Hi all,
What is the best way to back up modules you’re working on in Vassal?
I seem to have a problem where the module I’m working on is removed from my Vassal startup page. My own files are fine and I keep backup of those files but I’m not sure on how to keep backup of the Vassal modules or how to retrieve and reload back into Vassal.
Any suggestions on how to safe guard my work in Vassal? Or point me to the document(s) that details the process.
Kind Regards,
Ang
Out of curiosity, where on your hard drive are you storing your modules, including work-in-progress modules?
What you are experiencing is not normal. There should be no need for backup procedures, in my experience. Generally, if a module stops being listed in the initial Module Manager view, you need only to open the module again (NOT “Import module”) to restore it to the list.
you are making some kind of error in saving files vassal doesn’t need backups
I use the Vassal save command. Not really sure where Vassal saves my wip files.
The remove module is just beneath the edit module selection, my guess is that I accidently pressed the remove module and confirmed it, resulting in my work being removed. When working on a module I have several apps running GIMP, Vassal, utilities, directories etc. at the same time and may not have realized I was confirming the module remove. Oops!
However, I was not able to get my changes back as the module was no longer in the Vassal list of modules. I could import a game save file into Vassal and the game would be added to the Vassal list of modules but the game save was an older version and did not have the many changes I made to the game since the last game safe.
Live and learn I guess.
Now I just backup everything and pay close attention whenever I select the edit and save commands.
You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how this all works. That list of modules you see when you run Vassal? You should consider it a “hot list” of modules you’ve run recently, much like a history list in a browser. When you remove a module from that list means you don’t consider it “hot” anymore. It has nothing to do with whether or not the module exists on your computer. On my computer my Vassal module list is 4-5 modules long, yet over the years I’ve created 50 to 150 modules, and I know exactly where they are. They are not on the “convenience” list, but I can get them when I want them.
It sounds like you are being a bit sloppy in your organization. I strongly suggest you create your own “vassal” folder in a known location on your computer. In this folder, create a sub-folder for every game you work on or play in vassal. In these sub-folders, I put the module and every file and document related to it, including notes, saved games, and module backups while I working on one. If it’s not in vassal’s “hot list,” either I double-click on the vmod in its designated sub-folder, or within vassal I choose File/Open and navigate to its proper sub-folder. Voila. It appears on the vassal list.
Step 2 for you. Use your computer’s search utility to find all vmods on your computer because you don’t seem to know where they are. In windows 10, that’s in the lower left corner. Search for “*.vmod.” Once you find stuff, figure out what’s what and then move it to its new home. You probably will need to remove the now-dead references in the vassal list. Again, this does not delete the vmod!
I completely agree. Not knowing where your files are being saved is a major oversight–how can you get anything done? Stan is correct, using “Remove module” in the VASSAL module manager view doesn’t delete files at all, it just drops a given module off the list of things VASSAL knows about.
Something I should point out so as to eliminate any confusion.
It does delete the image cache that Vassal creates when you load a module but this is an internal Vassal cleaning function - it assumes that if you’re removing the module from your Library list, you don’t need the image cache anymore - and this won’t have any effect on your files