Solutions for Games Without Cloud Saves?

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Between my desktop and handheld PCs with Windows installed, I've been using YARCGUI (a GUI for Robocopy) to load save files to my Dropbox. I can update all my save game files with one click

Is there anything comparable for Linux? It should be simple, you should be able to specify absolute paths, and you should have a list for your games to either upload or download save files individually. Depending on the method I might need to be able to set Dropbox as a network drive on SteamOS

[@R+5]

im not a linux expert, but from the little i know, its not the best idea to use absolute paths (no matter the os) because it can mess up the registry. what is usually recommended (including in windows) is to use symlinks: those can be use to tell programs where to find specific files without affecting the original path, and work like special shortcuts.

[@R+5]

i did a quick search and this is what i got:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=robocopy+alternativeto+linux&t=ffab&ia=web

rsync and its limitations
https://superuser.com/questions/29232/linux-equivalent-to-robocopy

robocopy vs rsync vs resilo
https://www.resilio.com/blog/looking-for-a-robocopy-alternative

etc
https://alternativeto.net/software/robocopy/?platform=linux

[Marlock]

i would add FreeFileSync as a great GUI app built on top of rsync

besides the usual general use tools for folder sync, backups and whatnot, there is a bunch of special software for automating local backups of steam game savefiles...

https://github.com/skyformat99/SLSK

https://github.com/mtkennerly/ludusavi

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/7ba7iq/is_there_any_linux_savegame_backup_utility/

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

I don't see the value in these automated backup tools. I have tried some of them and eventually you run into a game these tools don't have in their database, or they don't copy all of your save files (for example, certain config files for game settings or certain mods). And usually you don't have a full range of options for which services to use.

With Robocopy, I can simply take the path(s) of my save files for a game for both a copy and backup job for each of my machines. This works with anything you want and is compatible with every service. The drawback is that you need to figure out where the save files are but with the PC Gaming Wiki and the half-assed job the automated tools do it's not a big deal, really

I was just hoping someone was familiar with a similar tool on Linux. I'd rather prefer to avoid needlessly complicated stuff. I just wanna copy and paste the folder paths and be done with it

[R.Wut]

You could try making the storage on the deck accessible as some kind of network drive to your windows machine. That way you could just continue using your current robocopy setup.
Usually that is done via samba but I think the samba server isn't installed on the deck by default. Another way would be to use ssh to mount the whole thing via sshfs-win as a network drive. That would only require setting a password on the deck and starting sshd but I have no clue how good sshfs is on windows. You could also directly copy files over ssh via scp but that might not integrate nicely with your robocopy gui.

[Marlock]

Originally posted by We Be Leaving You:

With Robocopy, I can simply take the path(s) of my save files for a game for both a copy and backup job for each of my machines.

if you rather define sync paths manually, then try FreeFileSync for a nice GUI, or learn to use rsync from the terminal and build a bash script to make it easier to run the same thing over and over

I use both and find them really great for their purposes

edit: when you need to find linux alternatives for a software you're used to, this website is going to be your best friend
https://alternativeto.net/software/robocopy/?license=opensource&platform=linux

[retrogunner]

You might check out Liam's articles on getting Sync set up between Window and Linux. He's got two different ways:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/03/syncthing-is-a-great-way-to-transfer-files-from-pc-to-steam-deck/

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/03/heres-how-to-transfer-files-from-your-pc-to-a-steam-deck/

[Marlock]

While I love Warpinator (second url above) for a lot of things, it's a simple on-demand transfer tool, not really meant for syncing

Syncthing on the other hand might fit your needs perfectly

[tyl0413]

Steam Cloud should be mandatory as it does not require code changes.
Valve should just fill the path of saves to automatically upload themselves or allow us to set it or something.

[drbob]

For syncing saves from games without steam cloud between my Windows desktop and laptop, I use use Gamesave Manager’s[www.gamesave-manager.com] “sync & link” feature to create a symbolic link from the default savegame location to a folder in my Dropbox.

Dropbox is available on flathub[www.flathub.org], so the same technique should work on Steam Deck, you’ll just have to create the symlinks manually.

Backup your save files before attempting this, especially if you’re not familiar with what a symbolic link[en.m.wikipedia.org] does.

[sub0pengu]

Originally posted by retrogunner:

You might check out Liam's articles on getting Sync set up between Window and Linux. He's got two different ways:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/03/syncthing-is-a-great-way-to-transfer-files-from-pc-to-steam-deck/

[...]

I'd recommend setting up Syncthing as well as it's available as flatpak and it's very extensive in what you can configure and sync. What Liam's guide won't go through, however, is how to create symlinks to make the experience much cleaner - basically you:

• Locate game saves, move the folder to location you want to sync (location of the share on Syncthing/etc)
  
• Drag-n-drop (holding Ctrl+Shift if it doesn't prompt otherwise) the folder back to the original location in Dolphin (the filemanager) and select Link
  
• Optionally configure Syncthing/etc to ignore syncing of unwanted files/folders

[The Nintendo Patent Lawsuit Fest]

Lots of examples for syncing save files, thanks guys. I hope someone will find this helpful.

Personally I prefer to stay clear of solutions that involve automated folder syncing. What I like about Steam's cloud saves and YARCGUI/Robocopy is that they have progress bars and tell you when it's done and your files are done syncing. I need to know this precisely because I lose connection all the time on my train to work. It's too easy to shut down the Deck without realizing that a sync didn't go through and then I'm in for some headaches

[Marlock]

not sure how explicit is the sync progress in syncthing...

on FreeFileSync it's exactly like you want, on demand, with progress bar, and you can even ask it to logout, sleep or power off after it's finished, and define settings for a batch job that you can run without further user intervention if desired

[sub0pengu]

Syncthing only shows a summary of local/remote state, not per file/directory and while you can change the default pull order (order in which files are synced first) you cannot dictate how to propagate changes i.e. you cannot explicitly sync from A to B or vice-versa.

As per OP's situation, FreeFileSync would seem to be the best match in functionality and availability (cross-platform, also as Flatpak). The UI looks horrendous to me, but maybe you don't mind. Also as I digged further, I'll add Unison[github.com] as an alternative for future reference, although it's not distributed as Flatpak nor Appimage. At least the UI isn't an eye sore.

[Marlock]

Originally posted by sub0pengu:

The UI looks horrendous to me

LOL! Yeah, it's perfectly functional but hasn't aged well