Howto: Backup in game macros & more! : FFXI Submissions

I have searched all the FFXI forums and I have not seen anyone post a tip on how to backup in game macros, ie Alt and Ctrl 0-9. Note, these instructions are for PC players onry(duh, lol)!

Now there are many reasons why you may want to keep a backup of your in game macros, such as if your computer crashes and you need to reformat, or if you play on 2 computers(like myself) and want to keep the same macros on both. There are two parts to this, the first is if you want to backup your macros only!

Macro only backup
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The files for your characters macro's are stored in the following directory, assuming you installed FFXI to the C: drive, using the default installation options:

c:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\USER\

You will see a folder in this directory for each character you have played on this computer, ie your main, mules, and anyone who has signed in as guest. Just copy all the folders to a safe location. After you have reinstalled FFXI, just copy those folders back to the directory listed above. A lot of your settings will be saved as well, one notable setting that is NOT is the chat filters.


Backup all FFXI files
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Now, lets say you did format and reinstall FFXI, I think the next most painful thing you have to go through(if you didn't loose your macros), is waiting for all the updates. Next I will show you how to backup all the files for FFXI, so that you won't have to download them all again. This is especially helpful if you have a slower connection, or don't have the Vanadiel Collection DVD which has a lot of the updates on it already. Note, although you WONT have to download all the updates again, FFXI will throw an error stating there was a problem with the files, and proceed to scan them all. Once the scan is complete however, it will not have to download any newer files(assuming an update didn't come out since you last backed up).

1. Use your favorite backup program, I use the one built into Windows XP, to backup the entire c:\Program Files\PlayOnline\ directory. As of this writing(12-26-2005), my directory is 6.8GB! Hopefully you have a network share or another partition on your drive you can save this to. Storage of your backup file I will leave to you...
2. Format/reinstall your programs, INCLUDING FFXI. It is nessasary to reinstall FFXI before restoring the backup so all nessasary registry entries are created. Do not log into FFXI or even to POL viewer.
3. Restore your backup, overwriting all existing files with the ones from your backup.
4. Login as normal, and note in my description above what will happen, ie, file error, scan of all files, yet no download of new ones nessasary.

Thats all there is to it. I've had to do this on many an occasion as I like to fiddle with my computers all to much, and format them all the time. Hope this can help out some people with the frustration of loosing in game macros and waiting for the horrendously long downloads. Hopefully I haven't left anything out!

BTW- I'm already premium...