Hey everyone! About a month ago I had a few issues pop up regarding my PC that required servicing and I have just recently got my PC back in working order. However, at that time I also had a weird error occur with Onenote which I used for my DMing content. Due to the timing of these two separate issues, I was unable to address the Onenote problem and have just now begun attempting to find any solutions, or actions I could take to prevent this error from occurring again. Since 2020 was the year of the "lock-down" I ended up spending a lot of my free time creating content for a handful of one-shots, campaigns, homebrew stuff and used it to organize/store old games I already ran. Simply put, the error caused me to pretty much lose everything I ever worked on. I was lucky enough to save one homebrew campaign and an older draft for a one-shot, but that's it.
I gotta imagine that some amount of content loss has happened before to my fellow DM's, after all "Sh*t happens". So, I was curious to know how do you recover from losing content? I ask because, I'm fairly sure I'm not going to be successful in my attempts to recover the content and that stings like hell.
**EDIT**
I decided to edit this post to add more information about the Onenote error just in case anyone was interested in the specifics of what happened. As I stated before, I used Onenote for all of 2020 on both my PC and my phone with no problem. It wasn't until sometime in late Dec. 2020 or in Jan. of 2021 that I attempted to use Onenote and recieved the following error message on my PC.
There was an error communicating with the endpoint at 'https://docs.live.net/skydocsservice.svc'.; The server returned HTTP status code '401 (0x191)'.; The requested resource requires user authentication.; The operation identifier is not valid. Error: 0x803D0005
I exited the error message and attempted to look at my files in Onenote and found that all but one were missing. The one that had remained, was found in an entirely new location. I attempted to check Onenote via the web browser and it displayed the same information. I checked the trash in case it was accidently deleted, but the trash was empty. I opened the Onenote app on my phone and found all my missing files, but they had a weird icon I'd never seen before next to them. The icons were greyed out and had an exclamation mark attached to them.
I attempted to sync the files with the cloud, but no matter how many times it tried, it would simply fail without even an error message. I searched through the options for anything that might help, and even tried to manually move the files to a new folder. Nothing worked. At one point I even deleted one of the greyed out files by accident when I tapped on an icon just to see what it did. Turns out it deletes the file that Onenote refuses to acknowledge exists, and does so without even a warning message or way to recover it... lol. Currently, none of the once greyed out files still appear in the Onenote app on my phone and after having to do a password change for the account, none of the files are there at all. (Just found that out today after writing this up... UGH, fun. But I should have it manually saved in a notepad file elsewhere.)
If it matters, i had a stand alone install of Onenote that I used on my PC, even though there was a version of it that came with Microsoft Office. I didn't plan on paying for the 365 subscription, so I figured it'd be better to install and use the free standalone version. Before I had to ship my PC off for repairs I was able to try a few troubleshooting problems that unfortunately didnt help. Logging out and back in, changing the Windows credentials, repairing the install, and even tried downloading a microsoft repair tool (don't recall the name). Since I've gotten my PC back I'm sitting on a fresh install of Windows, and havent even opened Onenote on my PC because I've been reading up on what it was that might have gone wrong and TBH, I'm still not sure.
That's odd. I use OneNote as well. It's online based. Seven after a recent pc delete and reinstall.. all of my OneNote items are there. Did it last week. No loss from it.
You can recover though. You know the story and where it's going. So start of with small notes. Just to get you by. Then just rebuild on the off time. Sucks to have to rewrite things but that's part of the job being a dm. You'll be fine.
Oooff that's rough. I use Google Docs and physical notes for my content, and thankfully haven't had any problems like that yet. I'm sure you remember most of the major story beats though at least so you're not completely lost.
For one-shots though there are some great free ones out there, or pretty inexpensive on DMs guild, that you can use or at least cannibalize content from. Winghorn Press has some some decent one-shots for free on their website. The first game I ever ran was A Wild Sheep Chase from them. Even if its just taking a map or a creature stat block, I would start looking around for other resources online and taking bits here and there to give you some materials so you're not starting from scratch.
I primarily use Word for my notes as I break up each 'module' or 'chapter' of the game I'm running in a separate document. After each session, I'll transcribe any relevant content. I try not to keep a central document just in case of file corrupting or the document getting unwieldy to find information quickly.
Though I keep all my document stored in the cloud using MS OneDrive which has been wonderful that I do not have to worry if my computer crashes I can pull down the necessary files from anywhere or if I mess up a document I can restore an earlier version.
I keep most of my stuff in Foundry. When I self-hosted, I made a zip file of my Foundry directory every couple of weeks and copied to an external hard drive.
Now I use The Forge, so it is automatically backed up by their servers, but I still do a manual back up and DL every couple of weeks just in case.
I also have 2 external HDDs... one is for manual backups. The other has automated Windows backups happening on it every so often -- 3 hours I think.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I lost an entire homebrew setting with two or three sessions worth of content cuz' my notebook got lost and it hurt, so I've used google docs and it's served me reliably since, but to lose that much's gotta stink
Thanks for the replies everyone! I've edited my original post to include details about my experience with this issue so far, just in case anyone was interested.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Hey everyone! About a month ago I had a few issues pop up regarding my PC that required servicing and I have just recently got my PC back in working order. However, at that time I also had a weird error occur with Onenote which I used for my DMing content. Due to the timing of these two separate issues, I was unable to address the Onenote problem and have just now begun attempting to find any solutions, or actions I could take to prevent this error from occurring again. Since 2020 was the year of the "lock-down" I ended up spending a lot of my free time creating content for a handful of one-shots, campaigns, homebrew stuff and used it to organize/store old games I already ran. Simply put, the error caused me to pretty much lose everything I ever worked on. I was lucky enough to save one homebrew campaign and an older draft for a one-shot, but that's it.
