[FEATURE REQUEST] Save is Quite Large and Backups are Not Rotating

[lisnaz]

Would dev implement gzip support for game save, when item count hit around 20000 the save file is around 60MB total, quite a hit to IO while saving. I have to use overlayfs to migrate the pressure to RAM instead.

By the way, zstd is way faster then gzip, if you don't mind. The compressed size is 4MB compared to 60MB uncompressed.

[5$ Lewdboxes]

How big can it be... let me check my most recent.

...

WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥?

So the game doesn't cull old autosaves huh? That'd explain why my savegame folder is 16 GIGABYTES heavy!

[JeanDeaux]

Yah, that needs to be addressed sooner than later. There should be a cap on 5 or so saves, not limit it to how much hard drive space I have available.

[lisnaz]

Yes, save rotation is missing too, I need to change the title.

[God, owner of the Universe]

Not a fan of that whole compression idea, though. It makes checking/editing harder, and PRIMARILY it would stand in the way of solid archiving: Instead of compressing your whole individual savegame subtree (or all savegame subtrees together) into a relatively small file, the high entropy of the compressed XMLs would lead to an overall much bigger archive.

[Myst Leissa]

Originally posted by JeanDeaux:

Yah, that needs to be addressed sooner than later. There should be a cap on 5 or so saves, not limit it to how much hard drive space I have available.

I'll buy your five saves and resell for 3. Autosaves only mind you; I couldn't live without my some odd 20 manual saves.

[lisnaz]

Originally posted by God, owner of the Universe:

Not a fan of that whole compression idea, though. It makes checking/editing harder, and PRIMARILY it would stand in the way of solid archiving: Instead of compressing your whole individual savegame subtree (or all savegame subtrees together) into a relatively small file, the high entropy of the compressed XMLs would lead to an overall much bigger archive.

A simple switch in the game setting, everyone's happy.

[L1ghtX]

I save scrum short games and have 100's. How can I delete some easily?

[lisnaz]

Originally posted by L1ghtX:

I save scrum short games and have 100's. How can I delete some easily?

Make a confident save then remove Backup folder under:
Windows: %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Stationeers\
Steam Play (Linux): <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/544550/pfx/

[lisnaz]

My save is around 120MB now, 32000 items, bakup rotation already implemented that's good.

[dragonflyer]

Why does this game store saves in documents? They're not documents, it's supposed to be a modern game. There's a "Saved Games" folder for that purpose, use it.

I hate when game devs just slap things into documents and call it a day. It makes the folder unusable for its intended purpose.

[Bullett]

Originally posted by dragonflyer:

Why does this game store saves in documents? They're not documents, it's supposed to be a modern game. There's a "Saved Games" folder for that purpose, use it.

I hate when game devs just slap things into documents and call it a day. It makes the folder unusable for its intended purpose.

I think all the people talking smack about the Devs should make their own game. Seriously, let us see what you are capable of. If it is even 1/1000th of the depth and quality of Stationeers, I'll buy it and give you a formal, written apology for this post.

[God, owner of the Universe]

The objection to Documents may be justified, though. I heard that many of the OneDrive problems could be avoided if the correct location would be used instead of Documents. I don't know if OneDrive also deals with Saved Games, sounds actually weird if it wouldn't, but it's what I heard.

[dragonflyer]

Originally posted by God, owner of the Universe:

I heard that many of the OneDrive problems could be avoided if the correct location would be used instead of Documents.

Indeed they could. Putting things in My Documents in 2025 is ridiculous, Saved Games had been there since Vista. There's no justification for not doing so, particularly if your game generates massive amounts of savegame data, which will then clobber the OneDrive storage limit. My Documents is for documents (and for vintage games from before Vista).

If you want to have cloud backup for saves, you can always use Steam cloud. It's there for a reason, and has an entirely separate limit. Since this game is still in development, there's time for the devs to put the files in the proper location.

[God, owner of the Universe]

Originally posted by dragonflyer:

My Documents is for documents (and for vintage games from before Vista).

I thought so, too, so I just brought this up in the Discord (General), and Dean Hall (CEO) actually responded. Again, I don't know what the true/correct answer to all this is, so I'll just put this here:

https://imgur.com/mg0qAmB

For those who are (Like they should be.) on the Discord:

https://discord.com/channels/276525882049429515/276525882049429515/1339712042201780275

EDIT: Here's the Reddit thread from Rocket's (screenshot) comment:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/x0yrqj/ideally_where_should_windows_pc_games_store_their

[dragonflyer]

Sorry, but this is ridiculous. "Standardizing" on a bad coding practice? Give me a break. The only thing they're doing is screwing over OneDrive users. "Users can change it", how exactly? I want games out of my folder for documents. And no, messing with symlinks does not help.

Appdata isn't a good place for it, but SavedGames are. It's literally like My Documents folder for games. None of their games run on XP.