Should I store all SC4 content I download?

[Pakistani890 122]

Should i store all assets i download raw in my pc I did this on my old pc but i cared less about its hard drive space as i didn't elocate anything else in i (meaning in raw zip files) this includes map, BAT , props etc OR should i just delete assets i download (the storage folder can get pretty big ranging from 6 to 10 GB or more) (*includes documentation).

 

This includes stuff i have downloaded recently about 30 files and a map:

 

[CorinaMarie 29,918]

12 minutes ago, Pakistani890 said:

Should i store all assets i download raw in my pc?

I do. I even make a separate folder for each download and those folders are organized into the type of content. Additionally, I create a text file to go along with the .zip file where I copy and paste the name of the download as listed on the site and add the URL so I can get to it again if someone notices certain content in a picture I post.

In addition to the convenience, you are also protecting yourself against content going missing like if a site ceases to exist or if a content creator gets mad and takes down all of their files.

[Cyclone Boom 17,032]

Keeping a backup of one's downloaded custom content is something I highly recommend also.

One idea is to mirror the same structure of Plugins as with downloaded files, in their zip form (or however they're packaged).

As Cori said, subfolders can be used for grouping. This makes it simpler to lookup and find documentation, and also restore files back which maybe you'd modified for personal use in game. That's more of a bonus for accessibility however, as most importantly storing content saves the hassle of searching for items again in future to re-download them. Another thought is to keep items one might wish to explore at a latter stage, even if not installing them into Plugins straight away.

Also these files can likewise be backed up to an external HDD for longer-term storage.

[Pakistani890 122]

Hey @Cyclone Boom and @CorinaMarie so i should store all the content ok u mean by EVERYTHING right??

 

And For EG (no offense) if a creator takes down a file i can't upload it to any site without his/her permission and should i also keep a record of what i download in notepad, word, google docs etc

[Cyclone Boom 17,032]

1 hour ago, Pakistani890 said:

Hey @Cyclone Boom and @CorinaMarie so i should store all the content ok u mean by EVERYTHING right?

Everything which you'd like to use in your cities would be a wise idea to store locally. In terms of all content even on the STEX and LEX combined, that would add up to quite a considerable amount I'd imagine. As of writing the STEX is almost 49 GB in size for all the files available to download.

So our recommendation is to keep whatever you download, but no need to download more than intending to use in your cities.

Of course too, it's possible to download new items and then add those to your storage as well.

 

1 hour ago, Pakistani890 said:

And For EG (no offense) if a creator takes down a file i can't upload it to any site without his/her permission

Thankfully it's very rare creators do this anyway. But yes, that is correct.

 

1 hour ago, Pakistani890 said:

should i also keep a record of what i download in notepad, word, google docs etc

That would be a wise move, although it's more of a bonus if you feel it'd be helpful to keep track of files you've downloaded. The more important aspect is by still keeping the files, you'll have them locally available and saving the need to search for them again.

One idea might be to use the DIR command line option to output a list to a text file, as this article explains.

[Pakistani890 122]

hey @Cyclone Boom and @CorinaMarie ahh thx for telling me the storing part i did this in my old pc but (i thought i was the only one doing this and that what i was doing was pointless) also should i do store in my pc or cloud. Thank you so much for telling this

[Pakistani890 122]

23 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

As of writing the STEX is almost 49 GB in size for all the files available to download.

OMG  49 GB this is still less than GTA 5 for Eg (i thought 100 or 150 gigs)

[Pakistani890 122]

And yes this is my "storage" folder

in downloads

[CorinaMarie 29,918]

3 hours ago, Pakistani890 said:

also should i do store in my pc or cloud.

Both if you have room. That adds extra insurance for not losing anything. The more places you have a copy of files you want to keep, the less likely it is you'd ever lose them.

I personally have 4 drives in my comp. C drive is the OS and installed programs. That's a 1 TB SSD with 796 GB free. Then a little 120 GB SSD as drive D. One of my daily Karen Replicator jobs is backing up SimCity 4 from the C drive to the D drive. D drive also gets incremental backups of my Regions each time I exit the game. (Copying only city tiles which have changed.) Then my E drive is a 2 TB platter drive and that's where I download any mods for the game and where I store any other type of data like programming or DEMS or pics or SF'd web pages and such. Another daily Karen job is my full Documents from C to E (which then includes SimCity 4. Once that job is done then Karen copies all of D and E to drive F (which is another 2 TB platter drive).

Then weekly I also make a Macrium Image of drive C placing it on drive E. I keep the prior 4 weeks there. Next I have two 4 TB platter drives via USB 3.0 and I only ever turn one on at a time. Once a week I copy all of drive F to an external drive and I alternate them every other week. Since they are twice the size of E and F, I also keep the first Macrium of the month going back about 3 years now.

It's really a matter of how prepared you want to be for a drive failure or every drive getting hacked and encrypted.

Ofc, what I do is prolly significant overkill, but I like the assurance that I can likely recover from about anything.

[Pakistani890 122]

18 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

Both if you have room. That adds extra insurance for not losing anything. The more places you have a copy of files you want to keep, the less likely it is you'd ever lose them.

I personally have 4 drives in my comp. C drive is the OS and installed programs. That's a 1 TB SSD with 796 GB free. Then a little 120 GB SSD as drive D. One of my daily Karen Replicator jobs is backing up SimCity 4 from the C drive to the D drive. D drive also gets incremental backups of my Regions each time I exit the game. (Copying only city tiles which have changed.) Then my E drive is a 2 TB platter drive and that's where I download any mods for the game and where I store any other type of data like programming or DEMS or pics or SF'd web pages and such. Another daily Karen job is my full Documents from C to E (which then includes SimCity 4. Once that job is done then Karen copies all of D and E to drive F (which is another 2 TB platter drive).

Then weekly I also make a Macrium Image of drive C placing it on drive E. I keep the prior 4 weeks there. Next I have two 4 TB platter drives via USB 3.0 and I only ever turn one on at a time. Once a week I copy all of drive F to an external drive and I alternate them every other week. Since they are twice the size of E and F, I also keep the first Macrium of the month going back about 3 years now.

It's really a matter of how prepared you want to be for a drive failure or every drive getting hacked and encrypted.

Ofc, what I do is prolly significant overkill, but I like the assurance that I can likely recover from about anything.

Ok at the time of speaking i have two partitons a 500 GB SSD (i might expand it later to 1 or 2 TB). Where should i put the backup (need your opinions)

 

[CorinaMarie 29,918]

6 hours ago, Pakistani890 said:

Where should i put the backup (need your opinions)

It's starting to get confuzzling asking the same question in two topics. I replied in the other thread here.