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Farsight Studios
The Pinball Arcade / Farsight Studios
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[GUIDE] High Score and Goals backup and restore in TPA (Steam)
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<blockquote data-quote="Xanija" data-source="post: 249627" data-attributes="member: 2707"><p><span style="color: #FF0000">Changes 17.11.2018:</span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000">Currently you should only need to make a backup of this folder:</span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"><strong>C:\Users\<Windows user name>\My Games\Pinball Arcade</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000">because FarSight disabled the cloud save functionality. Everything below is only required, if you need to use the cloud save files in Steam.</span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000">----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000">FarSight has disabled the cloud save functionality by default. This means, the files mentioned below are still being created, but not used. In order to change the and make use of the cloud save files, you need to enter a command line parameter for TPA in Steam, which is "cloudactive". If you right-click on TPA, select properties, you can select the start options like this:</span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"><a href="https://imgur.com/qWFw0DE" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/qWFw0DE.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></span></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>Original message:</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Why this guide?</strong></p><p></p><p>It is very important to make backups of your files, <strong>as you can't reply on the cloud files</strong>. The reason for this is: TPA creates a highscore file when installing the game. It doesn't seem to check, whether or not a save file in the cloud already exists. When installing the game on a new PC, a local save file will be created with a current time stamp. When the game is launched, TPA will check the save file in the cloud and compare it with the local save file on your PC. As the local save file is newer, TPA will consider this as the most current file. After closing TPA it will upload this newer file to Steam and your progress is lost both locally and in the Steam cloud. </p><p></p><p>This guide will explain how to backup (Part 1) and restore (Part 2) your high scores and standard/wizard goals. </p><p></p><p><strong>Part 1 - Backup:</strong></p><p></p><p>TPA stores High Scores, settings ect. in: </p><p></p><p>C:\Users\<Windows user name>\My Games\Pinball Arcade</p><p>This is nice to backup, but the more important files reside in:</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #FF0000"><Steam Folder></span>\userdata\<span style="color: #008000"><user ID></span>\238260</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"><Steam Folder></span> is in most cases C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000"><user ID></span> is a numeric. If you are the only Steam user on this machine, you will only have one Steam ID folder. If you have more than one, you can find out which your Steam ID is using <a href="http://steamidfinder.com/" target="_blank">http://steamidfinder.com/</a> Make sure to click on "Looking for Steam 3 ID" to get the ID we want to use: </p><p></p><p><a href="http://imgur.com/Wq8bvHo" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/Wq8bvHo.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="http://imgur.com/gvtVM4L" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/gvtVM4L.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p>In this folder you will find a file "remotecache.vdf" and a folder "remote". Make a backup of both. </p><p></p><p><em>The file "remotecache.vdf" contains a description of what is being synchronized with Steam cloud.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>The file "pbaprg.dat", which sits in the "remote"-Folder, contains the high scores and goals achieved.</em></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Part 2 - Restore:</strong></p><p></p><p>If you need to restore your progress, use your backup files and copy them back to </p><p></p><p><Steam Folder>\userdata\<user ID>\238260 </p><p></p><p>Overwrite the existing files. </p><p></p><p>Now you need to take the following steps:</p><p></p><p><strong>1. Change the file dates of the file "pbaprg.dat" with a tool like "BulkFileChanger" (Freeware),</strong> available at <a href="http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bulk_file_changer.html" target="_blank">http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bulk_file_changer.html</a> to the current time.</p><p><em>This step is neccessary to give the file a newer time stamp than the Steam cloud file</em></p><p></p><p><strong>2. Check the properties of the file by right-clicking on it and selecting "Properties". You will see a screen like this:</strong></p><p></p><p><a href="http://imgur.com/J1TYuUF" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/J1TYuUF.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p>(Sorry, it's German, but I'm sure you will be able to figure out what to look for)</p><p></p><p><strong>3. Convert the "Last Changed"-Date to the time zone "UTC" using </strong><a href="http://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/" target="_blank">http://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/</a> </p><p></p><p><a href="http://imgur.com/Qomkn0d" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/Qomkn0d.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p><strong>4. Convert the UTC time to a UNIX time stamp using</strong> <a href="http://www.unixtimestamp.com/" target="_blank">http://www.unixtimestamp.com/</a></p><p></p><p><a href="http://imgur.com/kJWSy2N" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/kJWSy2N.