# Keeping up with newer versions
**URL:** https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300
**Category:** The Bunker
**Created:** [September 8, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300 "2014-09-08T20:28:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Deeleet](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Deeleet)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300/1 "2014-09-08T20:28:51Z")
Hey everybody. So I’ve been playing off and on for a few versions now but recently have wanted to attempt a longer term game. I noticed alot of people on the forums play experimental and I was wondering what the frequency most players had in updating their versions/ transferring saves.
Im also unsure how to go about transferring a save and what the gameplay effects of this could be. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!
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### Author:  [@Blaze](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Blaze)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300/2 "2014-09-08T20:42:00Z")
I generally update to test major features and report bugs, that’s usually only once every 2-3 weeks. But for the most part you can probably update once a month and not miss too much.
If you’re transferring saves, keep in mind that new map features won’t appear on an older save until you leave the map section (which is pretty big). New mods won’t appear in an older save without regenerating the map (and editing a file). In the earlier versions of DDA, inventory would break often as new items would rearrange item numbers, but we use item IDs instead of numbers now so that’s pretty much a non-issue.
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### Author:  [@i2amroy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/i2amroy)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300/3 "2014-09-08T22:48:25Z")
To transfer a save pretty much you just copy over the world folder from one save folder to another. (Note, make a new installation of C:DDA, don’t just try to copy over the old one!)
And yeah, saves should transfer over just fine but some things (such as new buildings, etc.) won’t start spawning unless you travel far enough to make it generate more world or you regenerate the world.
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### Author:  [@jimboblordofeskimos](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/jimboblordofeskimos)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300/4 "2014-09-09T01:49:27Z")
[quote=“i2amroy, post:3, topic:7300”]To transfer a save pretty much you just copy over the world folder from one save folder to another. (Note, make a new installation of C:DDA, don’t just try to copy over the old one!)
And yeah, saves should transfer over just fine but some things (such as new buildings, etc.) won’t start spawning unless you travel far enough to make it generate more world or you regenerate the world.[/quote]
This usually works for me, but generally I grab the newest experimental every time I do a new char. I keep 3 folders to unzip it to incase I get a buggy one and just cycle through. By the time I get bored with it, im usually on about day 50 or so and its time to check out some new stuff and stop just being godlike for a while.
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### Author:  [@123456789](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/123456789)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 9:26am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300/5 "2014-09-09T09:26:41Z")
I download the latest experimental every time a character dies. They’re generally pretty stable.
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### Author:  [@prytoclasm](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/prytoclasm)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 11:23am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300/6 "2014-09-09T11:23:09Z")
[quote=“i2amroy, post:3, topic:7300”]To transfer a save pretty much you just copy over the world folder from one save folder to another. (Note, make a new installation of C:DDA, don’t just try to copy over the old one!)
And yeah, saves should transfer over just fine but some things (such as new buildings, etc.) won’t start spawning unless you travel far enough to make it generate more world or you regenerate the world.[/quote]
It’s better to remove all non-save files from the folder and copy the new version in where the old save folder is. Depending on world size it can take a shitload of time to copy the worldfiles.
All I say is: my world contains of something over 27.000 files with 80 MB pure filesize, but they take up 132 MB space because of file allocation table size. Takes forever to copy, and it’s deadly if you do this on an SSD, regularly.
I hope they change it that all! the world files are put in a single file, like an archive, without compression.
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### Author:  [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300/7 "2014-09-09T15:16:58Z")
If it’s a problem you might want to say something instead of just hoping we’ll change it, this is the first complaint I’ve seen about the saves. There are several things we could do about it, but no one was complaining so I assumed it wasn’t a problem.
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### Author:  [@prytoclasm](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/prytoclasm)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300/8 "2014-09-09T17:58:28Z")
I’ve mentioned this specific issue already somewhere. -\> [http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=5544.msg96799;topicseen#msg96799](http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=5544.msg96799;topicseen#msg96799)
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### Author:  [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300/9 "2014-09-10T04:14:50Z")
I remember seeing that, and thinking, “theoretical issue, ignore”. Is there a reproducible user-facing problem, or just a theory that it’s an issue?
To the best of my knowledge lots of small files aren’t a problem, especially if you’re only reading some of them occasionally. If it were one humongous archive, you’d have a much worse time on your SSD since it would read and write the entire file, every save/load cycle instead of just a tiny fraction of them. If you’re concerned about archiving that many files, use a tool that writes them directly to an archive instead of copying all the files individually.
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### Author:  [@Deeleet](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Deeleet)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/keeping-up-with-newer-versions/7300/10 "2014-11-18T14:25:59Z")
Even though this is quite overdue, thanks for all the info and help. I really appreciate how amiable this place is.