Backups and Recovery

This page guides you through setting up a backup mod and/or recovering a corrupt world.

= Backup Options = Depending on your skill level and PC ability, there are a couple of backup options.

Manual Backup
This, of course, has to be done manually. You can also write a simple batch file or other script to do it automatically. Make sure you capture everything in your save directory, as well as the journeymap and tcnodefinder directories. This is best done before or after each gaming session.

Pros:
 * You can copy exactly what you want (and automatically so, with a custom script.)
 * Zipping the directories will save space, and only saving differences from the previous backup can save even more. (However, some backup tools may also provide these features – not tested.)

Cons:
 * Doing this requires some familiarity with files and filesystems.
 * Backing up the world while playing may result in corruption or file errors (not tested.)
 * Files must be saved and restored from command line or a file explorer.

AromaBackup
AromaBackup allows users to automatically backup worlds. It allows you to choose the frequency of backups, along with the number to keep. Recommended for use in singleplayer or LAN worlds.

Pros:
 * Using a config file, you can choose the frequency of backups, along with the amount to keep.
 * Easy to use in-game interface to restore from backup
 * Works fine without configuration
 * Distributed with GTNH in newer versions

Cons: Cons when used with old versions of GTNH:
 * Options might be a little flaky - keep an eye on HD usage, and flush old backups occasionally.
 * Does not backup journeymap or tcnodefinder directories
 * Requires Aroma1997Core.
 * If used on a server, clients must also have Aroma1997Core installed.

FTB Utilities
FTB Utilities also allows users to back up worlds, in addition to offering several other features and being highly configurable. Recommended for server-hosted worlds.

Pros:
 * Adds other utilities, such as chunkloaders
 * Is highly configurable
 * Does not require any client-side installs

Cons:
 * Somewhat more difficult to configure
 * Does not come pre-packaged with GTNH

Yet Another Backup Mod - No Compression Fork
This mod, a custom fork of Yet Another Backup Mod, was written by GTNH user jackowski626. It can be found on GitHub and allows users to store backups uncompressed. Recommended for use on rented servers where you might not have access to the host console.

Pros:
 * Can store uncompressed (as well as compressed) backups, which makes them easier to restore without commandline access
 * Does not require any client-side installs

Cons:
 * Uncompressed backups, take up more space.
 * Only does backups (may be a pro, depending on your use case)
 * Does not come pre-packaged with GTNH

= Recovery Options = Once you've made your backups, a time will come when you have to restore them, whether your world corrupts itself, your quests glitch up, or you just blow up all your machines in a freak transformer accident.

All of these mods make restoring a backup pretty easy. Simply navigate to where backups are stored (typically in a backups folder inside your GTNH installation) and find whichever backup you want to restore from (backups are usually stored by date - ones found later in alphabetical order are likely to be newer). Unzip the backup file you want (or just grab it, if you're using uncompressed backups), remove your old save from saves (or move it somewhere else instead, just in case!), and copy-paste the new one in.

= Help! I didn’t make any backups! = Note: This shouldn’t happen often in more recent versions – AromaBackup comes with GTNH and is set up for you by default.

Try looking at the crash log in logs/latest.log and see what may be causing the issue, and continue to the section below. This will only help you repair a save that doesn’t load - if your base blew up, sad times.

Corrupt chunk
If the crash file identifies the corrupt chunk or Region file (each Region file is 32x32 chunks), try these steps:
 * First, back up level.dat and level.dat_old.
 * Delete level.dat and rename level.dat_old to level.dat.
 * If this works, great! If not, continue...
 * Back up the entire save folder, along with journeymap and tcnodefinder.
 * Go through the .mca files in the save folder, and alternate between deleting one and loading the world. Once the world loads successfully, you now know which file is corrupted. If you suspect a certain chunk, try looking at the pictures in journeymap to see which region file it may be. The names of the pictures in journeymap correspond to the region.
 * Once you know which file is corrupt, you can delete or repair it. If the Journeymap for that chunk shows nothing important, it's okay to delete. Minecraft will regenerate the chunks fresh next time you login.
 * If you need to repair (for example, if part of your base is in the chunk) use a map or NBT editor to import the .mca file and edit out the bad block or entity.
 * For advanced users: You can use this tool, provided by bartimaeusnek, which will split up an MCA File to Chunks: https://github.com/bartimaeusnek/RegionSplitter/releases/download/0.0.2/RegionSplitter0.0.2.jar