I gotta imagine that some amount of content loss has happened before to my fellow DM's, after all "Sh*t happens". So, I was curious to know how do you recover from losing content? I ask because, I'm fairly sure I'm not going to be successful in my attempts to recover the content and that stings like hell.
**EDIT**
I decided to edit this post to add more information about the Onenote error just in case anyone was interested in the specifics of what happened. As I stated before, I used Onenote for all of 2020 on both my PC and my phone with no problem. It wasn't until sometime in late Dec. 2020 or in Jan. of 2021 that I attempted to use Onenote and recieved the following error message on my PC.
There was an error communicating with the endpoint at 'https://docs.live.net/skydocsservice.svc'.; The server returned HTTP status code '401 (0x191)'.; The requested resource requires user authentication.; The operation identifier is not valid.
Error: 0x803D0005
I exited the error message and attempted to look at my files in Onenote and found that all but one were missing. The one that had remained, was found in an entirely new location. I attempted to check Onenote via the web browser and it displayed the same information. I checked the trash in case it was accidently deleted, but the trash was empty. I opened the Onenote app on my phone and found all my missing files, but they had a weird icon I'd never seen before next to them. The icons were greyed out and had an exclamation mark attached to them.
I attempted to sync the files with the cloud, but no matter how many times it tried, it would simply fail without even an error message. I searched through the options for anything that might help, and even tried to manually move the files to a new folder. Nothing worked. At one point I even deleted one of the greyed out files by accident when I tapped on an icon just to see what it did. Turns out it deletes the file that Onenote refuses to acknowledge exists, and does so without even a warning message or way to recover it... lol. Currently, none of the once greyed out files still appear in the Onenote app on my phone and after having to do a password change for the account, none of the files are there at all. (Just found that out today after writing this up... UGH, fun. But I should have it manually saved in a notepad file elsewhere.)
If it matters, i had a stand alone install of Onenote that I used on my PC, even though there was a version of it that came with Microsoft Office. I didn't plan on paying for the 365 subscription, so I figured it'd be better to install and use the free standalone version. Before I had to ship my PC off for repairs I was able to try a few troubleshooting problems that unfortunately didnt help. Logging out and back in, changing the Windows credentials, repairing the install, and even tried downloading a microsoft repair tool (don't recall the name). Since I've gotten my PC back I'm sitting on a fresh install of Windows, and havent even opened Onenote on my PC because I've been reading up on what it was that might have gone wrong and TBH, I'm still not sure.
I usually keep notes in a physical note book, then transcribe it to evernote, but I'm old. Expert Box Set old.
That's odd. I use OneNote as well. It's online based. Seven after a recent pc delete and reinstall.. all of my OneNote items are there. Did it last week. No loss from it.
You can recover though. You know the story and where it's going. So start of with small notes. Just to get you by. Then just rebuild on the off time. Sucks to have to rewrite things but that's part of the job being a dm. You'll be fine.
Oooff that's rough. I use Google Docs and physical notes for my content, and thankfully haven't had any problems like that yet. I'm sure you remember most of the major story beats though at least so you're not completely lost.
For one-shots though there are some great free ones out there, or pretty inexpensive on DMs guild, that you can use or at least cannibalize content from. Winghorn Press has some some decent one-shots for free on their website. The first game I ever ran was A Wild Sheep Chase from them. Even if its just taking a map or a creature stat block, I would start looking around for other resources online and taking bits here and there to give you some materials so you're not starting from scratch.
I primarily use Word for my notes as I break up each 'module' or 'chapter' of the game I'm running in a separate document. After each session, I'll transcribe any relevant content. I try not to keep a central document just in case of file corrupting or the document getting unwieldy to find information quickly.
Though I keep all my document stored in the cloud using MS OneDrive which has been wonderful that I do not have to worry if my computer crashes I can pull down the necessary files from anywhere or if I mess up a document I can restore an earlier version.
Yeah, thank goodness for cloud backups.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I keep most of my stuff in Foundry. When I self-hosted, I made a zip file of my Foundry directory every couple of weeks and copied to an external hard drive.
Now I use The Forge, so it is automatically backed up by their servers, but I still do a manual back up and DL every couple of weeks just in case.
I also have 2 external HDDs... one is for manual backups. The other has automated Windows backups happening on it every so often -- 3 hours I think.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I lost an entire homebrew setting with two or three sessions worth of content cuz' my notebook got lost and it hurt, so I've used google docs and it's served me reliably since, but to lose that much's gotta stink
Mystic v3 should be official, nuff said.
Also I lost a great art I did of my film-noir private detective vampire, ':(
Mystic v3 should be official, nuff said.
Thanks for the replies everyone! I've edited my original post to include details about my experience with this issue so far, just in case anyone was interested.