trainz Knowledge Base at Restoring Backups

[edit] Creating Manual Backups

	Manual backups are stored as .CDP files
	Many assets can be stored in a single .CDP file

Steps:

open Content Manager and use a search filter to identify the assets to be backed up. Some examples:-


		to show all assets that have been altered today
		to show all installed routes that are yours

highlight the asset or assets (more than one asset can be included in each backup file)

right mouse click on one of the highlighted assets and select Export to CDP

select a drive, folder and enter a backup filename

[edit] Restoring Manual Backups

Simply drag and drop the backup CDP file or files into Content Manager

Steps:

	open Content Manager
	open Windows File Explorer and locate the backup folder
	highlight the .CDP file or files to be restored
	drag and drop the file or files from Windows File Explorer into Content Manager
	if the assets being restored are already installed in Content Manager then their status will be shown as Open for Edit. Select and submit those assets.

[edit] Backup Plan Basics

If you are using a manual backup method then devise a simple backup plan and stick to it

The most important parts of any backup plan are:-

make regular backups - how often will depend on the complexity of the project

keep duplicate sets of backups including on offline storage

keep previous backup sets, not just the latest ones - how many past sets you will want to keep will depend on factors such as available storage

have a simple but consistent file naming system to be able to quickly identify the backup you need to restore lost work

Sample Backup Plan:

	on a drive that is always attached to your system create a Project Backups folder
	in this folder create another folder named Today
	use this folder to store your regular backups for today. For example, when you take a break and exit from Surveyor, start Content Manager and backup the current project (e.g. a route, a session or both) to the Today folder
	name each backup using the name of the project and the time as shown in the example above

Why Keep Separate Time Backups For The Same Day?

Suppose that after your first backup of the day, at say 07:52, you decided to make some significant changes to your route. The later backups made at 12:30 and 14:10 included this change. By 17:00 you decide that this major change is not working and you need to return the route to its starting state. If your only backup was the last one you had made at 14:10 then you could not restore the route to its starting state.

	at the end of each day copy the Today folder to another drive (external or internal) into a folder also called Project Backups
	rename the Today folder on the 2nd drive to a format that identifies the date of the backups it contains (using the yyyy-mm-dd format) as shown below
	copy this renamed folder to an external detachable drive into its Project Backups folder - this will give you a second backup copy
	when starting work the next day, delete the contents of the Today folder on your main drive and make the first backup of the day using the project assets in their initial state for the day

How Long Should You Keep The Daily Backups?

The ideal answer is until after the project has been finished but in reality it will depend on your available storage space.

	Once the project has been completed then the backup folders and files can be deleted
	If there is insufficient space to keep a large number of backups, then delete the oldest backup folders first
If a decision is later made to restart work on the route (e.g. to update it after a new version of Trainz has been released) then it would be considered to be a brand new project and the backup procedure can be restarted from that point.

[edit] Backing Up and Restoring Picklists

Picklists have to be exported and imported as text files

Picklists cannot be backed up manually using .CDP files. They must be exported as text files.

Detailed instructions on backing up and restoring Picklists as text files can be found on the Trainz Wiki Page at:-

How to Backup a Picklist

[edit] Backing Up All Your User Content

You can backup ALL your installed content including built-ins and DLC

You can make a backup copy of all your installed content (buildings, tracks, rolling stock, trees, routes, sessions, etc, etc). Everything you have downloaded and installed from the DLS and other web sites, all the built-in content and all your DLC packages. Also included will be all the screenshots you have captured and your automatic backups. In short, everything but the program "executables" and utilities that form the Trainz program itself.

All of this data is stored in your Local Data Folder.

Warning:
	Be aware that this could be a very large quantity of data that could take a lot of time and space to backup

Steps:

Locate Your Local Data Folder:

The name and location of this folder is held in your Launcher - Trainz Settings - Install tab. The name and location can vary between installations as in the example shown below

Data Folder location

Determine the Size of the Folder:

Use Windows File Explorer to locate this folder in its drive as shown in the Local Data Folder information above
Right Mouse Click on the folder name and select the Properties menu option

This will display the folder statistics - there may be a delay while the data is collected and displayed. In the example shown below, the Local Data Folder is just over 69 GB in size

Data Folder properties Data Folder size

You will need to find a storage device or location, such as an external drive, that has more available free space than the folder is using

Copy the Folder:

Close the Properties Window
Right Mouse Click on the folder name and select the Copy menu option
Open the Destination Drive and select (or create) a suitable backup folder
Right Mouse Click on the backup folder and select the Paste menu option - this could easily take a long time (even hours) depending on the size of the data

For very large Local Data Folders the backup process can take hours to complete. Windows File Explorer is not the fastest nor the most efficient method of copying large sets of data files. It may be worth your while to use a specialised file copying utility that can perform the task faster while still providing intelligent copying and data checking

[edit] Trainz Wiki

More Tutorials and Guides to Using Trainz

Related Links

This page was created by Trainz user pware in January 2020 and was last updated as shown below.

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 <td>to show all assets that have been altered today</td>
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+<span style="font-size: 17px;">'''Related Links'''</span><br>
+*'''[[How to Perform Database Repairs|How to Perform Database Repairs]]'''
+*'''[[How to Restore Deleted Assets|How to Restore Deleted Assets]]'''
+*'''[[Understand_Content_Manager_Status_Labels|Understanding Content Manager Status Labels]]'''
+*'''[[Using Content Manager to Update Assets|Using Content Manager to Update Assets]]'''
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How to Manage Backups

Latest revision as of 11:15, 27 April 2025

Contents

[edit] Automatic Backups vs Manual Backups

[edit] Automatic Backups

[edit] Creating Automatic Backups

[edit] Restoring Automatic Backups

[edit] Creating Manual Backups

[edit] Restoring Manual Backups

[edit] Backup Plan Basics

[edit] Backing Up and Restoring Picklists

[edit] Backing Up All Your User Content

[edit] Trainz Wiki

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