How can I find the SETTINGS files for a game?

[MSXCF]

I got a problem in a game and I believe the problem might be in the settings. But IF it is in the settings, it's not something that is visible in the in-game settings. But that could happen, I have before encountered settings in games that are not in any game menus, they are hidden.

The problem is what I explained in this thread (it got no answers but I guess the Tropico 4 forum has little traffic):
https://steamcommunity.com/app/57690/discussions/0/3809531491915570315/

I uninstalled and reinstalled the game but I still have the problem.

I noticed that after reinstalling, I still had all my custom settings, they were not deleted when I uninstalled. But where are those files?

I have consulted Google but nothing useful came up.

[Cathulhu]

Entirely depends on the game.
https://lmgtfy.app/?q=Tropico+4+settings+file+location&iie=1
This should be very useful.

[MSXCF]

Thank you. But I had already used exactly the same Google search as you did.
The top result is the only one that hits on SETTINGS.

But it is a dead result, they don't have the info for Windows, which is what I use.

They only got the file path for Linux (and I verified that I don't have the \SteamApps\compatdata\ folder that Linux does):

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Tropico_4#Configuration_file.28s.29_location


When I uninstalled, everything under \Steam\SteamApps\common\Tropico 4\ was deleted, except one file "shaders.345.hpk" and that does not look like a settings file to me.


I use Windows 10 64-bit.
Steam likes to spread game files in many locations and I think the settings cannot be in the main Tropico 4 install folder. Because that was deleted.


I also did not find anything looking like settings or config under C:\Users\xx\AppData\Roaming\Tropico 4\

Settings can't be in the cloud can they?

[MSXCF]

Originally posted by MSXCF:

Settings can't be in the cloud can they?

Settings can be uploaded to the cloud. Crap. I'm not used to cloud and didn't really consider this before.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/68D2-35AB-09A9-7678

I disable it and try to uninstall again.

[Cathulhu]

The cloud only syncs local files, it does not replace the need for local files.

[MSXCF]

The game did download settings from the cloud when I reinstalled.

I disabled cloud and after a new reinstall the settings was changed to default.

I know where the game files are located locally but have not identified which ones of them contains settings. But it's also now clear I'm dealing with a bug and not a bad setting, so it's not as important anymore to find the settings file(s).