Problem Saving Games

[Campy]

Here's another batch file option:

copy "c:\games\dominions3\savebak\turnbak4\*.*" "c:\games\dominions3\savebak\turnbak5\"
copy "c:\games\dominions3\savebak\turnbak3\*.*" "c:\games\dominions3\savebak\turnbak4\"
copy "c:\games\dominions3\savebak\turnbak2\*.*" "c:\games\dominions3\savebak\turnbak3\"
copy "c:\games\dominions3\savebak\turnbak1\*.*" "c:\games\dominions3\savebak\turnbak2\"
copy "c:\games\dominions3\savedgames\Machaka\*.*" "c:\games\dominions3\savebak\turnbak1\"

Based on Gandalf's suggestion, my Dominions 3 desktop shortcut includes the command line switch --preexec D3TrnSav. D3TrnSav is the name of the batch file above and I keep it in my Dominions 3 directory. Then all of the saving is done automatically. All I have to do is edit the last line of D3TrnSav.bat each time I start a new game to reflect the new game name.

The above batch file saves the last 5 turns of the game Machaka into the five turnbak directories in their state just before I pressed end turn. This is all done automatically. If I ever want to restore any of those turns (which I rarely do), I can do so by copying their contents back to the savedgames folder, in this case Machaka.

I also run a batch file from a quicklink that allows me to choose whether I wish to save or restore and then which of three saves I wish to use bak1, bak2 or bak3. I use those folders to save points of special interest. However, this approach requires your system to have choice.exe to input keystrokes (s, r, 1, 2, 3). That is no longer included with Windows XP, but is available if you have access to to the Windows NT 4 Resource Kit. Wish Microsoft would provide better and more available ways to get keyboard input to batch files.