Movable Type 4.2 Upgrade… SUCKS!

I upgraded from 4.12 to 4.2. The upgrade from 3.5 to 4.12 went flawlessly. So, this should be a simple thing, right? All the templates for my blog are gone. I did exactly that same thing I did when I upgraded from 3.5 to 4.12. Copied the files to the MT4 directory on my server. Went to http://www.server.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt.cgi. Got redirected to the upgrade cgi which appeared to proceed without incident. Once it was done, there was a button to go to Movable Type control panel. Off I went. Hum, looks OK. Let’s rebuild and see what happens.
Uh oh. Error. Oooh look, edit template button, how cool is that!! Hey, that’s not a template I’ve ever used. Better go look at the templates and see what’s changed. Uh, whadda ya mean No Templates found?? That’s not good.
So, that’s where I’m at. I was planning to go looking for the templates. I have no idea where they are stored. My guess is the MySQL database which is where I was planning to look next. I should also point out that I cannot Create New Template from the MT Control Panel either. Which probably implies deeper problems.
I always installed from downloads on the download page at Six Apart. I had 3.52, I think, for a long time. I avoided upgrading because of this very reason. A couple of weeks ago, I downloaded 4.12 from the Six Apart download page and upgraded my install. That upgrade went off without a hitch. Hence my confidence in upgrading from 4.12 to 4.2.
All in all, a lousy upgrade experience.
So, the blog design that I liked so much is gone. Partly my fault for not making adequate backups. Mostly Six Apart’s fault for not finding data loss bugs before shipping their product.
With deployment so close I do not have time to learn the new architexture of Movable Type 4.1 and then re-create my weblog design. That makes me sad. So, Minimalist Blue, as Movable Type calls it, is my new look. It’s boring. I’m not sure how long I’ll actually be able to stand it. But, for now….