Multiple users and saving game progress

[S7lug00n]

I am brand new to PC gaming and have just bought a gaming PC for my son and I to share. I have installed Steam along with a few games and am using Family View to allow my son to access some of the games as he is not old enough to have his own Steam account.

My question is, how do games work in terms of saving progress for individual players? For example, when my son signs into MS Flight Sim he signs in using HIS Xbox account but he can still see, and affect, all of MY progress and achievements that I've accumulated under MY Xbox account. The same thing seems to happen with other games.

Note: he signs into his own user account on the PC but has to use my Steam account because of his age.

Is it just a case that you cannot separate the progress/saved games of multiple users?

[Cathulhu]

Depends entirely on the game, Steam has no influence over how games manage savegames and progress.
You could try creating a separate Windows profile for your son, with its own Steam installation.
He should never use your account, that is not family share.
Make him his own and then use the official family share feature.
Be aware not all games do support family share, especially games with third party DRM.

[Kargor]

In general, different users should have different user accounts in Windows -- that will keep "at least 99%" of their savefiles separate.

As for Steam, account sharing should be avoided in favor of family sharing -- although that's where the different windows accounts don't help, because Steam actively leaks credentials from one account to the other. Thus, don't "[ ] save my password" or whatever the option is called.

[S7lug00n]

Thank you, Cathulhu. I think that's the way to go from what I'm reading, separate user and steam accounts.

Do you know, if I use the Family Share feature, will it require the games to be installed on each user's account (which I don't want as Flight Sim is 148GB alone) or is it clever enough to share the game installation from my user account?

Sorry for the basic questions but I'm coming from 15 years on a MacBook!

[S7lug00n]

Thanks, Kargor. If I'd know it was this complicated I'd have waited for an Xbox!

[ReBoot]

Make sure you all use separate accounts. On Windows, just like on MacOS, you can and should give every user their own user account.
Afterwards, make sure you have separate Steam accounts (with family sharing) and I'll be fine.
On Windows, Steam game installs are shared between different accounts.

BTW, Steam DOES NOT leak credentials. Not since a couple years, that is.

[Supafly]

Originally posted by Slugoon78:

Thank you, Cathulhu. I think that's the way to go from what I'm reading, separate user and steam accounts.

Do you know, if I use the Family Share feature, will it require the games to be installed on each user's account (which I don't want as Flight Sim is 148GB alone) or is it clever enough to share the game installation from my user account?

Sorry for the basic questions but I'm coming from 15 years on a MacBook!

Provided you have the games store at the same location then no. If you install Steam to C: and use it from the and your kid uses the same then they'll have access the files.

[S7lug00n]

Thanks everyone, I've created a separate account for my boy and we are now able to keep our progress and saves separate while sharing the games using Family Sharing. Perfect!

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Slugoon78:

Thanks everyone, I've created a separate account for my boy and we are now able to keep our progress and saves separate while sharing the games using Family Sharing. Perfect!

FYI you are 100% allowed to make an account for him and buy games for him on his account. If your buying games for him on your account that will be problematic if you both want to play games at the same time.