As Adobe ends support for the Flash Player, archiving classic browser games is more important than ever. Over the coming months, many Flash-based games and experiences will be removed from the web if they haven’t been already.
If you remember playing a browser game in the past on an old computer or perhaps on a current computer, you may still have a copy of the game even you don’t realize it! Because browsers try to improve load times of games and websites, they store files on your computer in something called a cache. The Flashpoint Cache Dumper gathers information about the files in your cache, allowing you to share information that helps locate lost web games with the game preservation community!
The Flashpoint Cache Dumper is simple to run. Simply download the self-extracting EXE file to a USB stick and transfer it to the computer on which you wish to dump the cache (opening a browser to download it directly to the computer is not recommended because it may clear its cache). Extract the files to the desktop on each account from which you wish to dump your cache. Run FlashpointCacheDumper.bat and follow the prompts. You can then send the generated DumpedCacheInfo.7z file, which contains a list of the files in your cache, to #web-cache in the Flashpoint Discord server or send it privately to a Flashpoint staff member. If you have files belonging to a lost game, you may be asked to send the full DumpedCache.7z file. Note that whoever you send these files to will be able to see the websites you visited as well as your computer account username.
It is important to note that, because of the way browser caches work, you may not be able to find the game you were looking to recover using the Flashpoint Cache Dumper. The Flashpoint Database wiki page has recommendations for additional methods for recovering lost games.
For more information about recovering lost game files from your browser cache and more detailed instructions on how to use the Flashpoint Cache Dumper, see the wiki post on the Flashpoint Database.
