A clean backup and restore strategy effectively protects your work against data loss. It ensures that your projects remain reproducible at all times and that downtime is kept to a minimum.

Prerequisites

  • Access to a central storage medium or a cloud-based backup system.
  • Administrative rights on the local computer or server to perform write operations in the content directory.

What belongs in the backup?

  • Project data: Plant 3D projects (the entire project folder with project.xml) and Advance Steel files.
  • Content: Your custom pipe spec catalogs and ortho templates from your content path.
  • SuCri settings: The folder %AppData%\IntegaDesign\SuCri in your user profile. This is where SuCri stores settings that apply across modules, for example the language.
  • Module 5 templates and settings: The Module 5 template folder with your template DWGs. You select this folder in the Template Designer (command SuCri5DesignSecondarySteelTemplate). If no custom folder is selected, the templates are located under %AppData%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\SuCri_Module5.bundle\Contents\Templates. The Module 5 settings themselves are located in the folder %AppData%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\SuCri_Module5.bundle\Contents.

Step-by-step guide

Creating a backup

  1. Back up project files: Regularly copy all relevant Plant 3D projects and Advance Steel files to a central drive or to your backup system.
    Expected result: All project states are stored safely in an external location.
  2. Back up content & pipe specs: In addition to the project folder, also back up the custom pipe spec catalogs and ortho templates from your content path.
  3. Back up SuCri settings and templates: Back up the folder %AppData%\IntegaDesign\SuCri as well as your own Module 5 templates from the Module 5 template folder.
    Expected result: After a reinstallation, your settings and templates are available again.

Performing a restore

  1. Restore project data: Copy the desired project folder from your backup back to the working drive.
  2. Load the project: Start AutoCAD Plant 3D and load the project again via the Project Manager by navigating to the project.xml.
  3. Restore templates and content: Copy the backed-up pipe specs and ortho templates back to the corresponding content path.
  4. Restore SuCri settings: Copy the backed-up SuCri settings and Module 5 templates back to the folders mentioned above while Plant 3D is closed.
  5. Check the links: In the Project Manager, check whether all assignments and paths are recognized correctly.
    Expected result: The project opens without errors and all catalogs are available.

Important notes

  • Automation: Use professional backup software to ensure daily, automatic backups of the project data and content paths.
  • Version levels: When restoring, make sure that the software version (e.g. Plant 3D 2024) matches the state of the backed-up data.
  • Completeness: Always back up the entire project directory, not just individual drawings, to maintain database integrity.
  • User profile: %AppData% points to the profile of the logged-in Windows user. Therefore, back up the SuCri folders for every user who works with SuCri.

Troubleshooting

  • Project is not found: Check whether the project.xml exists in the root directory of the restored folder.
  • Missing pipe specs: Make sure that the content path in the settings correctly points to the directory into which you copied the backup.
  • Module 5 templates are missing: In the Template Designer, check whether the selected template folder points to the restored folder, and select it again if necessary.
  • Test run: Regularly perform a test restore on a separate system to verify that your backups work.

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