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p><p></p><p><strong>5. Edit the file "remotecache.vdf" with a text editor and look for a string "localtime"</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>6. Replace the value after "localtime" with the UNIX time stamp, which you just looked up. I this example it should look like:</strong></p><p></p><p>"localtime" "1476030660"</p><p></p><p><strong>7. Save the file</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>8. Start TPA - you should now have your high scores and goals from your latest backup.</strong></p><p></p><p>Any questions, please let me know. </p><p></p><p>Mods, please sticky this thread.</p><p></p><p>There is another guide on the Steam forums, which is using the "Cloud Sync Conflict", which might be useful, if you plan to install TPA on several devices parallel: </p><p></p><p><a href="http://steamcommunity.com/app/238260/discussions/0/620700960996345816" target="_blank">http://steamcommunity.com/app/238260/discussions/0/620700960996345816</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Xanija, post: 249627, member: 2707"] [COLOR="#FF0000"]Changes 17.11.2018: Currently you should only need to make a backup of this folder: [B]C:\Users\<Windows user name>\My Games\Pinball Arcade[/B] because FarSight disabled the cloud save functionality. Everything below is only required, if you need to use the cloud save files in Steam. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FarSight has disabled the cloud save functionality by default. This means, the files mentioned below are still being created, but not used. In order to change the and make use of the cloud save files, you need to enter a command line parameter for TPA in Steam, which is "cloudactive". If you right-click on TPA, select properties, you can select the start options like this: [url=https://imgur.com/qWFw0DE][img]http://i.imgur.com/qWFw0DE.png[/img][/url] [/COLOR] [I]Original message:[/I] [B]Why this guide?[/B] It is very important to make backups of your files, [b]as you can't reply on the cloud files[/b]. The reason for this is: TPA creates a highscore file when installing the game. It doesn't seem to check, whether or not a save file in the cloud already exists. When installing the game on a new PC, a local save file will be created with a current time stamp. When the game is launched, TPA will check the save file in the cloud and compare it with the local save file on your PC. As the local save file is newer, TPA will consider this as the most current file. After closing TPA it will upload this newer file to Steam and your progress is lost both locally and in the Steam cloud. This guide will explain how to backup (Part 1) and restore (Part 2) your high scores and standard/wizard goals. [b]Part 1 - Backup:[/b] TPA stores High Scores, settings ect. in: C:\Users\<Windows user name>\My Games\Pinball Arcade This is nice to backup, but the more important files reside in: [B][COLOR="#FF0000"]<Steam Folder>[/COLOR]\userdata\[COLOR="#008000"]<user ID>[/COLOR]\238260[/B] [COLOR="#FF0000"]<Steam Folder>[/COLOR] is in most cases C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam [COLOR="#008000"]<user ID>[/COLOR] is a numeric. If you are the only Steam user on this machine, you will only have one Steam ID folder. If you have more than one, you can find out which your Steam ID is using [url]http://steamidfinder.com/[/url] Make sure to click on "Looking for Steam 3 ID" to get the ID we want to use: [url=http://imgur.com/Wq8bvHo][img]http://i.imgur.com/Wq8bvHo.png[/img][/url] [url=http://imgur.com/gvtVM4L][img]http://i.imgur.com/gvtVM4L.png[/img][/url] In this folder you will find a file "remotecache.vdf" and a folder "remote". Make a backup of both. [i]The file "remotecache.vdf" contains a description of what is being synchronized with Steam cloud. The file "pbaprg.dat", which sits in the "remote"-Folder, contains the high scores and goals achieved.[/i] [b]Part 2 - Restore:[/b] If you need to restore your progress, use your backup files and copy them back to <Steam Folder>\userdata\<user ID>\238260 Overwrite the existing files. Now you need to take the following steps: [B]1. Change the file dates of the file "pbaprg.dat" with a tool like "BulkFileChanger" (Freeware),[/B] available at [url]http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bulk_file_changer.html[/url] to the current time. [i]This step is neccessary to give the file a newer time stamp than the Steam cloud file[/i] [B]2. Check the properties of the file by right-clicking on it and selecting "Properties". You will see a screen like this:[/B] [url=http://imgur.com/J1TYuUF][img]http://i.imgur.com/J1TYuUF.jpg[/img][/url] (Sorry, it's German, but I'm sure you will be able to figure out what to look for) [B]3. Convert the "Last Changed"-Date to the time zone "UTC" using [/B][url]http://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/[/url] [url=http://imgur.com/Qomkn0d][img]http://i.imgur.com/Qomkn0d.jpg[/img][/url] [B]4. Convert the UTC time to a UNIX time stamp using[/B] [url]http://www.unixtimestamp.com/[/url] [url=http://imgur.com/kJWSy2N][img]http://i.imgur.com/kJWSy2N.jpg[/img][/url] [B]5. Edit the file "remotecache.vdf" with a text editor and look for a string "localtime"[/B] [B]6. Replace the value after "localtime" with the UNIX time stamp, which you just looked up. I this example it should look like:[/B] "localtime" "1476030660" [B]7. Save the file[/B] [B]8. Start TPA - you should now have your high scores and goals from your latest backup.[/B] Any questions, please let me know. Mods, please sticky this thread. There is another guide on the Steam forums, which is using the "Cloud Sync Conflict", which might be useful, if you plan to install TPA on several devices parallel: [url]http://steamcommunity.com/app/238260/discussions/0/620700960996345816[/url] [/QUOTE]
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[GUIDE] High Score and Goals backup and restore in TPA (Steam)
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