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Best way to backup game

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Shazard Bansraj

Guest
Hello,

I've been working on a game using GM: Studio (1) for some time now and I may soon replace my laptop (I suspect that the current one may die suddenly). I currently backup the project folder but I'm unsure if there is a better way to save my work.

What's the best way to backup my game?

Thanks.
 
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Shazard Bansraj

Guest
Version control - either internal or external.
Thanks for the reply. This is much more complicated than I expected!

Edit: To be clear, I'm not worried about having to roll back to a previous version. I'm concerned about shifting my work from one computer to another without any errors.
 
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Shazard Bansraj

Guest
Why was this thread moved to the programming section? It has nothing to do with programming! The question relates to backing up my Game Maker files, not in-game backups.
 
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anomalous

Guest
The best way to preserve GMS and not your games, is to re-download and re-install it. What difference does it make?
Hence, people assume you must mean game projects :)
Easiest way to do that is probably a cloud backup, I use dropbox. Just periodically select your GMS project folder or specific project folder, send to compressed file, and drop that compressed file on dropbox and if you have a second drive, there too periodically.
GMS creates backups too, those are for immediate issues, screw ups, etc. For hard drive failure, theft, catastrophe, dropbox is "offsite" and does the trick.

The best is probably version control as Yal stated, but for hobbyists and single developers, unless you use it in your day job, its probably too complicated for the casual.
 
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Shazard Bansraj

Guest
The reason I asked is because I tried opening my project on another computer and I got an error. It's good to know that all I need to do is save the project folder. I hope this works, thanks!
 
What error did you get?

I store all my backups by simply copying the project folder to my external drives. If I need any of them, I just copy them back and load them up as usual. My PC's motherboard failed on me in January so I built a new computer, got an external HDD reader, transferred over my latest work, and continued as though nothing had happened.
 
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Shazard Bansraj

Guest
What error did you get?

I store all my backups by simply copying the project folder to my external drives. If I need any of them, I just copy them back and load them up as usual. My PC's motherboard failed on me in January so I built a new computer, got an external HDD reader, transferred over my latest work, and continued as though nothing had happened.
I don't remember the exact error but I never worked on another computer since. Half of my main laptop's keyboard doesn't work so coding is a pain. I'll have to replace it soon and I don't want to lose my work. It's good to know that all I have to do is copy the project folder! I've been doing this since the beginning, so I should be safe, hopefully.
 
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Shazard Bansraj

Guest
Unfortunately, simply coping and pasting this project folder results in errors when I try to open the file!
 
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