recover old autosaves?

So I spent some 30-40 hours building my first 'real' map after I got ahold of how things worked and many of the odd little nuances that comes with this program.

And apparently it never saved.

It saved as an autosave. But it never saved an actual file.

Well. Needless to say, I went to find it and open/edit a thing or two along with process a few completed jpegs.

Aaaaannnddddddd it doesn't exist.

I looked everywhere. And by everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. And nothing. The last few weeks I thought I was going insane. Remembering things that never happened.

But low and behold, I has 'pring screened' and sent a screen cap of a partial to a friend on discord. Proving that I wasn't crazy.

And I found out it was saved as an autosave.

Unfortunately I created a new map a few weeks ago for a campaign I was running and it autosaved over the big map that I need.

Is there anyway to salvage an older autosave? Or something like that?

I figure I'm just up the creek without a paddle. But man would it be nice if there was some way to fix this problem. Preferably without me kissing all of my work.

And as for why this happened?
I thought that when it autosaved, it overwrote the old file. Like, well, everything else I've ever worked with. I didn't know that it didn't overwrite the original file. It just made an autosave and overwrote that one.

Comments

  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Unfortunately there is only ever one autosave file, and that's the file that opens from the File menu here: File->Open autosave Drawing.

    The only way to get something back is to open that autosave file the moment you next open the app, or you will lose it under the very next autosave.

    I'm a bit confused when you say you lost 30-40 hours work. Surely you have only lost the most recent day's work? It would be truly unfortunate if you had been mapping non-stop for 2-3 days without sleep and never manually saved the map in all that time whatsoever.
  • No. I just clicked save when the prompt came up. And when I turn the computer back on it autoloaded the last thing I was working on.

    That's the main reason why I never bothered with anything else. I had started a save file when I first started the map. I thought it was saving over that file. And I never opened anything because it was always conviently present when I was working on it.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    edited July 2020
    Oh dear!

    I am so sorry to have to tell you this, but I can't leave you hanging without an answer.

    That button only confirms that you agree to an autosave. It doesn't do an ordinary save. You have to do that by clicking the disc icon, hitting CTRL+S, or using Save from the file menu. I think CC3 also asks you if you want to save changes when you shut the app down.

    I can't bring your map back for you, but if it is any comfort this thread has sparked a tech discussion on the way autosave and save work in CC3.
  • In future I suggest doing it this way.

    1) Start a map.

    2) do some small amount of work on it.

    3) save as nameofmap01_001

    4) do some small amount of work on it.

    5) save as nameofmap01_002

    continue on until completed.

    I use this method in case of a computer crash, which mine does. And if I decide to go in another mapping direction, I can go back further than undo.
  • I appreciate all the help guys.

    I would have done something like this had I known that's how it worked.

    I probably just overlooked the details when I skimmed the instructions or something. It's my fault. And that's something I'll have to live with as I remake this thing.

    And with that, a moment of silence for the only living screen cap of a portion of my map.
  • That's not a big mistake. Mine are original and tremendously bad. Yours is kinda average.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    It probably didn't help that you were working on the autosave file itself.

    For future reference, if you have to open the autosave make sure you save it immediately over the original file and leave the autosave to be what it is.

    But the good news is that you can import that image into your new map and use it as a reference :)
  • Unfortunately this is less than 1/3 of it.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    I have lost maps or parts of maps before now for one reason or another, and usually the redraw turns out better than the first time.

    Let us hope it will be that way for you :)
  • Aside from Jim's notes about saving numerous versions as you go along, I tend to use the Autosave prompt as a reminder to save what I've been doing using the "Save" icon to the filename and computer location I created when I started the map - and sometimes using Autosave as well. Although the Autosave prompt can be irritating sometimes, when it comes up halfway through a drawing task after you've just shifted the screen zoom, say, I always leave it on because it's a very useful reminder when you get engrossed in mapping that you do need to keep saving the file in case of crashes. Remember though, DO NOT use Autosave if you are partway through drawing a complex polygon, as it will close the polygon in a shape you almost certainly will not want!!! [Something else for the tech discussions, mayhap? :) ]
  • jslaytonjslayton Moderator, ProFantasy Mapmaker
    Posted By: WyvernAutosave ... will close the polygon in a shape you almost certainly will not want!!! [Something else for the tech discussions, mayhap? :) ]
    It sounds like it writes whatever the current state of the polygon happens to be out to the file at the autosave time. I wonder if it also kills any active undo states as part of the autosave.
  • LoopysueLoopysue ProFantasy 🖼️ 39 images Cartographer
    Joe - It does exactly that, which is why I keep the notifications active so I can have the choice about whether or not to autosave.
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