How do you guys keep your campaign synced between different computers?

[Fudly]

I create my campaign on my desktop which I then transfer to my laptop or the desktop at my friend's house. I'm currently using scp and usb sticks, neither of which are ideal. What do you guys do? What folders do you transfer as well? I'm tempted to mirror everything in the fantasy grounds app data directory, but my usb stick is painfully slow.

[LordEntrails]

I used to sync between my desktop and laptop with a USB stick. But it was too annoying so now I just keep it all on my laptop and I've stopped trying to use both.

Don't know if their is a better way, sorry.

[Nickademus]

USB is the best at the moment. Syncing software causes corrupting if you don't pause the syncing while using FG.

Campaign, modules, and tokens folders (maybe extensions if I'm developing one).

[Callum]

If you have suitable cloud storage, you can use that instead of a USB stick. As Nickademus says, don't set it up to auto-sync, as this can cause corruption - just copy the folders out and back as you need to.

[Zacchaeus]

All you need for the one campaign is to copy that one campaign from the Campaigns folder onto your USB and then copy that into the campaigns folder on wherever you are using it and then reverse the process. You might need some tokens as well depending on what you are doing.

EDIT: This assumes that both computers have the same modules if those are being used. If not then you'll need to copy those modules too.

[feldrol]

When I switch from laptop to desktop I only copy the "db.xml" of the campaing with usb stick or via my NAS.
I only copy more files when I make changes in the ruleset.

This of course assumes that I copied everything once before.

[Andraax]

Install Cygwin and use rsync - rsync only does minimal copying (it figures out what needs to be copied and only copies those pieces).

[Oberoten]

I start FG with a .bat file which runs FG itself and then proceeds to copy the entire datafolder (newer files only) over to my cloud-drive.

[Trenloe]

When I switch from laptop to desktop I only copy the "db.xml" of the campaing with usb stick or via my NAS.
This is fine if all you've been doing is working in the database. But there are other files in the campaign directory that you may need to copy that cover: image masks and drawings, windows sizes and position, any edits made to module data, hotkeys, player tokens created from portraits, which extensions and modules are active for the campaign, any new images you've added, etc.. So, to be 100% sure you get all the campaign specific details and settings I'd recommend you copy the whole campaign directory. If you have a lot of images and you know you haven't added any new images then you can ignore the images directory, which is usually the one with the biggest files and so takes the longest to copy.

[Trenloe]

I start FG with a .bat file which runs FG itself and then proceeds to copy the entire datafolder (newer files only) over to my cloud-drive.
That sounds like a neat solution. Would you mind showing us a copy of your .bat file please? :)

[whiteTiki]

You guys complicate your lifes too much with all those USB sync and other stuff.

Super awesome easy trick that works perfectly for me:

FIRST, DO THIS ON LAPTOP:
1.- get dropbox, onedrive or whatever
2.- install dropbox desktop or similar to auto-sync files from your folders in PC or laptop
3.- Create a folder inside your dropbox for FantasyGrounds files
4.- Create a folder inside the previous folder for FantasyGrounds Data files
5.- install FG if you haven't already
6.- open FG and go to settings
7.- modify your "App Directory" root to the first folder you just crreated in Dropbox
8.- modify your "Data Directory" root to the second folder you just created in Dropbox
9.- press ok
10.- press update
NOTE: if you had FG installed before, just copy and paste your campaigns from previous directories (not sure if it does this on its own when modifying directory roots). Backup your campaigns and all your stuff just in case.

NOW, DO THIS ON YOUR PC:
1.- Step 1 and 2 from previous list
2.- make sure to sync the FG directory folder and all it sub-contents to your PC
3.- Steps 5 through 10

DONE

It works for me, perfectly, i can run campaign on laptop. close FG, and continue perfectly on PC with no problems. As long as you have WiFi it will sync everything instantly. No need to worry anymore.

Cheers!

EDIT: READ A POST TRENLOE ADDED BELOW

[Blahness98]

Just don't run both at the same time.

[whiteTiki]

Just don't run both at the same time.

INDEED, very important

[Trenloe]

7.- modify your "App Directory" root to the first folder you just crreated in Dropbox
8.- modify your "Data Directory" root to the second folder you just created in Dropbox

This approach of synching live Fantasy Grounds data has been known to cause campaign data corruption, player cache corruption, file access issues, etc. and it has been reported a number of times. You are obviously just lucky that it has not happened to you, or you haven't noticed that some data hadn't been updated correctly etc..

It is strongly recommended not to do this. Sooner or later you will experience issues. Don't setup any form of active synching directly on your FG data directories while FG is in use.

[whiteTiki]

This approach of synching live Fantasy Grounds data has been known to cause campaign data corruption, player cache corruption, file access issues, etc. and it has been reported a number of times. You are obviously just lucky that it has not happened to you, or you haven't noticed that some data hadn't been updated correctly etc..

It is strongly recommended not to do this. Sooner or later you will experience issues. Don't setup any form of active synching directly on your FG data directories while FG is in use.

Guess then I've been very lucky. I'll continue like this as a test and just because It's been working for me (but listen to Trenloe). If you guys don't see me reporting any issues, it means everything is OK, I'll report back when something bad happens with my data lol.

[Andraax]

Actually, pointing at a synced directory should be fine *if you turn off syncing before you run FG* and then turn it back on when you're done. I do that with my Carbonite backup before I play play games as well (it conveniently has a "pause for 4 hours feature" that turns it back on automatically after 4 hours...).You could possibly create a batch file that turns it off, run FG, and turns it back on and then you won't have to remember to do it...

[Trenloe]

Yep, that's why I said "Don't setup any form of active synching directly on your FG data directories while FG is in use." As long as you are 100% sure that you are turning any synching off when FG starts, and back on again when FG is fully closed, then you should be OK. If it screws up (or you forget) just once, you could lose data you've worked hard on. It is much clearer (and safer) to say "don't use synch application on your FG data" as there are plenty of people out there who won't read (or appreciate) the finer details of what can be done. I just want to make sure that users are aware of the possible ramifications of using synch applications on their live FG data.

[whiteTiki]

Hmmm... interesting, now that I think about it, I can recall a time when I lost a character for some reason I never understood.
Nice to hear there's actually a way to do it.

[Newf]

I used to have my data folders in dropbox, and never had an issue with syncing or anything being corrupted. But now if I want to update my campaign via my laptop, I just copy/paste the files on my PC into dropbox and then get them on my laptop from there.

[Nylanfs]

That's the best way to do it. The problem is when you host your LIVE data folder in a synced location. FG doesn't lock the files it has in use AFAIK, so your sync progam will try and sync the two sets, and if FG is in the process of writing it will corrupt the cloud version, which will then be pushed to all your other locations.