[Captivate Android Development] littlewierdo:
Only getting a FC on initial boot from the new version of the market that I sideloaded awhile back.

With regards to installing / updating nightlies, after downloading thru rom manager, per the instructions on the original post of this thread, you should be checking the box to install Gapps, then on the next screen, check the box to do a backup of existing rom and check the box to wipe dalvik cache. Leave the box for clearing cache and data UNCHECKED.

For some reason, Gapps has to be installed each time, otherwise everything that Gapps brings/brought with it do not seem to appear (the market disappears along with other apps you may have installed thru Gapps). Have no idea why.

Backing up the existing rom is, well, pretty self explanatory - allows you to restore your phone and MOST apps along with their data. The exception to this is apps that store their data somewhere other than the default app storage location.

The Dalvik cache is (generally speaking) a temporary location where Android precompiles code for easy (and much faster) access after the phone is booted. This allows for significant improvements in memory management and overall speed / performance at the cost of storage and a much longer initial boot. The reason it should be deleted when updating a rom is, this forces Android to recompile everything which prevents old data from being potentially used / mixed with new data that may have changed when the rom was updated. As a side note, this is why the initial install of a rom generally takes 5-10 times longer to boot than normal, the phone is busy precompiling on the initial boot.

Clearing cache and data essentially is like a factory reset, it removes 'most' of everything that is installed / added after an initial 'fresh' install of a rom. I dont have in front of me the directories this removes and some 'crust' will be left behind (most likely) but is a pretty good solution if you are having problems with a rom. Since Cyanogen is a no-wipe rom, this option is a useful option to 'force' the phone to delete most of the data that was left on the phone. Some roms are a 'wipe' rom meaning, the rom, during its installation, will automatically wipe the phone regardless of whether you ticked this option or not. As a side note, this would be why you loose your widgets and apps - leave this box unchecked and everything will remain almost unchanged (with exception to whatever changes the rom update brought).

So, in short, the only time you should use this option is if you are re-installing (or updating) a no-wipe rom and are (or were prior to installing the rom) having problems OR are installing a no wipe rom over the top of a completely different rom (ie. installing Cyanogen over the top of Cognition - another Captivate rom).

Personally, I dont even bother backing up when installing the nightlies, I have TB set to backup all my apps daily while I am sleeping to the sdcard and my dropbox account, when I wake up, I install the new nightly that usually is waiting to be installed. 'If' anything screws up, I have a backup of all my apps both on the sdcard and dropbox - easy enough to flash stock and throw cyanogen back on. Luckily, havent had any screwups with flashing the latest nightly since version #16.