Backing up your files
Some people have asked for a list of all of the files you'd need to copy if
you wanted to manually back up your full PinballY setup, including
all of the media files and table information databases. Here's
what you should save:
- Settings.txt in the main PinballY folder (stores
all of your program option settings). The location
of this file can be explicitly changed by a
command line option, /Settings,
when launching PinballY.
- GameStats.csv in the main PinballY folder (stores
portions of the game metadata). The location
of this file can be explicitly changed by a
command line option, /GameStats,
when launching PinballY.
- Your entire Media folder tree
- Your entire Databases folder tree
- Registry settings: None (PinballY doesn't store any settings
in the registry)
The Media and Databases folder locations depend on
your option settings. You might want to read
Files & Folders
for full details, but here's the quick summary:
- If you're using the "Share with PinballX" option, both folders
will be in your PinballX install folder
- If you're not sharing with PinballX, both folders will be in
your PinballY install folder by default
- However, you can override the default locations in the settings -
if you're not sure, the Folders page in the options dialog
will show you the current settings
You don't need to back up the PinballY program files
themselves, since you can always just do a fresh install to
re-create those. But if you're not on a tight space budget for your
backup media, the simplest thing is to just make a copy of
your entire PinballY folder tree (plus your complete PinballX
folder tree, if you're sharing media with PinballX).
More on backing up your system in general
For some recommendations about backing up your overall system,
see Windows Setup
in my pin cab build guide.