Quote: "Use version control."
I was waiting for you to say that
Quote: "Specifically, register an account at https://github.com/ and install http://git-scm.com/."
I have a github account (AFAIK), but I'm checking out the other website now.
Quote: "I recommend the command line tool"
As long as I can stick the commands in batch files, that's fine. I just hate having to type long
cd commands just to run a simple command.
Quote: "(install the "Bash" option)"
You haven't forgotten I'm on Windows, have you?
Quote: "You'll hate it now, but you'll love it once you've used it a few times."
I already love the idea, but version control so far has been ridiculously fiddly and confusing.
Quote: "It's nothing like SVN or any of those other horrible version control systems."
I'm glad you said that. I didn't want to have to (yet again) turn down your advice, but I also didn't want to have to try and use SVN-type systems. I'll give git a go (alliteration FTW

).
Quote: "Just to re-iterate why making zip backup files is not a good idea:"
I wasn't intending to make zip backups. Just plonk a copy of the project folder messily on my desktop.
Quote: "1) Highly error prone.
2) No easy way to merge changes between snapshots.
3) No easy way to synchronize project with other machines."
1) Not at all error-prone: Delete desktop copy, copy-paste new copy to desktop.
2) I'm not trying to do version control! I'm just making backups in case I irreversibly break something.
3) I only have one machine and only ever intend to have one machine (at least for dev).
Quote: "Why github and git is awesome:"
Those features sound cool, but for the most part I still won't be merging code or forking or branching or whatever the terminology is. I only ever work on one version of the project and don't trust version control merging not to make a huge mess of my code. Also I don't write very modular code so replacing even a small thing with a different version could break my entire project. Shutup, I know you're probably horrified, but I'm just not very good at separating code systems.
To summarise, I still intend to give git a go. I'm just hoping it doesn't rely on fast or plentiful internet because I don't have either.
Quote: "Don't tell me I'm the only one this happens to? If I make changes to my code in DBP and don't save the project, it still saves automatically when I close the program."
I can't say I've ever heard of this before. Wait, you are using the DGS IDE aren't you? Not the crappy original DBPro IDE? It should look like this:
------------------------------------------------------
I have some news. I was in the process of trying to work out how I had divided up my GUI before when a had a *lightbulb!* moment. Shadow Copy! I quickly found my project's folder and checked, and....
YES. Thank you Windows!! Somehow - I don't know how - Windows seems to know which files I'm going to corrupt and save them in a restore point. It saved me once before, when AppGameKit crashed and erased an entire 600+ line source file. I panicked, and on a whim checked the Previous Versions tab, and lo and behold the file was there. I didn't even know I had System Restore turned on!
After the AppGameKit incident I always make sure I keep System Restore turned on. It only uses 10GB of HDD space and I can tell you right now it's worth it!
So I have my project back. It's about 3 days old, but in the last 3 days (as with the AppGameKit incident) I've barely worked on it at all, so it's almost exactly as it was when I broke it. Hooray for strange little Windows features that actually turn out to be really useful!