Dominions SaveGame Backup&Restore Utility
Version .1
George McGinn georgemcginn@yahoo.com (or geo981010 on csipgs)

This is an aptly named java program for Illwinter's Dominions that archives your savegame files and allows you to restore to a previous turn. It allows point and click Backup/Restore, as well as an automated Backup process that will save each turn as you play. All source code and java executable are included.

Install notes:
Unzip contents to a folder (like c:\games\dominions\). As it is a java program, you will need to have Java installed on your pc. On Windows pcs, java.exe should be located in something like your c:\windows\system directory (search your hard drive for it). This path must be in the GUI.bat file - replace your path with the string "c:\jdk\bin\" that was originally there.

Run notes:
To run, simply execute GUI.bat, and start a Dominions game. I'd recommend using the autosave feature, and you can explicitly save it as needed too. The Backup files each have a folder in the directory you indicate to be saved too, with (specified Path)\0\ being the latest save, (specified Path)\1\ being the save before that, (specified Path)\2\ being the save before (specified Path)\1\, etc. A new automatic save is only made at each timer interval when the files have changed from the previous automatic save.

The "Save Setup as Default" option is handy-if you fill in your paths and preferences for everything and hit this button, these values will show up when you restart the program. It is stored in the DomBackup.ini file.

Misc notes:
If you have problems/feedback on this, please give a shout on comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic or email me at gmeorgemcginn@yahoo.com. Preferably on csipgs so other can help out/gripe/etc.

I have not tested this with multiplayer yet, though it doesn't really make sense in multiplayer to back up games except possibly for postmortem studies.

If a save is made in the middle of when Dominions was actually writing the files, the Backup save probably won't be good :( I have not seen this, however, and it will make a backup of when all the files are done too, so you could use this one instead.

Since it is java, the executable should be cross platform for linux/solaris users or other java compatbile platforms. I did restrict using a backup path which is the save spelling as a restore path even if the capitilization is different. I tried to adjust for pathname differences - I was unable to test it out on unix flavors so I am not sure it works for them.

Download latest version of Java runtime:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/jre/

Now, buy the game already!
