Backing up character

Guest_lylemcd_*

Short of using the utility that someone wrote (I don't run OsX), is there any way to backup a character (in case you screwup and get disavowed)? I tried just duplicating the user data file and keeping it in a separate folder one time but it seemed to screw things up (I'm not sure why).

Thanks, getting tired of starting over,
Lyle

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suydam

I have no idea why, but the following works for me.

1. Duplicate your user file
2. Rename it
3. Put "back up" in a separate file

If you need to use your copy...

1. Remove old file, only the "options" file should remain
2. Enter Uplink using your copy
3. Exit
4. When I look in the folder both the original and copy are there, so I remove the copy.

Good luck!

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Guest_lylemcd_*

Quote

Originally posted by suydam:
**I have no idea why, but the following works for me.

1. Duplicate your user file
2. Rename it
3. Put "back up" in a separate file

If you need to use your copy...

1. Remove old file, only the "options" file should remain
2. Enter Uplink using your copy
3. Exit
4. When I look in the folder both the original and copy are there, so I remove the copy.

Good luck!

**

Just want to make sure I'm clear.
So say my main file is called lyle.usr
I back it up, call it backup.usr put it somewhere else

I get caught, I remove the lyle.usr file and put the backup.usr file in the users folder

Now I enter uplink, it recreates the lyle.usr file
So now the lyle.usr and backup.usr file are in the folder

Which one do I remove?

Thanks, sorry if I'm being dense.

Lyle

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Guest_Ricia_*

Quote

Originally posted by lylemcd:
**Just want to make sure I'm clear.
So say my main file is called lyle.usr
I back it up, call it backup.usr put it somewhere else

I get caught, I remove the lyle.usr file and put the backup.usr file in the users folder

Lyle

**

What I do at this point is rename backup.usr to the original name lyle.usr. It seems to work better if the user name and the usr file name are the same. (This might be superstition on my part, but it works).

Actually, when I make the backups, I do them periodically in series, I'd name yours lyle-1.usr lyle-2.usr lyle-3.usr etc. That way I can back up as much as I want, all the way back to the beginning if neeeded. It also makes it easy to rename the file back to lyle.usr when I want to use it.

good luck

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r

suydam

Remove the backup.usr file, or whatever you want to call it. If Ricia's plan works, go for it. It just doesn't in my case. And, you're not being dense at all. I've got a very screwy but, reliable, system going.

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Guest_Ricia_*

Quote

Originally posted by suydam:
**Remove the backup.usr file, or whatever you want to call it. If Ricia's plan works, go for it. It just doesn't in my case. And, you're not being dense at all. I've got a very screwy but, reliable, system going.

**

Definitely not a dense question. It is odd how these things seem to work differently on different systems. It takes playing around with it, i suppose. Once I find a system that works, I tend to stick with it.

What =really= doesn't work is leaving the backups in the same directory. That makes for oddnesses in time ... where the computer thinks that all usr files with the same hacker name are at the same place in the game, defeating the purpose of the backups. Annoying and confusing and Very Odd.

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r

Guest_lylemcd_*

Quote

Originally posted by Ricia:
**Definitely not a dense question. It is odd how these things seem to work differently on different systems. It takes playing around with it, i suppose. Once I find a system that works, I tend to stick with it.

What =really= doesn't work is leaving the backups in the same directory. That makes for oddnesses in time ... where the computer thinks that all usr files with the same hacker name are at the same place in the game, defeating the purpose of the backups. Annoying and confusing and Very Odd.

**

Yeah, that's why I'm asking. Did that early on, left a backup in the same folder as the main file. Every time I'd boot the game, it kept taking me back to a much earlier spot. I had to replay the same section of game a few times befor I figured it out, trying to avoid that.

Thanks again for all the help,
Lyle

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Kelsan

Quote

Originally posted by suydam:
**I have no idea why, but the following works for me.

1. Duplicate your user file
2. Rename it
3. Put "back up" in a separate file

If you need to use your copy...

1. Remove old file, only the "options" file should remain
2. Enter Uplink using your copy
3. Exit
4. When I look in the folder both the original and copy are there, so I remove the copy.

Good luck!**

A slight refinement:

I generally find that there's no need to launch Uplink and quit when I'm restoring a backup. All I usually do is duplicate the backup, move it to the Uplink Users folder and rename it.

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MU* addict
telnet:firstage.net:23
Web:www.firstage.net

suydam

Yes but, in my case, the game then creates two users. One, is the name of the new copy and the other is the name of my original character. That's why I always quit immediately and discard the copy. Each to his own.

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Guest_Ricia_*

Quote

Originally posted by suydam:
**Yes but, in my case, the game then creates two users. One, is the name of the new copy and the other is the name of my original character. That's why I always quit immediately and discard the copy. Each to his own.

