Forever Data Protect
Few things are as frustrating as spending an evening perfecting your action bars, only to log back in and find every addon reset to factory defaults. If you have been wrestling with this exact problem in the WoW Forever beta, Forever Data Protect is the addon you have been waiting for. It is a small, focused utility that preserves your addon settings across game restarts, and it works quietly in the background so you can get back to playing.
What Problem Does Forever Data Protect Solve?
Since mid-September, the Forever beta client has had a peculiar bug. When you log out, the game writes your addon settings, known as SavedVariables, to disk correctly. The trouble starts at the next launch: the game simply does not load them again. Every addon begins from scratch, and the moment you log out, that blank state overwrites your real configuration. One restart can wipe hours of careful setup.
Forever Data Protect sidesteps the problem entirely. During setup, a script creates a small folder called !ForeverData next to your addons. This folder contains no executable code, just a link to your account's SavedVariables directory, a list of files to load, and the saved variable names for each addon. Because the game still reads addon files at startup, your settings ride along and are handed back to each addon at the exact moment the game normally would, just before the addon initializes. That timing matters, since many addons build their internal tables while loading.
Compatibility Across World of Warcraft Versions
Forever Data Protect was built specifically for the WoW Forever beta client, which is based on the modern retail codebase. That said, the addon ecosystem around World of Warcraft is broad, and players often keep several clients installed side by side. Whether you spend your time on Retail, Classic, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, or Mists of Pandaria, addon compatibility is always worth checking before you commit to a new utility. Forever Data Protect targets the beta client, but its design philosophy, minimal footprint and no interference with normal game behavior, is one that fits comfortably into any addon lineup.
How to Install Forever Data Protect
Getting started takes just a few minutes. If you are wondering how to install it, the process is straightforward:
- Install the addon and log into the game once, then exit completely.
- Open Interface\AddOns\!ForeverDataProtect\Setup in your game folder.
- On Windows, right-click ForeverData-setup.ps1 and choose Run with PowerShell.
- On Linux or macOS, run bash ForeverData-setup.sh.
- Start the game and type /fdp. Every covered addon should report Restored.
A full step-by-step guide is also available in-game under Options, AddOns, Forever Data Protect, Setup guide, or by typing /fdp guide. If you would rather skip the manual steps entirely, the foxygame.net launcher offers a one-click install for Forever Data Protect, pulling the addon straight into your Interface folder without any file juggling. When you add a new addon later, simply log in once so it saves its settings, exit, and rerun the setup. The settings page will flag any addon that is not yet covered. Updating addons, including this one, never undoes the setup.
Limits and Things to Keep in Mind
Forever Data Protect is not a magic wand, and its documentation is refreshingly honest about the boundaries. Settings saved per character are not covered yet, though most addons store their configuration account-wide. If the game crashes, any changes from that session are lost, because the client only writes data on logout or reload. Should an addon behave strangely, you can untick it in the /fdp interface and let the game handle its loading again. The Windows setup script is relatively new, so if it misbehaves, leaving a comment with the console output helps the developer improve it.
A Note on the Beta Fix
Here is the good news: update 1.60.1 appears to have restored normal addon settings loading in the beta. If that holds true, Forever Data Protect is no longer strictly necessary, and leaving it installed is harmless. The developer is still testing to confirm the fix, and the project page will be updated once that is verified. In the meantime, if you want to download Forever Data Protect and keep it as a safety net, you can do so knowing it will not interfere with the game's own loading once Blizzard's fix is permanent. To remove it entirely, just delete the Interface\AddOns\!ForeverData folder.
Final Thoughts
Forever Data Protect is a smart, lightweight answer to a very specific beta bug. It respects your settings, avoids touching addon code, and steps aside gracefully once the underlying issue is resolved. For anyone testing the WoW Forever beta, it is a small download that can save you a great deal of reconfiguration. Keep it installed, run the setup once, and let it quietly protect your setup until the client catches up.