My Blueprints got deleted

[Hlebuw3k]

I had a lot of blueprints saved, but after downgrading to the previous stable version, they all got deleted and i cant figure out how to get them back.

[Galileus]

Off the cuff, there are two scenarios:

1. Your blueprints still exist in a file, but are not readable due to downgrade, or marked as coming from higher version and thus invisible/ignored. Easiest way to get them back would be to go back to the version you had when the blueprints worked, export them manually to strings, and then re-import after you downgraded the version again.
2. If that does not work... it would suggesdt the file itself was wiped clean, and they are gone for good. F.

[RiO]

There actually is still an emergency retrieval procedure possible.

It requires that you use the hidden super-user 'The rest' menu option under the main Settings menu. This menu is made visible by holding CTRL+ALT while clicking on Settings.

In this menu you find and enable the bypass-library-sync flag, which disables synchronization of the global blueprint library with the loaded game.

You see: each game save stores a complete local copy of the blueprint library of each player who has ever partaken in that game. This is how Factorio ensures blueprint libraries are in a consistent state shared among all players in multiplayer games, because the blueprint library can be accessed via Lua script.
It never actually directly operates on the global blueprints. Just on a mirror local to the save. And if the game engine detects that 'you' - i.e. your user's blueprints were modified, it copies those changes back to your global blueprint storage.

By enabling the flag, you prevent Factorio from copying your now empty blueprint library over the top of your user's per-user library as retained in the save. And thus, the per-user blueprints - i.e. the blueprints that are your global blueprint library - are kept as they last were recorded in the save; intact, when you load the game.

After flipping the flag and loading the game, you have two choices on how to continue to recover your saves:

The first and most straightforward, but also tedious is:

1. Export each per-user blueprint as a string and save them somewhere.
   
2. Quit the loaded game and return to the main menu.
   
3. Go back to the super-user menu and re-enable the sync option you disabled.
   
4. Load the game back.
   
5. Re-import each of the previously exported strings into your per-user library.
   
6. Then quit the loaded game again.

When you do this do not save the game before quitting! It shouldn't be necessary as syncs from the per-user blueprint category to the global library should be instant. The worst that could happen is you screwed something up and you lose the backed up local library state of your precious save!

Alternatively, if you have a lot of blueprints and don't want to export and re-import everything as strings:

1. Move the per-user blueprints to the per-game blueprints tab.
   
2. Save the game under a new name (!!) (see above: don't overwrite the existing save, because that's the backup you want to keep safe).
   
3. Quit the loaded game and return to the main menu.
   
4. Go back to the super-user menu and re-enable the sync option you disabled.
   
5. Load the newly created save back.
   
6. Move what you previously moved into the per-game tab, back into the per-user tab of the library.
   
7. Then quit the loaded game again.
   
8. And you can delete the newly created save. It's no longer needed.

For the full official rundown:
https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=94427

[Floombolio]

I just save my blueprints in a folder of text documents so you could try that for redundancy

[Hlebuw3k]

Sorry, forgot to make it clear: After updating to the latest version again, the blueprints still dont exist. All the blueprints under the "My blueprints" tab are gone, this is the issue.

[Hlebuw3k]

Originally posted by RiO:

There actually is still an emergency retrieval procedure possible.

It requires that you use the hidden super-user 'The rest' menu option under the main Settings menu. This menu is made visible by holding CTRL+ALT while clicking on Settings.

In this menu you find and enable the bypass-library-sync flag, which disables synchronization of the global blueprint library with the loaded game.

You see: each game save stores a complete local copy of the blueprint library of each player who has ever partaken in that game. This is how Factorio ensures blueprint libraries are in a consistent state shared among all players in multiplayer games, because the blueprint library can be accessed via Lua script.
It never actually directly operates on the global blueprints. Just on a mirror local to the save. And if the game engine detects that 'you' - i.e. your user's blueprints were modified, it copies those changes back to your global blueprint storage.

By enabling the flag, you prevent Factorio from copying your now empty blueprint library over the top of your user's per-user library as retained in the save. And thus, the per-user blueprints - i.e. the blueprints that are your global blueprint library - are kept as they last were recorded in the save; intact, when you load the game.

After flipping the flag and loading the game, you have two choices on how to continue to recover your saves:

The first and most straightforward, but also tedious is:

1. Export each per-user blueprint as a string and save them somewhere.
   
2. Quit the loaded game and return to the main menu.
   
3. Go back to the super-user menu and re-enable the sync option you disabled.
   
4. Load the game back.
   
5. Re-import each of the previously exported strings into your per-user library.
   
6. Then quit the loaded game again.

When you do this do not save the game before quitting! It shouldn't be necessary as syncs from the per-user blueprint category to the global library should be instant. The worst that could happen is you screwed something up and you lose the backed up local library state of your precious save!

Alternatively, if you have a lot of blueprints and don't want to export and re-import everything as strings:

1. Move the per-user blueprints to the per-game blueprints tab.
   
2. Save the game under a new name (!!) (see above: don't overwrite the existing save, because that's the backup you want to keep safe).
   
3. Quit the loaded game and return to the main menu.
   
4. Go back to the super-user menu and re-enable the sync option you disabled.
   
5. Load the newly created save back.
   
6. Move what you previously moved into the per-game tab, back into the per-user tab of the library.
   
7. Then quit the loaded game again.
   
8. And you can delete the newly created save. It's no longer needed.

For the full official rundown:
https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=94427

Im trying this method but every time i try to grab the blueprints my game crashes. This is progress, now i can at least acess a few without crashing. The big important books wont load though.

[Hlebuw3k]

I managed to recover most of my blueprints, thank you!

[TSP]

Here's another tip for you or anyone else; create a sandbox game, toggle biters off, use /editor, turn on lab tiles.

build your blueprints. Bonus points if you put a copy of the blueprint in a chest next to the built blueprint.

Save the game, call it "BLUEPRINTS" or something else super obvious.

You have now most certainly made a future proof blueprint library that exists both locally and on Steam Cloud.

[ShutEye_DK]

Future proof? Not a thing :)

[RiO]

Originally posted by Agent Orange:

You have now most certainly made a future proof blueprint library that exists both locally and on Steam Cloud.

And now create separate lab saves for all the necessary combinations of total conversion mods like Krastorio; Space Exploration; Industrial Revolution; etc. to facilitate your modded blueprints.

It's not quite so simple. Really.
SE even has terrain restrictions for some entities. Not even sure those space buildings all work on a lab-tile environment...

[shadain597]

Originally posted by RiO:

Originally posted by Agent Orange:

You have now most certainly made a future proof blueprint library that exists both locally and on Steam Cloud.

And now create separate lab saves for all the necessary combinations of total conversion mods like Krastorio; Space Exploration; Industrial Revolution; etc. to facilitate your modded blueprints.

It's not quite so simple. Really.
SE even has terrain restrictions for some entities. Not even sure those space buildings all work on a lab-tile environment...

Can confirm that ~6 months ago space buildings couldn't be built on lab tiles. Those of us who used the blueprint designer lab where quite annoyed by this. I mean, horribly complicated and expensive designs like space science are the perfect use for that mod, yet instead we had to copy the save file, use console cheats, then take the finished blueprint over to the main save. Doable, but irritating.

I'm assuming nobody has improved the SE compatibility with lab tiles since then, especially not Earendel himself, but I could be mistaken.