steam deleted my save game files (What settings do i change to stop steam from deleting my files?)

[NowThatsWhatICallEdge]

I disabled steam cloud backups a week or two ago and everything seemed fine. Logged in this morning to play a quick game, and all my save game files were gone.

what settings to do i need to change to keep steam from touching my files without my permission. I dont want to start another game if my progress is going to be deleted, and i dont want to be constantly backing up save game files because im worried steam is going to screw me over.

[ELVX]

Actually, same with me. I havent changed any Steam cloud preferences, but I'm also missing save files... I guess, there is some crash in Steam servers...?

[Onichu]

My saves are missing too. I started a new SSE playthrough a couple days ago, played again last night, Steam updated this morning, and now all my ESS files are gone.

Oh, and Steam Cloud is disabled in a global setting. I do not recall if I ever had it enabled.

Edit: It seems only Skyrim Special Edition got hit on my end. All my Oblivion and Enderal saves (the ones I did not delete myself) are intact.

[Onichu]

So it turns out my SSE saves were NOT deleted. They were merely moved to a new branch in Steam\userdata. A fellow going by JFK reported this same thing happening in response to the Steam Client Update on January 11: https://steamcommunity.com/app/593110/eventcomments/4140563392626479156/?ctp=2