I recently set up a Terraria server to play on with new friends from school. I wanted regular backups, so I cobbled together a quick backup script. Here’s how to set it up.

Should work on Windows 7, may require fine-tuning on other versions.

First, download the command line version of 7zip, and extract the contents of the zip file to C:\7zip (make the 7zip folder, it doesn’t exist).

Put the following in a text file, and rename it “terrariabackup.bat” or whatever you’d like. (You may need to enable viewing file extensions - google it). You can put the script wherever you’d like, but I recommend “C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\My Games\Terraria\backup” (make the backup folder), because you’ll have to change the script if you want it elsewhere.

You MUST make the backup folder, or you can delete the second line of the script and your backups will start accumulating in the directory the script is in.

C:\7zip\7za a -tzip %date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~10,4%_%TIME:~0,2%.%TIME:~3,2%_.zip "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Terraria\Players" "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Terraria\Worlds"
move "%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~10,4%_%TIME:~0,2%.%TIME:~3,2%_.zip" "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Terraria\backup"

%USERPROFILE% is just a shortcut for C:\Users\YOUR USERNAME.

You can click on the “terrariabackup.bat” script to test it. Don’t forget the backup folder. If it works, you should see a file in the backup folder with the current date and time as the filename. If so, proceed to the next step. If not, fiddle around a bit or contact me.

Next, you’ve got to make a backup task in Task Scheduler. Search for it in the start menu.

Click Action > Create Task. Name it “Terraria Backup” or the like.

Click Triggers > New. Set the task to the frequency that you would like - click “Daily” and then “Repeat task every:”. Hit OK.

Click Actions > New. Under “Program/script”, put the path to the script. If it’s in your Terraria folder, this is “C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\My Games\Terraria\backup\terrariabackup.bat” (with quotes). Next to “Start in (optional)”, type in the directory that the script is in - should be “C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\My Games\Terraria\backup” if you’ve been using the same names.

Hit okay. You’ll need to type in your password.

To test:

  • Click on Task Scheduler Library in the left pane.

  • Right click on the task and click run.

And that should do it! Let me know if you have any problems.

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