Bay 12 Games Forum

Dwarf Fortress => DF Suggestions => Topic started by: PeridexisErrant on November 10, 2013, 08:46:52 pm

Title: Autosave & seasonal backups: init setting for a rolling buffer, not all saves
Post by: PeridexisErrant on November 10, 2013, 08:46:52 pm

Currently there's a simple on/off for backups either seasonal or annual, and they just build up until you delete them manually - using up storage space and cluttering the load screen. 

It would be fairly simple to implement an init option to keep a rolling buffer of configurable length, and delete autosaves beyond that age.  This would allow better protection from glitches - or mistakes with levers - than the option I currently use with autosave but no backups. 

This idea was mentioned on Reddit /r/dwarffortress and seemed reasonably popular, so I thought I'd post it here.  Thoughts?

Edit:  The naming convention for seasonal backups could also be modified so that saves are listed in chronological order, which is most easily accomplished as "regionX-YYY(...)-Season-(other)", with as many years as required.  If the region is not kept as the first part, regions with histories of the same length will be mixed. 

Title: Re: Autosave & seasonal backups: init setting for a rolling buffer, not all saves
Post by: zwei on November 11, 2013, 02:01:05 am

I'd rather if savename directory convention was fixed.

Currently, it is less than useless for figuring out which save is latest or which x-saves are latest because it groups by seasons and not years.

region-season-year should be changed to region-year-quarter_number.

Much easier fix.

Title: Re: Autosave & seasonal backups: init setting for a rolling buffer, not all saves
Post by: PeridexisErrant on November 11, 2013, 03:24:08 am

Yes, that would make more sense.  Dates in the style of ISO8601 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601)!  (maybe non-compliance with 8601 could be listed as a bug?)

Title: Re: Autosave & seasonal backups: init setting for a rolling buffer, not all saves
Post by: zwei on November 15, 2013, 07:37:32 am

Quote from: PeridexisErrant on November 11, 2013, 03:24:08 am

Yes, that would make more sense.  Dates in the style of ISO8601 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601)!  (maybe non-compliance with 8601 could be listed as a bug?)

Dwarf Fortress ingame-dates conforming to ISO specifications :-)

Title: Re: Autosave & seasonal backups: init setting for a rolling buffer, not all saves
Post by: King Mir on November 16, 2013, 12:45:38 am

Quote from: PeridexisErrant on November 11, 2013, 03:24:08 am

Yes, that would make more sense.  Dates in the style of ISO8601 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601)!  (maybe non-compliance with 8601 could be listed as a bug?)

(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/iso_8601.png)
 (http://xkcd.com/1179/)
Of course dwarves would want to use the last one.