How to backup Assetto Corsa?

[Elaphe]

I have recently had some annoying problems after installing Sol 2 and CSP 1.6 (black sky and black glasses on a few cars). I don't know if I messed it up with the installations, but the point is that uninstalling Sol and downgrading to my old version of CSP didn't fix the problem.

I have a backup of my entire Assetto Corsa folder (D:\Assetto Corsa), so I restored my backup and, to my surprise, the problem was still there. It took some some hours and many attempts before I was able to downgrade and fix the issues.

As you can imagine, now I have taken the decission to never upgrade again nor change anything until I can be sure I have a way to effectively restore my current configuration.

Therefore, I understand that I need to backup something else to completelly restore my Assetto Corsa. I think that backuping also *documents folder*\Assetto Corsa will be the solution, because maybe the things related to CPS and Sol are installed there. I could also backup my *user*\Appdata\Local\ AcTools Content Manager folder.

Has anyone tried this? I mean, restoring these 3 folders in case of disaster and have your game as it was before? Honestly, I don't feel like doing risky experiments.

 

[blekenbleu]

I have read some rumors somewhere the access to the files is even faster while compressed?!
But it could stress the CPU.

There are many cases where compressing files in RAM, then decompressing as needed,
is faster than reloading uncompressed from bulk storage.
Depending on the compression scheme,
e.g. run-length encoding, not much processing is involved.

CompactGUI2

Where can it be found?

 

[Kevin Troschinski]

There are many cases where compressing files in RAM, then decompressing as needed,
is faster than reloading uncompressed from bulk storage.
Depending on the compression scheme,
e.g. run-length encoding, not much processing is involved.

Where can it be found?

Here some info from gtpanet (including link)

"
LZX compression is quite amazing on Windows 10, especially if a mod has a lot of Kn5 and DDS files. With an HDD and fast CPU, this does reduce loading times, though it's marginal. Either with SSD or HDD, the files are smaller, so they read faster. The most significant benefit however, is saving disk space. For example, having 1.2GB or so of mods on a 500GB drive! I've been using this for over a year, and it's very reliable and efficient.

Content Manager has this compression feature in the Content > Tools menu to compress your cars and tracks folders. You can also use CompactGUI[2] to compress specific folders (select them by clicking on the blue bar) as well as the extensions folders and others that may contain additional Kn5 and DDS files. In both cases, they only compress new files, so you can compress occasionally as you add new mods."

Note - i have used the recomended compression, not the LZX one. Should work with all options.

 

[Elaphe]

I've used a tool to search text inside files, trying to locate paths in the AC and Content Manager folders, including the game folder in D: and the configuration folders in documents and appdata. No results found. So, today I've tried moving my AC folder from D: to C: and ran it. No drama. I just got this pop up message from Content Manager. I changed the path and the game loaded normaly and everything seems to work fine and all content and preferences are correct.

 

[blekenbleu]

I've used a tool to search text inside files, trying to locate paths in the AC and Content Manager folders, including the game folder in D: and the configuration folders in documents and appdata.

My guess: paths to AC content are stored in acs_x86.exe and acs.exe,
which files seem to be modified suspiciously often.

 

[JoshOz]

I've used a tool to search text inside files, trying to locate paths in the AC and Content Manager folders, including the game folder in D: and the configuration folders in documents and appdata. No results found. So, today I've tried moving my AC folder from D: to C: and ran it. No drama. I just got this pop up message from Content Manager. I changed the path and the game loaded normaly and everything seems to work fine and all content and preferences are correct.

Hi Elaphe. It sounds like you had some success moving your Assetto Corsa installation. Good to see. Thanks for the update.

 

[JoshOz]

Here some info from gtpanet (including link)

"
LZX compression is quite amazing on Windows 10, especially if a mod has a lot of Kn5 and DDS files. With an HDD and fast CPU, this does reduce loading times, though it's marginal. Either with SSD or HDD, the files are smaller, so they read faster. The most significant benefit however, is saving disk space. For example, having 1.2GB or so of mods on a 500GB drive! I've been using this for over a year, and it's very reliable and efficient.

Content Manager has this compression feature in the Content > Tools menu to compress your cars and tracks folders. You can also use CompactGUI[2] to compress specific folders (select them by clicking on the blue bar) as well as the extensions folders and others that may contain additional Kn5 and DDS files. In both cases, they only compress new files, so you can compress occasionally as you add new mods."

Note - i have used the recomended compression, not the LZX one. Should work with all options.

Hi Kevin. I found the option within Content Manager that allows for file compression. I decided to try it. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I've included a screenshot showing the results. I'm amazed at how much it compressed some files.

 

[Kevin Troschinski]

Hi Kevin. I found the option within Content Manager that allows for file compression. I decided to try it. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I've included a screenshot showing the results. I'm amazed at how much it compressed some files.
View attachment 457228

Yeah cool its working for you .

One thing makes me stil curious. While using the GUI-Tool the description within the option: LZX compression clearly says: not recommended for games.

But CM recommends LZX on the other side So which is the better way...

 

[JoshOz]

Yeah cool its working for you .

One thing makes me stil curious. While using the GUI-Tool the description within the option: LZX compression clearly says: not recommended for games.

But CM recommends LZX on the other side So which is the better way...

Hmm, I’m also curious (and a little concerned) that GUI-tool says LZX is not recommended for games. I wonder though if that’s because of the types of files being compressed in AC are only files in the Content folder. Maybe AC/Content Manager does a really good job of reading compressed files. I have AC installed on a M.2 drive which is already super quick so I haven’t noticed and improvement in loading time.