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.

Copy everything
This, of course, has to be done manually. You can write a simple batch file script to do it as well. Make sure you capture everything in your save directory, as well as journeymap and tcnodefinder directories. Best to do this before or after each gaming session.

Pros
 * Can write script to copy exactly what you want.
 * Make it fancy by zipping up the directories, or only doing differences from the last backup.

Cons
 * Requires expertise in PC
 * Generally, can only do backup while not playing.
 * Have to restore files from command line.

Aromabackup
[Aromabackup] is a common mod used to backup games. It is configurable for how often to backup and how many backups to keep around. It will require a [core mod] as well. Recommended for use in singleplayer.

Pros
 * Config file for where to store backups, how often to take them, and how many to save
 * Easy to use in-game interface to restore from backup.
 * Works fine without configuration

Cons
 * Options might be a little flaky - keep an eye on HD usage, and flush old backups occasionally.
 * Does not backup Journeymap or tcnodefinder directories.
 * If used on server, requires clients to have aromacore installed to join the server.

FTB Utilities
[FTBUtils] is a common mod used for backups, which also adds chunkloaders, for use on severs. Recommended mod for a server you're hosting.

Pros
 * Adds other utilities, such as chunkloaders
 * Does not require players on your server to also install the mod

Cons
 * May require some configuring

Yet Another Backup Mod- GTNH Fork
This mod is a custom fork of Yet Another Backup Mod, by GTNH user Jackowski626. It can be found [here] and has the ability to store backups uncompressed. Recommended for use on rented servers where you might not have access to the host console.

Pros
 * Can store uncompresed backups, which makes them easier to restore without command line access.
 * Does not require players on your server to also install the mod

Cons
 * Uncompressed backups take up more space
 * Only does backups (may be a pro, depending on your use case)

= 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 easily. Simply navigate to where backups are stored (most mods will store it in a "backups" folder inside your GTNH installation, by default) and locate whichever backup you want to restore from (backups are usually stored by date). Open the .zip your file is stored in (or just grab the file, if you're using uncompressed backups), delete your old save in the saves folder (you might want to cut it somewhere else instead, just in case!), and copy and paste in the new one.

= ZOMG! I am an idiot and did not backup my game! = Well, sad times. There are some options you can try here, but they all will require expertise in Minecraft files. These options are only for restoring a save that no longer loads- if you blew up your base, too bad, install a backup mod next time!

Try looking at the crash log in logs/latest.log and see what may be causing the issue.

Corrupt chunk
If the crash file identifies the corrupt chunk or Region file (each Region file is 32x32 chunks), then you can try these steps
 * First, backup your level.dat and level.dat_old files.
 * Delete level.dat and rename level.dat_old -> level.dat
 * If this works, great! If not, continue...
 * Copy the whole save folder to create backup. Also save off your Journeymap and tcnodefinder directories now too.
 * Go through the .mca files in the save dir and delete them one by one to find out which region file is corrupted. If you have an idea which chunk might be causing it, you can look at the pictures in the Journeymap directory to see which region file it may be. The names of the pictures in the Journeymap directory correspond to the region.
 * Once you know the corrupt .mca file, you can decide to delete or repair it. If the Journeymap for that chunk shows nothing important, it's ok to delete. Minecraft will regenerate the chunks fresh next time you login.
 * If you need to repair (chunk with base or whatever) use a map editor / NBT editor to import the mca file and edit just the bad block or entities.
 * Advanced Users Only: 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