Backing your map up.

[syphex]

Backup your files in a organised & Simple way
When it comes to noggit it is very very important that you make backups, without a backup and 1 mistake you could ruin the whole map in seconds, so being it a 5 minute project or a month worth project. Therefore its important that you create backups, but it takes a lot of space and might get messy to know what backup is what.

So how do can you backup saving harddrive space, but also make it easy to see what backup is which?

It's pretty simple and something i started doing myself. so how do you do it?


Saving Hard drive space
There is a very easy way to save space on your backed up maps, That is by adding it to a Winrar archive.
It compresses the files and lessens the space but it ALSO makes it easier to store other files inside it. Such as Pictures or Notes

You can Archive a folder or a file to a Rar file by right clicking it and then pressing "add to "name_of_the_file".rar
My rar file saved 75% more space when i archived my backup.

Save even more Space
Another way to save even more hard drive space is to adding the Map first to a MPQ file and then to a rar file, it compresses it and makes it even smaller.

Naming the files
Naming the Backups is very important because it lets you know what backup is what, and what changes you made.
So when you make a backup, always rename it to what the map is called and then the date of the time the backup was made.

Mapname_2018-05-30

Another way to easier know what changes you made to the map is adding a short description to the name after the date

Mapname_2018-06-01_Before mountain changes

Now This will only tell you the changes you made at that point, if its a big map or you decide to take some off, you might have forgotten what that change was, So how can we make it easier to know what we did? Take a picture inside Noggit of what you changed

Windows comes with a very handy tool called "Snipping Tool" that allows you to easily take photos and then save them to your computer in seconds (On Macbook use CTRL + Shift + 4)

This is one easy way to do it if you don't want to use winrar to archive files.
Now Save the picture with the exact name as the backup

Mapname_2018-06-01_Before Mountains.PNG

Example of how the picture could look Mapname_2018-06-01_Before Mountains.PNG

If you wish to add a note instead, then do the same thing as you did with the picture.

Recommendation

I personally would recommend that you use Winrar to archive the Backup with the pictures and notes. It allows a much cleaner look inside your backup folder and also makes it easier to navigate, it at the same time saves hard drive space.

Here are some pictures to show the difference between normal folders and win-rared folders.

With Winrar


Without Winrar

[schlumpf]

I have no experience with windows, but I suggest investing effort in evaluating an automated incremental backup solution. That saves space by only storing the files that changed, and the automatic part frees you from having to invent names (albeit that may be a downside, you can keep a text file with what has been done so far though, a change log, where the last entry would be equivalent to the name of the backup).

On a side note: compressing compressed files often is not really useful, so instead of raring mpqs, I suggest choosing a better algorithm for compression instead and only having one. Then again, the perfect automated backup solution would already do compression without you having to do anything.

[Steff]

I simple use a git repo to backup my files. Even if you don't push it to a server it is the best way. Git also do binary diffs, so less space wast, easy nd fast creation of backups and you can save many steps during your build process.

[syphex]

I simple use a git repo to backup my files. Even if you don't push it to a server it is the best way. Git also do binary diffs, so less space wast, easy nd fast creation of backups and you can save many steps during your build process.

I didnt think of it that way. sounds actually smart