I have been seeing a lot of people saying things like they lost their map, and it worked before I did this, and I don't know what changed since it worked, so I just wanted to share something that I use to help me prevent that from happening. It's called TortoiseSVN. I started using it at work 5 years ago and it is on every computer I own now. (Not sure if this is the section to post this)

What is TortoiseSVN:
It is free software for software developers (programmers). It helps programmers manage different versions of the source code for their programs. Tortoise SVN is a Subversion client, implemented as a Microsoft Windows shell extension.

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BASIC setup instructions after downloading and installing TortoiseSVN:
These instructions are intended to prevent loss of data. Please practice, if necessary, on a folder that does not matter before performing these steps on an important folder.

• Create a folder on your desktop named Repositories
• Create a folder in that folder named after the folder you want to keep track of, like your map_source folder and maybe your nazi_zombie_mapname folder you are working on for example.
• Right Click the folder that you just created and select TortoiseSVN>Create repository here. (It should say "The repository was successfully created.")
• Right click your desktop and click SVN Checkout.
• In the URL of repository you need to put the path to your desktop with "file:///" in front of it.
  
  • For example: file:///C:/Users/myname/Desktop/
• Click the ... browser box to the right of it and navigate to the folder you created a repository of
• Now there should be a folder with a green checkmark on it named map_source or your nazi_zombie_mapname or what ever you chose.
• Go to your root folder and grab the contents of the coorelating folder and copy>paste them into the new folder with the green check on your desktop.
• Right click the folder with the green check and select TortoiseSVN>+Add> OK.
• Right click the folder with the green check and select TortoiseSVN> Commit> OK. (It is good practice to leave yourself a message in the message box. Like v1.2 or whatever you did that is different now.)
• Now everything in the folder should have green checks also.
• At this time create another folder on your desktop, and call it Cod backup or something, then copy the entire folder your are making a repository for, from your root folder that you just copied everything from, you know the folder you are doing all this for, to that back up folder. (In case of mistakes)
• Now take the folder with the green move and overwrite the folder in your root folder.

You should be left looking at your root folder with one of the folders having a greencheck with folders and files with green checks inside of it.

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Now what?
Now when you make changes to any file in that folder, and save them, it will change the green check to a red exclamation point.

Wanna try something you are not sure you can do, commit what you have and then try it. If you make a mistake you can Right click the file/folder and select TortoiseSVN> Revert and it will go back to  a green check again, back to the last commit. (Only the files that have overlays, green checks, red exclamation points.)

If you make progress and want a checkpoint, Right click the file/folder and select TortoiseSVN> Commit. Now you have a checkpoint for that file/folder.

Don't worry if you didn't want to commit or want to go back to another version. Just right click the file/folder and select TortoiseSVN>show log. You can revert to any version of the file you want from there.

Want to add a file to it. Put a file in the folder. It will have a blue question mark on it. Right click the file/folder and select TortoiseSVN>+Add. Then Right click the file/folder and select TortoiseSVN>Commit. It should then have a green check.

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Simple explanation of what is happening:
What you have the green checkmark on is the "working copy". Your actual files are in the repository you created. Don't mess with them. When you commit you tell it to send the file to the repository as a good file. When you update or revert, it pulls the file from the repository. You can delete everything inside the main folder with a green check and then click update, and everything will come right back to it's latest commit point.

This is just the tip of the abilities of this tool, but just those functions will save your maps and your scripts from being lost deleted or spending weeks trying to figure out what you did. I would recommend using it anywhere you make important changes. I wouldn't recommend making a repository of your entire root folder or even your entire raw folder. But that's up to you.

I've heard that git is worth trying as well. I tried using SVN for UGX Mod a long time ago but it was just too much trouble for me to wait for the commits to our server, plus a fuckload of errors - I suppose using a local folder as your server would be much faster for this purpose.

Personally I just decided to using a backup program that does incremental backups of my whole COD folder. Program is called Bvckup v2 if anyone wants to look.

Great guide, + 1 and stickied.

I used SVN for my C++ projects and also for my waw project.
Worked well.

But now I like GIT + Sourcetree. - I find it faster and I like the workflow better.

I've heard that git is worth trying as well. I tried using SVN for UGX Mod a long time ago but it was just too much trouble for me to wait for the commits to our server, plus a fuckload of errors - I suppose using a local folder as your server would be much faster for this purpose.

Personally I just decided to using a backup program that does incremental backups of my whole COD folder. Program is called Bvckup v2 if anyone wants to look.

Great guide, + 1 and stickied.

I have git too, but I don't think it does local commits like I use tortoise, I think you need the internet connection, which I don't always have, but great for working between computers.

Wow, that Bvckup v2 looks involved, lol. I'll look at it closer then. Thanks for the info.

Thanks!

I used SVN for my C++ projects and also for my waw project.
Worked well.

But now I like GIT + Sourcetree. - I find it faster and I like the workflow better.

Now that sourcetree looks pretty cool. I'll have to check that out too. Might make me start liking git again...

I use GitLab really great UI and it's open source

I use GitLab really great UI and it's open source

It looks like it has a nice UI for collaborating projects.

I use this at work, it works well.... we also use the SVN client built into oXygen and beanstalkapp... good stuffs

This is q good software which helps in management in a repository. We can keep data in a folder system that server gives faster response. Before download software, take care of your touchpad of a laptop because of sometimes touchpad stop working.