**

Hmm. As long as the file is renamed back to the original name (xxx.usr where xxx is the character name) I've never had the game make another copy.

(I just checked, and if I call the file something else, then it =does make a copy, renaming it to the charactger, just as you said).

Assuming a hacker name of xxx .... During the game I periodically:
(list=a)
() Duplicate the usr file. (original file "xxx.usr", new file "xxx.usr copy.usr"
() Move the duplicate to the backup directory.
(*) Rename the duplicate sequentially (xxx-1.usr, xxx-2.usr, etc)
(/list=a)

This leaves me with xxx.usr in the usr directory, and a series of backups in the backup directory. If I get disavowed or something and want to switch to a backup I:
(list=a)
() Move the current (bogus) xxx.usr file to the backup directory
() Rename the current usr file to something like xxx-9.bogus
() Move or copy a good backup file to the usr directory (it might be xxx-8.usr)
() Rename the backup back to the original name (xxx.usr)
(*) Play the game.
(/list=a)

Doing it this way, the game accepts the xxx.usr file, and doesn't try to duplicate or reform it.

I just checked and confirm that if you name it something else, like bubba.usr, as soon as you play the game makes a new file with the original name. I agree with you that if your backuping system causes the game to make a duple, it's best to immediately exit and then use the correctly named copy. But I think it's easier to just name it correctly myself before entering the game.

Naming the backups the way I do makes it easy to restore the name properly.

My other system is to try to play very very carefully, so I don't need to restore a backup. Easier said than done <g>.

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r

mrxak

Let's say I have a file "mrxak.usr". I quit Uplink, and duplicate "mrxak.usr", and the duplicate calls itself "mrxak.usr copy.usr". I rename "mrxak.usr copy.usr" to "mrxak07082305.usr" (that way it's (UserName)(month)(day)(time)), and leave it exactly where it is. I then play as "mrxak" the next time in game, as opposed to "mrxak07082305". This seems to work perfectly for me. I keep individual games in other folders though (one as ARC say, and one as Arunmor).

suydam

Quote

Originally posted by mrxak:
I rename "mrxak.usr copy.usr" to "mrxak07082305.usr" (that way it's (UserName)(month)(day)(time)), and leave it exactly where it is.
(/B)

Exactly where it is, meaning the game's user folder?

The reason I don't rename my copy to it's original name, when I want to use it, is because, I may want to use the copy again. Namely, for the last mission of ARC. That's what got me making copies in the first place. Since Uplink only has two story lines, I've tried to savor it by not using copies (so as to make it last longer). But! The last mission of ARC is so difficult that I found it necessary to make one.

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mrxak

Quote

Originally posted by suydam:
**Exactly where it is, meaning the game's user folder?

The reason I don't rename my copy to it's original name, when I want to use it, is because, I may want to use the copy again. Namely, for the last mission of ARC. That's what got me making copies in the first place. Since Uplink only has two story lines, I've tried to savor it by not using copies (so as to make it last longer). But! The last mission of ARC is so difficult that I found it necessary to make one.

**

Yes.

Well, you can just make a duplicate of the duplicate if you'd like, and rename one of them to your original name.

Guest_Ricia_*

Quote

Originally posted by mrxak:
**Let's say I have a file "mrxak.usr". I quit Uplink, and duplicate "mrxak.usr", and the duplicate calls itself "mrxak.usr copy.usr". I rename "mrxak.usr copy.usr" to "mrxak07082305.usr" (that way it's (UserName)(month)(day)(time)), and leave it exactly where it is. I then play as "mrxak" the next time in game, as opposed to "mrxak07082305". This seems to work perfectly for me. I keep individual games in other folders though (one as ARC say, and one as Arunmor).

**

That works ok for me until I try to play my equivalent of "mrxak07082305.usr". Then =weird= things happen. I think what may happen is:

Uplink saves the new working file ("mrxak07082305.usr") as "mrxak.usr", wiping out the original "mrxak.usr" in the process, but leaving "mrxak07082305.usr" untouched.
The next time you play you choose "mrxak07082305.usr", which throws you back to where you started the last time. Meanwhile, Uplink saves anything you do =this= time back to "mrxak.usr", wiping out the other copy of "mrxak.usr" in the process.
The next time you play, you grumblingly choose "mrxak07082305.usr" yet again, and get thrown back to the exact same spot.
You throw things against the wall, and then start moving your backups elsewhere.

(using "you" in the generic sense)

I haven't tested this, but it'd be easy to do ... I'll try to get to it tomorrow or the next day. (Work work work, just because those people pay me, they expect me to spend my time there and do =their= stuff. Sheesh.)

If this theory pans out, the key would be to choose the original name ("mrxak.usr") out of the list the next time you play. (Maybe you already do that? How often have you had to use your backups?)

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r

Guest_teamcyb_*

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teamcyb@hotmail.com

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