# Upgrading PCGen

If you have PCGen Currently installed on your system, you can overwrite it with a newer version to maintain your settings and the location of your characters. This will unfortunately, unless you have taken precautions against it, also overwrite your homebrew datasets and gamemode folder. This page provides some guidance in how best to avoid these problems by helping you prepare your homebrew and custom data for transfer into an updated version of PCGen.

NOTE: Additional information about upgrading PCGen versions may be available in the Release Notes.

## Important Files To Know About before the Upgrade

The options.ini and filter.ini files, see below, are automatically stored in the users home directory and are picked up automatically when PCGen is upgraded. If the old files are not desired, the new filepaths.ini file can be deleted. PCGen will then ask for where the new files are to be placed.

filepaths.ini
  This file tells PCGen the location of the other ini files so you can change the filepaths.ini to point to the folder which contains the options.ini and filter.ini that you want to use.
options.ini
  This file holds your PCGen Preferences, such as file paths, so if you are going to point to your old one you may need to correct various paths to things such as the location of the output sheets.

WARNING: Installing a new version of PCGen over an old version may cause the new version to not run well. If you experience some unexpected behavior after upgrading, please try deleting the options.ini file, or you may choose to rename it in order to preserve the file. The options.ini file contains information on structure and contents that may have changed with the new version, rendering it useless if different implementations become mixed in the file.

filter.ini
  This file holds the various filters on each of the tabs. (See the filter button in the docs)
See Migrating Custom Data Sets below.

## Upgrading on the Windows Platform

The steps for upgrading PCGen on the Windows platform are included below:

1. Create a new PCGen directory. e.g. C:\PCGen\PCGen_x.x.x.
2. Unzip the pcgenXXX_full.zip into the new folder. (We recommend that you use the Windows install file for best results.)
3. Copy the old *.ini files, custom datasets, homebrew datasets, and homebrew gamemode files, as required, back to your PCGen directory.

Note: Using the Windows installer automatically installs PCGen in a new folder.

## Upgrading on the Macintosh Platform

The steps for upgrading PCGen are included below:

1. Download and mount the latest pcgenXXX_mac_install.dmg file.
2. Locate the PCGen directory. e.g. Applications/PCGen_x.x.x.
3. Drag and drop PCGen X.X.X.app from the dmg file into the PCGen folder.
4. Copy the old custom datasets, homebrew datasets, and homebrew gamemode files, as required, to the appropriate folders inside the PCGen application package. The package contents can be accessed by Command-Clicking (Right-Click) on the application package and pulling down to Show Package Contents.

## Migrating Custom Data Sets

PCGen provides two simple ways of adding your own data, these are the built-in LST Editors and the starter data set my_dataset. Both of these need some attention when upgrading PCGen.

WARNING: The data syntax for the old version of PCGen may be incorrect for the new version so before you start up PCGen you should verify your data's compatibility with the new version of PCGen. You can check with the PCGen community forums to find out what tools may be available to help you with this task.

### Migrating Data Created in the LST Editor

If, as is recommended, you install PCGen into a new directory each time you upgrade, you will need to copy over the data created using the LST Editors. To do this follow these steps.

1. Stop PCGen, if it is currently running. PCGen must not be running when you copy the files, as PCGen writes a new copy of these files on exit.
2. Copy the data/customsources folder and all of its contents from your old PCGen install directory to the new install directory.
3. Start the new version of PCGen and verify that your custom data is present.
4. If you install PCGen in the same directory as your previous install, your LST editor data will still be present in the new version.

### Migrating Data Created Using the My_Dataset Files

PCGen ships with an example set of data files ready to go to create you own data. This is in the data/my_dataset folder. As the example files ship with PCGen, it is very important to note that these can be overwritten by a new PCGen install if you have not renamed the data set and install the new version of PCGen in the same location as the old one.

As a result, we strongly recommend that when using the my_dataset example files, you create a copy in a new folder and work with that copy, rather than editing the example files directly.

If you install PCGen into a new directory each time you upgrade, you may need to copy over the data you have created. If you cannot see your custom data, simply copy over the folder with your custom data to the same location in the new PCGen install. The data should then be visible when you restart PCGen.

If you are installing PCGen into the same directory, backup your custom data first, then make sure it does not use the default my_dataset folder name. Once you are sure you data is safe, then proceed with the upgrade of PCGen.