my campaign is lost

[mherceg]

Hi,
I have encountered a big problem in FG.
A week ago we had a RP session and everything was OK, but when I tried to open the same campaign at home (the day after), campaign was lost - all maps, NPC-s, places, stories, everything was gone.

I have done backup of this campaign by copying whole "campaigns" folder from C:\Documents and Settings\Matija Herceg\Application Data\Fantasy Grounds II\

How can I bring my campaign back? And how can I be sure that this will not happen again?

--
Matija

[EugeneZ]

To recover your campaign, access your backup folder, there should be a "campaigns" folder in there. Inside are the various campaigns you started, so just copy whichever one broke, over the broken version in your real FG data directory. Make sense?

As to what causes it, I see these threads pop up from time to time but I don't think there are any "sure-fire" ways to cause this. I've caused this once by exiting the program via the "X" in the top right instead of the right clicking and using that option. Also, I haven't tried this, but I suspect you can probably do a lot of damage if you try editing the db.xml file while FG2 is open. Lastly, some people mentioned that certain combination of characters involving left-ankle-brackets (<) and ampersands (&), both of which are special XML characters, can cause problems, though personally, I use these all the time and never had any issues.

[mherceg]

Thank you!

[LouisDay]

Can anybody tell me where the back-up folder is? I've checked the application data folder and can't find one marked "back-up."

[Griogre]

FG doesn't make a back up folder in the previous post the OP had made one. If you crashed in the middle of a game and lost your campaign then you can look in the campaign folder in data apps in the folder with the name of your campaign and see if there is a db.xml backup file.

If there is one and you have a db.xml file rename that file to db2.xml and change the back up file to db.xml. Load FG and your campaign to see what is there.

[LouisDay]

Worked like a charm. Thanks a lot!

[Griogre]

Make sure you do make a back up regularly if you are having a problem where you are losing data.

[Tenian]

Some people have experienced data loss when they close FGII by using the Red X in the upper right corner instead of right clicking on the empty desktop and using the close radial.

If you are constantly experiencing campaign loss you might try switching the method you use to close FGII and see if your problem goes away.

[kruschevv]

I had an old demo version and i was able to create characters and to edit them. But since i updated my demo version, my "campaigns" don't appear on the list like before. Only a couple of them (2) appear because they were in the "cache" file (don't ask me why).

Someone can help me to understand and to fix it?

By the way, i use Wine on Linux Mint

[LordEntrails]

Hey Kruschevv, welcome to the community :)

This sounds like you have two installs of FG. Not sure how Wine impacts this, but in Windows this is what to check;

On the launch screen, click on the folder icon in the upper right. This will open a browser to your FG Data folder. Check the campaigns sub-folder. 99% sure your campaigns will not be in there. What you will then have to do is find where your old campaign folder was and copy/move all the old campaigns from that location into this one. You can do the same with the other subfolders too.

[swbuza]

Use of the /save command might also be helpful.

[Trenloe]

Welcome to the boards kruschevv

Can you give us some more info on your issue. You mention a cache - but the Fantasy Grounds \cache directory is just for players connecting to a GM (caching that data) it is not for storing your own GM campaign data.

It's also been mentioned that the chat /save command might help - this really is not anything that will specifically help. FG uses this command in the background every 5 minutes and also saves all data when exiting the campaign, so the only real use the /save command can be is in identifying saving issues before you exit.

[kruschevv]

Thank you for your answer

Sorry to burst your bubble but you're wrong. The campaigns file is the good one, full of my campaigns.


18264

18265

18266

18267

18268

But, as you can see in the pics, the campaigns who appear are the one located in the cache. Is that suppose to be like that ? Do i have to move my campaigns in the cache file of the cache file ?

[JohnD]

There are very few people who know more than Trenloe about how FG works from the technical side.

[Trenloe]

Sorry to burst your bubble but you're wrong. The campaigns file is the good one, full of my campaigns.
Err - maybe you can explain to me how I'm wrong? Because I have a passing familiarity with Fantasy Grounds and I'm pretty sure what I said is correct. Maybe you know more and could educate me please?


The campaigns file is the good one, full of my campaigns.

But, as you can see in the pics, the campaigns who appear are the one located in the cache. Is that suppose to be like that ? Do i have to move my campaigns in the cache file of the cache file ?
As I said above, the cache data is only created when you connect to a GM to play as a player. That is correct information. You cannot use this information to run a game as a GM.

The data in your campaigns directory is only fully usable if you have a standard license - your screenshots show that you have a free license. If you have a license then you need to enter the license key in the settings window and run an update. Then you will be able to access the campaigns through the "Load Campaign" button that will be available to you. With your free license you could probably access your campaigns through the "Load Demo Campaign" button but you won't be able to save any changes to those campaigns - you'll need to load your license (and update the client) to be able to do that.

[damned]

You are on the Manage Characters screen when you only see the short list of campaigns to choose from. These are campaigns you have also connected a player instance to and why there is a cache and why there is the option to select those campaigns in manage characters. Generally Manage characters is for player use while it is generally much easier for the GM to manage characters within a campaign.

[kruschevv]

I'm not sure how to use the quote but i'll try anyway


Err - maybe you can explain to me how I'm wrong? Because I have a passing familiarity with Fantasy Grounds and I'm pretty sure what I said is correct. Maybe you know more and could educate me please?

The message "Sorry to burst your bubble but you're wrong. The campaigns file is the good one, full of my campaigns" was not for you but for LordEntrails who said my campaigns were not in the folder and they were. Your comment was not in the same context at all so, i don't see no reason i would have answered something like that to you. And, if one day i can help you with some information, i'll do it with pleasure


I saw you wrote something after i realized i was on the page 2 and the message i read was on the page one. I saw you asked for more information about my issues and i sent you the screenshots to give you more details about my issue.

At the moment i talked about my issue, i had the free version only. And with that same free version, i remember i was able to change something in a campaign already made. I don't remember how but i swear i did it. I try the ultimate version (since today) because my friend was curious to see what we can do with that and i decided to try it for a month.

I never played as a player and never played at all. So i don't know why some information can be there if it's for player only.

Right now, even with the ultimate, i'm not able to see in the list the campaigns i created in the past.

But i noticed something i think important. The campaigns who are in the list don't contain the same things than the other one. When i open the one who don't appear, i see nothing except "usersettings" file. In the one who appear, there's "campaign.xml" and files like "images" and some others.

I don't have no clue about what's happened between 2-3 months ago and now. But i know that, even with the Ultimate, i'm still not able to use what i already did. I know it was only characters sheets but i worked a lot to make them (3 i think) in french and in english with there own history.

And for the character converter, it doesn't work anymore. I tried the old one and a new version i installed and neither of them worked.

If any of you can tell me how i can recover my characters sheets, i will be very happy and grateful.

[Trenloe]

The message "Sorry to burst your bubble but you're wrong. The campaigns file is the good one, full of my campaigns" was not for you but for LordEntrails who said my campaigns were not in the folder and they were.
Either way, it's not a good way to respond to people who are only trying to help you.

[LordEntrails]

Until we figure out exactly what is going on, don't move your files and folders around. It is most likely that FG is working as expected and that there is some confusion on your end.

So, with your Ultimate license now showing, can you give us screen shots of:
1) FG Launch Screen
2) Load Campaign Screen
3) Manage Characters Screen