# What's the best way to update experimental?

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [January 21, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699 "2015-01-21T18:01:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Closet\_Pankin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/closet_pankin/32/376_2.png) [@Closet\_Pankin](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Closet_Pankin)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699/1 "2015-01-21T18:01:15Z")

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Whenever I update, I would always totally remove the old verson, replace it with the new one, update the options, paste my save file into the game then edit a few keybinds. There has to be an easier way to do this though. Is there?

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**Author:** ![John\_Candlebury](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/john_candlebury/32/6437_2.png) [@John\_Candlebury](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/John_Candlebury)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699/2 "2015-01-21T19:15:01Z")

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I usually just overwrite the folder, works seamlessly almost all the time, in the rare case the experimental has any serious bugs, I do a clean install.

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**Author:** ![Closet\_Pankin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/closet_pankin/32/376_2.png) [@Closet\_Pankin](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Closet_Pankin)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699/3 "2015-01-21T20:04:02Z")

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Is there any way to keep your options and settings though?

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**Author:** ![ThinkInvisible](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/thinkinvisible/32/313_2.png) [@ThinkInvisible](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ThinkInvisible)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699/4 "2015-01-21T20:06:38Z")

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Assuming you’re getting a .zip file (i don’t know any other way but there probably is one), just put it in the folder you have the previous version in and extract it. Let it overwrite the files it needs to; experimentals shouldn’t contain any user-configured files, so they shouldn’t overwrite any of your options or saves.

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**Author:** ![Closet\_Pankin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/closet_pankin/32/376_2.png) [@Closet\_Pankin](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Closet_Pankin)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699/5 "2015-01-21T20:13:26Z")

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> [@ThinkInvisible](#):
>
> Assuming you’re getting a .zip file (i don’t know any other way but there probably is one), just put it in the folder you have the previous version in and extract it. Let it overwrite the files it needs to; experimentals shouldn’t contain any user-configured files, so they shouldn’t overwrite any of your options or saves.

Won’t the default options and keybinds override the custom ones, though?

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**Author:** ![John\_Candlebury](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/john_candlebury/32/6437_2.png) [@John\_Candlebury](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/John_Candlebury)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699/6 "2015-01-21T20:43:43Z")

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> [@Closet Pankin](#):
>
> [quote=“ThinkInvisible, post:4, topic:8699”]Assuming you’re getting a .zip file (i don’t know any other way but there probably is one), just put it in the folder you have the previous version in and extract it. Let it overwrite the files it needs to; experimentals shouldn’t contain any user-configured files, so they shouldn’t overwrite any of your options or saves.

Won’t the default options and keybinds override the custom ones, though?[/quote]

They didnt use to do that. Dont think they do that now either

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**Author:** ![ThinkInvisible](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/thinkinvisible/32/313_2.png) [@ThinkInvisible](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ThinkInvisible)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699/7 "2015-01-21T20:47:24Z")

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> [@Closet Pankin](#):
>
> Won’t the default options and keybinds override the custom ones, though?

Any given download of the game doesn’t actually have a default options/keybinds file. C:DDA creates the default options files if AND ONLY IF it doesn’t find them when you first run it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Closet\_Pankin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/closet_pankin/32/376_2.png) [@Closet\_Pankin](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Closet_Pankin)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699/8 "2015-01-21T21:35:17Z")

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> [@ThinkInvisible](#):
>
> [quote=“Closet Pankin, post:5, topic:8699”]Won’t the default options and keybinds override the custom ones, though?

Any given download of the game doesn’t actually have a default options/keybinds file. C:DDA creates the default options files if AND ONLY IF it doesn’t find them when you first run it.[/quote]

Cool beans, thanks!

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**Author:** ![KA101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/278dde/32.png) [@KA101](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KA101)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699/9 "2015-01-22T01:54:10Z")

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Folks who don’t keep a known-good version have more confidence in us than I do.

Recommend you keep a copy that works and update by unpacking new experimentals to their own folder, then copying over your save and config files.

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**Author:** ![AllisonW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@AllisonW](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/AllisonW)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 2:00am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/whats-the-best-way-to-update-experimental/8699/10 "2015-01-22T02:00:49Z")

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[quote=“KA101, post:9, topic:8699”]Folks who don’t keep a known-good version have more confidence in us than I do.

Recommend you keep a copy that works and update by unpacking new experimentals to their own folder, then copying over your save and config files.[/quote]

This is the way to do it. Over the past month or so I’ve had to revert to a known-good version more than once. (No knock on the devs here; it’s just the nature of experimentals.)