BEFORE you install on a second PC (how to keep your scores and goals from disappearing)

[dave]

I now have TPA on four devices* and each time I installed it (about 6 times so far), a new high score/goal file is created and uploaded to Steam, wiping out my progress. I would like to share with you the simplest steps I've found to keep scores and goals synched among devices.

(Process updated July '17 in steps 4-6. Please post if this works for you or if you have problems!)

1. On your original install, exit Steam and back up two folders:
   
   • %USERPROFILE%\My Games\Pinball Arcade -- for me, logged in as Dave, this maps to "C:\Users\dave\My Games\Pinball Arcade". The underlined part is what %USERPROFILE% knows. This appears to be Pinball Arcade's own storage.
     
   • C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\<yourSteamID>\238260 -- this is where Steam stores its Sync files. The italic items will vary depending on where you installed steam and your Steam ID (mine's an 8-digit number). 238260 is the Game ID for TPA. Look in the "remote" subfolder of this folder for a file named pbaprg.dat -- if you don't see it, stop; something has changed and this won't work.
   (Also verify that your backup is usable.)
   
2. Install TPA to your new device, play a game if you wish, exit normally, and allow Steam to sync this new, empty file back to the cloud. EXIT Steam (don't just close the window; it keeps running) on the new device.
   
3. On your original install, start Steam, play TPA and try not to get too nervous as you see all your scores and goals have vanished. Exit the game and exit Steam.
   
4. On this original install AND on the new install, restore those two folders from backup.
   
5. On the original install, start Steam. Optionally, from your Library, switch to View / Game List and you should see "Cloud Sync Conflict." Start the game and you will be asked which files you want: choose the older local files. You should see all your scores and goals again. Exit the game.
   
6. Repeat this on the new install -- now with the original files copied. Unless you want the same graphics settings, you should probably resolve the conflict by selecting Launch Configuration Utility and set things appropriate to this computer. Then start the game to confirm that you have the scores and goals.

Thanks to many threads which provided clues and at least partial solutions for what was going on. I hope this process will be useful for others.
Please feel free to contribute any corrections or clarification, but I'd appreciate it if you remember that I'm focused here on getting TPA installed and synched on multiple Windows devices. There are many other ways to mess up Steam Cloud Sync and probably at least a couple ways to lose TPA scores that have nothing to do with sync!

DeadStretch reports that this also fixed a problem with purchased tables being locked on the 2nd PC.
A-Jey helped with the July '17 update (comments #28-29) and suggests that the same process should work to multi-install Stern. Haven't tried that myself.

(* Workstation, notebook, home theater PC, and a tablet, in case you were wondering.)

[MWink64]

This is pretty similar to the instructions I posted in another thread a while back. I KNOW FarSight is aware of this issue because I've discussed it with one of their employees. I guess it hasn't been addressed yet. This thread should probably be pinned till the issue is resolved.

[dave]

I'm sorry I hadn't found your thread, MWink64! Would probably have saved me time and consternation, those times I did lose the scores and progress! @MikeFarsight, if you don't want to pin a whole thread, maybe you could in your FAQ add a link into whichever thread you think would help people avoid this problem. That would be great.

[Imriel]

This should be fixed by deweloper long time ago... but I guess cloud-sync guy is on vacation... probably with directx11 guy, and texture guy...

[STOPchris]

Originally posted by Imriel:

This should be fixed by deweloper long time ago... but I guess cloud-sync guy is on vacation... probably with directx11 guy, and texture guy...

Fairsight doesn't appear to fix much...

[MWink64]

To be fair, I'm not sure it's FarSight's fault. It seems to be more of an issue with Steam failing to download the saved files from the cloud before launching the game for the first time.

Dave, here's the link to the thread containing my old post on the topic: http://steamcommunity.com/app/238260/discussions/0/613936673508486273/

[STOPchris]

Originally posted by MWink64:

To be fair, I'm not sure it's FarSight's fault. It seems to be more of an issue with Steam failing to download the saved files from the cloud before launching the game for the first time.

Even though it works in EVERY other game? Right...

[Pinballwiz45b]

Do I need to copy the folders and make duplicates? Just making sure if I want to do this on multiple computers.

[dave]

Originally posted by Pinballwiz45b:

Do I need to copy the folders and make duplicates?

That's probably the simplest way of doing step 1. If you know that you have a good backup (e.g., Windows Backup, or other backup application) from which you could restore, that works too.

[rehtroboi37]

I just use a thumb usb drive to store my backup files. Just in case.....

[Pragmatic Tornado]

After once losing my PBA saves due to installing on a different computer, I disabled Steam Cloud entirely. I was able to restore the previous version of the file(s) via Windows, thankfully. Nowadays I just use a batch file to make backups of my most important savegames to a different drive, adding to it as I start playing new games. It's not ideal, but it is safe.

[BigWeather]

Has this been resolved? I frequently switch between playing on my laptop and on my TV-based PC. I really don't want to have to deal with this every time I switch.

[dave]

@BigWeather, "this" only affects the initial install of TPA on a new PC. Once you have that set up safely (replaced the new, blank data with your existing achievements), you're all set to switch back and forth. I switch among a notebook, HTPC and desktop with no problem.

(But, no, I haven' t heard that it's been resolved.)

[BigWeather]

@dave, thanks, that's not so bad!

[goss4jc]

I just lost all my high scores including my best Medeival Madness score ever of 104 Million. I wish I had known about this issue beforehand. :-(

[goss4jc]

First I bought only the Medieval Madness table. Then later I bought the Season One pack. Initially I was thinking that may have wiped my high scores but just last night I installed Steam on another PC and was wondering why my scores had not synced to that PC. I had successfully done this before so I wasn' t sure if it was the purchase of the season pack or the new install. Then I checked the date on the highscoes data file and it was the day I purchased the season pack.