Some advise on backing up my data folder etc

[Craigsters]

I had to do a Symantec PC restore this weekend because of a nasty Virus program I had, anyhow right now I'm in recovery mode re-downloading all mods I lost from nexus fallout 3 community made mods, I'm re-downloading again!..

 

Both my USB2 external terabyte hard drive and my backup PC are in the pawnshop tell the end of the month, because I was short on a huge bill that needed paying!..

 

Anyhow I want to Rar up archive my data folder and or whole entire Program Bethesda game folder so if I need to I can just un-rar the archived folder and get rid of the community made stuff!..

 

My on board hard drive is 293gb's and I have 271gb's storage space left, I don't plan on installing any other games while I'm playing Fallout 3!..

 

Any suggested on how to backup my program game directory or what parts before adding Fose, Fomm and any other mod's would be great to hear?

 

thank you Craig

[evilneko]

If you just want a clean copy of your data folder, you can easily just copy the entire thing elsewhere. That's the quick 'n dirty way to do it.

 

To restore, delete modded \data, copy backup \data back into place.

 

To save space (doesn't sound like that's a problem for you though) you can backup JUST the subfolders under \data. That way, you're not backing up the vanilla bsa files, which only change when you run an official patch anyway.

 

To restore you'd just delete the esps and all subfolders in \data, then copy your backups into place.

 

As for me I just copied the entire \Fallout 3 directory onto another drive and update the data directory once in a while. While Fallout 3 is unfortunately NOT portable, I can use this backup to instantly patch up and have FOMM and FOSE and all my mods ready after installing from disc.

 

I also keep a copy of the original zip/rar/7z file of (darn near) every mod I've ever downloaded in a folder called FO3Mods. :)

[Craigsters]

Ok I finally finished downloading all the mods, textures etc I lost on Saturday this evening, I started Sunday and I organized community made download folder on my desktop the way nexus organizes there download section here, Animation, Armor, and Weapons etc this is just the backup Download folder that I'll be either burning or backing up to a external source for later use!..

 

Question Do I have to play through escaping Vault 101 first before the game creates the Texture and mesh folder? or do I create those myself as well As the Menu folder?

 

Because I noticed last Saturday briefly when I thought all was good with my PC before having to do a second Symantec PC restore, that when I had re-installed Fallout 3 and then exited the game and went to my program, bethesda folder that in the fallout 3 folder no mesh, texture or menu folder was created yet in my data folder!..

 

I hope I explained this properly and you know what I meant!.. :unsure:

 

 

:thanks: Craig

[evilneko]

Vanilla doesn't have those folders.