Lost Save Data on All Games

[gay rights luigi]

Hey y'all.

So I haven't played many of my Steam games recently (desktop crashed every time I launched something more strenuous than Sonic CD), but after fixing what seems to have been a fan issue and attempting to play some games, I've found that all the save data on all the games I have installed are straight up gone.

I noticed this first when I tried to play Sonic Adventure 2 just by double-clicking the desktop shortcut icon. I got an error message. I ended up getting an error message for every game shortcut I clicked on. So I tried launching the games straight from my Steam library. Then I noticed the steam icon isn't there in my start-up menu or my taskbar. It's been replaced with the generic windows exe file icon.

I tried to launch Skyrim and noticed the Data Files tab was greyed out, even though the game was in the process of checking updates for all 20 of my mods. When I did launch it, the load option was also greyed out. I even checked the actual folder in windows explorer that the save data is in and there was nothing there. Next I tried Sonic Adventure 2 and that ended up crashing my desktop after it tried to update a version of DirectX. Then I attempted Fallout 4, which I have no mods on and I have through a shared steam library. Yep, no saves again.

I think it's safe to say all the games I have installed are having the same problem, since none of them would launch from my desktop. I think the newest windows 10 update a few weeks ago has something to do with this because I never had this problem before then, even if I didn't play my games a whole lot because of this dumb desktop crashing. I'm just about ready to pull my hair out because I have no idea how any of this is happening and the thought of starting Skyrim and Fallout 4 all over again when I beat the main campaigns in BOTH of them months ago is super unnerving.

Sorry if this is a little long but if anyone can help me figure out what's going on I'd appreciate it a lot.

[76561198218426745]

Have you changed your operating system recently, or formatted/refreshed your PC?

[gay rights luigi]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

Have you changed your operating system recently, or formatted/refreshed your PC?

nope none of that. this desktop is less than a year old, self-built and it's run on windows 10 the entire time.

[76561198218426745]

So The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4 both use the Steam cloud, meaning that even if your local saves are gone, your cloud saves should still be there. I would start by opening Steam, going to your library, right-clicking either Skyrim or Fallout and choosing "Properties". In the new window, under the "Updates" tab, I would confirm that Steam cloud saving is enabled.

[gay rights luigi]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

Have you changed your operating system recently, or formatted/refreshed your PC?

would a cumulative windows update count

[76561198218426745]

That should not affect your files, no.

[gay rights luigi]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

So The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4 both use the Steam cloud, meaning that even if your local saves are gone, your cloud saves should still be there. I would start by opening Steam, going to your library, right-clicking either Skyrim or Fallout and choosing "Properties". In the new window, under the "Updates" tab, I would confirm that Steam cloud saving is enabled.

steam could saving is off for both of them.
good god i'm tired.

[76561198218426745]

Well, that at least explains why you don't have the cloud saves. Wouldn't hurt to enable cloud saving now, and see if there are any existing saves in the cloud, even if they are old saves.

Doesn't exactly explain where the saves for games that don't use cloud saving are gone. Try going to:

Steam\steamapps\common\Sonic Adventure 2\resource\gd_PC\SAVEDATA\

Confirm if there are any saves there. If not, in Windows 7 at least you can attempt to look for an earlier version of the folder. Right-click on any empty space, choose "Properties", and in the new window go to the "Previous Versions" tab. This may be absent or named differently in Windows 10.

[gay rights luigi]

it might just be my desktop since I've been having a multitude of problems with it for a while
bluetooth randomly disconnecting, sudden crashes, ethernet not working, etc.

[gay rights luigi]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

Well, that at least explains why you don't have the cloud saves. Wouldn't hurt to enable cloud saving now, and see if there are any existing saves in the cloud, even if they are old saves.

Doesn't exactly explain where the saves for games that don't use cloud saving are gone. Try going to:

Steam\steamapps\common\Sonic Adventure 2\resource\gd_PC\SAVEDATA\

Confirm if there are any saves there. If not, in Windows 7 at least you can attempt to look for an earlier version of the folder. Right-click on any empty space, choose "Properties", and in the new window go to the "Previous Versions" tab. This may be absent or named differently in Windows 10.

just turned on cloud saving for both Skyrim and Fallout 4. Also found the Previous Versions for the save data folder in SA2 and there's nothing there either.

[76561198218426745]

I'm sorry, I honestly don't know what else to suggest. You might be able to use third-party software to recover missing files, but this mostly relies on the hard drive seeing very little use since the files disappeared. Hopefully a more veteran user can assist you.

[gay rights luigi]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

I'm sorry, I honestly don't know what else to suggest. You might be able to use third-party software to recover missing files, but this mostly relies on the hard drive seeing very little use since the files disappeared. Hopefully a more veteran user can assist you.

it's okay dude you tried
i might just reinstall windows at this point

[Imba.Cp]

hey guy Free $ Steam- https:// steam-wallet. co/go/?id=7pSGHd6ab

[God, owner of the Universe]

Wait. The Steam exe's shortcut icon is generic, the games don't start via their shortcuts ... I bet you accidentally moved/renamed the Steam folder or one of its containing folders.

You should take a look at the properties of some of those shortcuts to figure out where they want to go, and then check if Steam etc. is in that place.