Steam Cloud bug - can't turn it off

[stlnegril9]

Can't seem to stop the steam cloud sync.
I'd prefer not to have save files in cloud, and particularly not have time/resources sync'ing them.

from patch notes:
"However, literally days before launch I discovered that the system had serious flaws including being unable to delete saves from the cloud, once they were up there. For me, this was totally unacceptable."

Tried turning it off:
Steam - Library - Games, find game (right click) - properties - Updates tab, unchecked "Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for Megaquarium".
Also tried global disable cloud sync for all Steam games.

but still sync'ing.

I could see the cloud messages in log file, so I deleted the local cloud saves, but of course they come back.

Tried various methods of deleting cloud saves (in the cloud) and turning it off; none really worked.

I can trick it a bit to stop file transfer (by nulling the local cloud save files), but it is still checking:
and log has messages along lines of:
Steam Cloud: Cloud version of Saves/2 level stair bug test.sav (timestamp) is newer than local copy (timestamp), but could not read file from cloud in order to copy to local directory: blahblah


originally would see "cloud file is same or similar as local" or, if they differed (when I deleted them all) and cloud save newer, message was about copying from the cloud.

[Twice Circled]

My prediction is that it's not syncing to the cloud since you've disabled it. What you're probably seeing is the game syncing with a local cache that Steam keeps, but it won't be actually uploading or downloading anything.

As far as I know this is just how Steam Cloud works. Even when disabled, the game still communicates to Steam's own local cache of save games (on your hard disk) but they will never be uploaded to the cloud, and nothing will ever be downloaded. I guess the point is that if a user ever did enable it, the local files would be in place for Steam to sync.

Don't worry about those log files, it's talking about syncing to the local cache, not the server. The actual downloading/uploading is handled by the Steam client, but if disabled, it won't do it.

I'm guessing what made you notice is you tried to delete some local files from here:

C:\Users\<insert username>\Documents\My Games\Megaquarium\Saves

And they appeared again, copied from Steam's local cache. If you want to delete things permanently you have two choices:
1. Use the in-game delete tool from the save game menu (cross in the top-right corner). This will delete from the local save folder as well as Steam's cache.
2. Delete Steam's local cache in addition to the copy in My Games.

You'll find Steam's cache here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\<unique player number>\600480\

You can just delete the entire folder. It will be repopulated again from your local saves when you next run the game.

Obviously, using the in-game delete is easier, but I understand that some users might like to organise things using Windows Explorer. Hope that helps!

[stlnegril9]

TY for the long, thorough reply. I was actually deleting from the local cloud cache (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\<unique player number>\600480\) , the one with remotecache.vdf, not the local saves (C:\Users\<insert username>\Documents\My Games\Megaquarium\Saves).

But, I just moved both folders and restarted the game (with steam global cloud and Megaquarium-specific cloud options still disabled). The game didn't see my saves (so it didn't pull them from the cloud), and when creating a new save, it shows up in both local directories, as expected.

However, the log is still showing the similar reports as above (including save names that the game should have no idea exist), which I now take to mean, the cloud has those files but can not copy it to the local steam cache, likely beause the steam setting for cloud is off.
("Steam Cloud: Cloud file Saves/2 level stair bug test.png does not exist locally, but could not read file from cloud in order to copy to local directory: C:\Users...blahblah")

So, for now, I'll think to ignore the log cloud messages, and assume there is no (significant) traffic to the cloud (just pinging of save names and time stamps).

[stlnegril9]

and this "Steam Cloud: Local file Saves/autosave.png is newer or not in cloud already, writing to cloud." Am I missing something to turn it off?

[Twice Circled]

Hi Stinegril, I think that log is fine. It's generated by me personally, in my own code. I think the game has detected that the save is not in the cloud (because there is no cloud store) and then the log is saying what it will do next (try to write to the cloud).

However, when it comes to it, nothing will be written, because Cloud Save is disabled. Does that make sense? It's like the game doesn't know whether Cloud Save is enabled or disabled, that's handled "outside its jurisdiction". At least that's how I think it works.

I did some testing at my end and I am confident there is no network traffic when Cloud Save is disabled via the Steam interface (despite what the logs say). :)

[BlueHex6]

I am fed up with the constant steam cloud syncing. It always gets stuck on synchronization and refuses to launch my game until I completely quit Steam from task manager. Then, there’s around a 50% chance of my game launching or getting stuck synchronization again. Sometimes, this gets so bad I have to restart windows. It’s gotten even worse with the recent Big Picture Mode upgrade. I have tried disabling steam cloud via settings, but it always enables itself every session. And the temporary disablement doesn’t seem to stop steam cloud synchronization. Furthermore, if (when) synchronization fails, proceeding with launch anyways only works around half the time. (But corrupts that session’s ability to read save files)

A potential solution would include proper control over steam cloud. Such as proper toggling of automatic synchronization, manual cloud updates (per-game), a more accessible and intuitive backup/restore system for save files. Including improving overall quality of existing steam cloud functions and workarounds.

Potential Issues: I use Bootcamp and Ethernet and have noticed that all above issues are only on the Windows side of my iMac. In other Windows applications, I cannot connect to their servers without unplugging Ethernet and plugging Wifi. Ethernet (On windows) could be the perpetrator of all problems, and I have yet to try steam using wifi.

I will be contacting Steam Support soon.

Thank you for reading through my rant :) Writing this really helped my steam cloud frustration subside.

[Twice Circled]

Hi BlueHex, I'm glad you feel better after having your rant. Can I ask though, do your problems have anything to do with this particular game, which is called Megaquarium?

[BlueHex6]

Originally posted by Twice Circled:

Hi BlueHex, I'm glad you feel better after having your rant. Can I ask though, do your problems have anything to do with this particular game, which is called Megaquarium?

Sorry, I was surfing the web, looking for a solution. I found this post and read the whole thing, so I posted my experience. I did not realize this was a Megaquarium discussion.

[Twice Circled]

That's OK. I just wanted to clarify for other people reading. :)