How To Back Up And Restore Your YACL Settings

What To Back Up

The config folder of your instance is the heart of it, holding one settings file per mod. Copy the whole folder rather than picking favourites, because dependencies between settings are easy to miss.

Add your Mod Menu and launcher profile notes if you keep them, plus a simple text list of your mod versions. The config files guide explains where everything sits.

Key points:

• The complete config folder
• A note of Minecraft, loader, and mod versions
• Any per instance options files you rely on

A Backup Routine That Sticks

Back up before updates, before adding mods, and after any tuning session you would hate to repeat. Three triggers, no calendar needed, and each backup takes under a minute.

Name folders with the date and the Minecraft version, and keep the last few rather than overwriting one copy. A backup you overwrote with a broken state is not a backup at all.

Restoring After An Update

When an update scrambles settings, close the game, rename the current config folder, and copy your backup into its place. Launch once and check the menus of the mods that matter before playing properly.

If a mod changed its file format in the update, its old file may be ignored. In that case, open the backup file as a reference and reapply the values through the menu, which also teaches you the new options.

Moving Settings Between Instances

Copying settings to a fresh instance works when the mod and game versions match. Drop the files into the new instance config folder before its first real launch, then verify a few values in game.

Version gaps break the spell: a file from a newer mod may contain options the older build cannot read. Match versions first, using the YACL compatibility guide, and migrate second.

Keeping A Copy Off The Machine

One copy on the same drive protects against bad edits but not against a dead drive. Keep a second copy in cloud storage or on an external drive, refreshed whenever you make a backup before a big update.

Configuration folders are small enough that storage cost is a non issue. The only real discipline is remembering, and tying the copy to your update routine makes it automatic.

Naming And Keeping Backups

A backup you cannot identify is a future argument with yourself. Name each copy with the date, the Minecraft version, and one word about its state, such as stable, pre-update, or experimental, and the folder explains itself months later.

Keep at least three generations: the current stable copy, the previous one, and one from before the last major update. Yet Another Config settings are small enough that retention costs nothing, and the generation you deleted is always the one the next problem asks for.