Preferences & Customization Lost

I'm using v0.99.92.

It seems like every few days, I loose all my custom hotkeys. This just started happening within the last month or so. I have a lot of custom keys, so it's a bit of a hassle to reconfigure Construct every time my customizations vanish. This also happened with 0.99.91 at least once, (as I remember taking that opportunity to install 92.)

Is there a way to back up the hotkeys and other preferences? It doesn't seem like there is any built in save and load preferences system, but I figure the information has to be stored in a file somewhere, so perhaps I can simply back up that file.

The problem isn't that bad, as I have all my configurations written down in a text file, and it's just a matter of going through that list and setting everything up again. But if there's a way to avoid that, it would be nice.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

====== Edit:

Backup Solution:

There is a persist file created with each project.

Not sure if that stores custom hotkeys or not though.

Only one way to find out right?

You will find the persist file in the same directory as your .cap file.

Let me know if that works or not...

~Sol

Near as I can tell, all the persist files are 1KB xml files with a ".persist" extension. They can be opened in notepad and all appear to have an internal structure along the lines of the example below.

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<persistence>
    <windows>
        <layout name="Layout 1" scroll-x="192" scroll-y="110" active="yes" />
    </windows>
</persistence>[/code:1u8x9blp]

So unfortunately, it doesn't look like the persist files are what I'm looking for. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Near as I can tell, all the persist files are 1KB xml files with a ".persist" extension. They can be opened in notepad and all appear to have an internal structure along the lines of the example below.

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<persistence>
    <windows>
        <layout name="Layout 1" scroll-x="192" scroll-y="110" active="yes" />
    </windows>
</persistence>[/code:3fblow45]

So unfortunately, it doesn't look like the persist files are what I'm looking for. Thanks for the suggestion though.

They save the layout setup for each project, I just assumed custom key maps would also be in there too... hmmm I guess you might have to PM David or Ashley and ask them about that.

~Sol

Okay, after doing a bit of analysis of Construct's interaction with the registry, I think I may have found out where the data is stored.

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Construct\Construct\ProfUIS\Profiles\Construct"

There are three keys under that key named "ControlBar", "Customization", and "PaintManager". Each of those keys holds a block of data in the form of a list of binary values, but nothing human readable.

Construct writes to these blocks immediately upon closing, (which I assume is why if Construct crashes after you make changes to the preferences, but before closing it properly, all your changes are lost).

Because the data is in the registry, it should be simple enough to back up and restore, assuming it really is the customization data I'm looking for. It might even be possible to build a ".reg" file to automate that process.

That still doesn't explain why I keep losing my custom keys and such, but if I can restore them with a few clicks it will make the problem a bit more manageable.

I'll let you know how this turns out after I try it.

--------------------- Edit:

=== Success!

Backing up and restoring the three keys ("ControlBar", "Customization", and "PaintManager") do indeed back up and restore the Construct preference customization.

I've tested it several times, under a few different circumstances, and it seems to work perfectly.

=== How to do it:

• - Preparation:

Before doing anything, BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY!

Use the freeware tool "Erunt", or the built in Windows System Restore utility to create a restore point.

Needless to say,

don't fiddle with the registry unless you know what you're doing.

• - Backing up Preferences:

Construct stores this data in the registry, under the following key.

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Construct\Construct\ProfUIS\Profiles\Construct"

You can use regedit, to export the "Construct" key as a ".reg" file. That exported ".reg" file is essentially a full backup of all your hotkeys and quick-bar preferences.

• - Restoring Preferences:

To restore your settings, simply navigate to the "Construct" key, and delete the three sub-keys, "ControlBar", "Customization", and "PaintManager". (Do NOT delete the "Construct" key.)

Alternatively, you can run a ".reg" file like the one below to remove the sub-keys.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Construct\Construct\ProfUIS\Profiles\Construct]

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Construct\Construct\ProfUIS\Profiles\Construct\ControlBar]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Construct\Construct\ProfUIS\Profiles\Construct\Customization]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Construct\Construct\ProfUIS\Profiles\Construct\PaintManager][/code:39nyml6m]

Now run the ".reg" file you made during the "Backing up Preferences" stage earlier.
All your preferences should be restored.
That's it!