Saving your level

On the surface, saving your level seems like a simple process; however, there are a few important functionalities that you should be aware of when saving your level. This recipe will show you how to do a basic saving, copying/moving your level (do not use Save As), and auto backups.

Getting ready

Have any level open inside Sandbox.

Open Windows Explorer to the following location: ...\CryENGINE_Build\Game\Levels.

How to do it...

To save a level, go to File | Save.

Note

Ctrl + S does not work by default. You will need to set up a shortcut key yourself for that.

When copying/moving levels:

  1. Initially, save your level to its default location.
  2. Go to the level's location in Windows Explorer (…\Game\Levels).
  3. Using Windows commands copy/cut the entire My_Level folder.
  4. Paste the level into the location you want.
  5. If necessary, rename both the My_Level folder and My_Level.cry to something you prefer.

We recommend that you never perform a Save As for your level. Unfortunately, there are several dependencies (Level.pak, TerrainTexture.pak, Layers, Minimap images, and so on) that do not get moved or relink themselves when a Save As is performed. They are all dependent on the folder in which they are placed. If you do this, you will see several anomalies within your level (broken textures, bugs in game logic, missing assets).

When creating a backup, remember that by default, Sandbox creates My_Level.bak files after the second/third time your level is saved. These .bak files are essentially the previous saves of your .cry file.

If, for whatever reason, you need to revert back to a previous save of your level, you may delete your My_Level.cry file and rename My_Level.bak# to My_Level.cry and reopen your level inside of Sandbox.

Also, by default, Sandbox creates up to two previous revisions (My_Level.bak and My_Level.bak2).

How it works...

By default, all levels are saved in their own folder inside of ...\Game\Levels by their level name. For example, My_Level will have its own folder with the level's folder. Once saved, each level will also contain a *.cry file, with the * being the name of the level as well. Each of these .cry files hold all the relevant information that is required to make up your level (much like a blueprint for your level).

There's more...

Depending on your work style, you might want to enable the Auto Backup system. This will automatically save your work every X minute interval with the name of your choice (Autobackup by default) into your level's folder. These Auto Backups will save continuously as long as your editor is open or you turn this feature off.

To access this feature, open Sandbox | Tools | Preferences | General/Files | Auto Backup.

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