Can one change the game save files location to a new drive?

[bic boi]

I have an SSD, Local Disk (C:), which has Windows Installed with other programs like my Drivers, Office, Skype, etc. and I have a 1TB HDD, Drive (F:), dedicated to Gaming. I installed Steam on the HDD so that the folder for game installs stays as its default (I noticed if you change install location outside of steammapps, Steam client does not recognize that game was installed and says install, rather than play).

Main question is,

While my game installs are all on the HDD which is dedicated for gaming, is there any way to change where game save files save. What I have noticed is that game save files will still save to
--Local Disk (c:) -> Users -> Luca -> My Documents-- All games saves are located in a game folder in -My documents or in -My Games- (folder within the -My documents- foder).

What I have noticed is that if I move a game folder to Drive (F:), the HDD, the game does not find any saves and requests to make a new game unless I move game save files back into -My documents-. I assume that the games are coded in a way that sets game save files to the -My documents- rather than just finding wherever the folder with the name of the game on it is located.

Is there any way to change where game saves from steam save to?

Thank you!

[untalent]

This is so easy lol Idk why no one answer this yet. Ok right click on MY DOCUMENTS then PROPERTIES. Then click on LOCATION on top left of the window. Then click MOVE to any drive you want. Any question ask me lol.

[Kigen]

untalent, on Windows 7 that only changes where Explorer thinks My Documents is.

The games themselves generally use hard coded paths. Steam does not choose to store anything in My Documents. So this would be a question best for the game developers of the game you are seeing this with.

[untalent]

Most steam game saved into my documents you silly goose.

[Jack Kelso]

i got em C:/Program Files x86/Steam/steamApps/common if that helps

[TRUMP]

Originally posted by untalent:

This is so easy lol Idk why no one answer this yet. Ok right click on MY DOCUMENTS then PROPERTIES. Then click on LOCATION on top left of the window. Then click MOVE to any drive you want. Any question ask me lol.

Man, you saved my life, thx

[Ave]

Originally posted by untalent:

This is so easy lol Idk why no one answer this yet. Ok right click on MY DOCUMENTS then PROPERTIES. Then click on LOCATION on top left of the window. Then click MOVE to any drive you want. Any question ask me lol.

Also posting to confirm that this was helpful in making certain games auto-save in the place I wanted them to.

[TheYutzWithTheHorse]

Originally posted by untalent:

This is so easy lol Idk why no one answer this yet. Ok right click on MY DOCUMENTS then PROPERTIES. Then click on LOCATION on top left of the window. Then click MOVE to any drive you want. Any question ask me lol.

So I think I'm having the exact same problem as Shaka. My Steam games download to Z:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common like I told them to. However, the save files and in general a lot of data from these games, gets thrust into C:\Users\MYNAME\AppData\Roaming for no reason. Steam is set to download games in my Z: folder (and it does), but the saves go to my C: folder.
You said to right click on MY DOCUMENTS but I don't think I have that folder available to click on. Should I be clicking on /Roaming and moving that? (That doesn't sound right to me...)
EDIT:
I was wrong I do have the MY DOCUMENTS folder with MY GAMES inside of it. However, that holds only a portion of my saved games' files.

[Forcen]

Games can save in lots of places on your hard drive, some games store saves in the game folder in Steam, sometimes they save to the registry.

Steam only handles the saves if the game use Steam Cloud, if it doesn't then it all up the game. Search for the game on https://pcgamingwiki.com for more info.

If your worry is finding the saves before formatting your PC or something then I reccomend you use http://www.gamesave-manager.com/

Here are some other places where your saves could end up: https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Glossary:Game_data#Windows_data_paths

I would not move my appdata folders to another drive if I where you, just have a decent online backup tool if you are worried about your saves.

[TheYutzWithTheHorse]

Originally posted by Forcen:

Games can save in lots of places on your hard drive, some games store saves in the game folder in Steam, sometimes they save to the registry.

Steam only handles the saves if the game use Steam Cloud, if it doesn't then it all up the game. Search for the game on https://pcgamingwiki.com for more info.

If your worry is finding the saves before formatting your PC or something then I reccomend you use http://www.gamesave-manager.com/

Here are some other places where your saves could end up: https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Glossary:Game_data#Windows_data_paths

I would not move my appdata folders to another drive if I where you, just have a decent online backup tool if you are worried about your saves.

At this point its mostly a matter of running out of space on my C: drive. I had origanally formatted my drives so all of my games would save on the Z: drive along with Steam. For some reason though several games are straying from the plan and are eating up space. While they aren't slowing my PC down just yet I can feel it coming. Some games are already crashing saying "not enough disk space."

[Forcen]

The save files can't be the biggest culprit here right? Have you ran the windows disk cleanup tool recently? Run it as admin to find old windows files and stuff like that.

Or run this script: https://github.com/bmrf/standalone_scripts/blob/master/TempFileCleanup.bat

If stuff crashes because of low disk space then you either have odd pc problems or you need to do a better job at freeing up space.

Another good tool: http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/

[Lou'Dneiv]

Originally posted by ahlfb7:

Originally posted by untalent:

This is so easy lol Idk why no one answer this yet. Ok right click on MY DOCUMENTS then PROPERTIES. Then click on LOCATION on top left of the window. Then click MOVE to any drive you want. Any question ask me lol.

Man, you saved my life, thx

Same here. You, sir, have my eternal gratitude for pointing this such simple and yet most efficient solution.

[roger ✪]

Originally posted by Shaka:

I have an SSD, Local Disk (C:), which has Windows Installed with other programs like my Drivers, Office, Skype, etc. and I have a 1TB HDD, Drive (F:), dedicated to Gaming. I installed Steam on the HDD so that the folder for game installs stays as its default (I noticed if you change install location outside of steammapps, Steam client does not recognize that game was installed and says install, rather than play).

Main question is,

While my game installs are all on the HDD which is dedicated for gaming, is there any way to change where game save files save. What I have noticed is that game save files will still save to
--Local Disk (c:) -> Users -> Luca -> My Documents-- All games saves are located in a game folder in -My documents or in -My Games- (folder within the -My documents- foder).

What I have noticed is that if I move a game folder to Drive (F:), the HDD, the game does not find any saves and requests to make a new game unless I move game save files back into -My documents-. I assume that the games are coded in a way that sets game save files to the -My documents- rather than just finding wherever the folder with the name of the game on it is located.

Is there any way to change where game saves from steam save to?

Thank you!

[Gr3atsaga]

Originally posted by HG | Kigen:

untalent, on Windows 7 that only changes where Explorer thinks My Documents is.

The games themselves generally use hard coded paths. Steam does not choose to store anything in My Documents. So this would be a question best for the game developers of the game you are seeing this with.

No. Just no. OBVIOUSLY programs use hard coded paths... unless you specifically make a program that writes to random locations (which wouldn't be good practice for anything that wants to be able to read those files later). THAT is not the issue. The issue is that the location feature only re-routes read calls, it does NOT re-route write calls. The fact that games use a "hard coded path" means nothing.

The problem is that the location feature is deceiving, it's not explained what it does very well.

The more proper technique would be using symbolic links, which re-route both read and write calls. But, that in itself has issues for these directories...

If the location feature only "changes where Explorer thinks My Documents is" then I wouldn't be able to use the feature, load up a game... and have access to my save files. The game obviously was able to find the saves... but they were moved... it's almost like the location feature re-routed the game's read call to the hard coded directory, and the game was able to receive the save. And yes, I disable cloud saving for the game before trying.

[patje]

Originally posted by untalent:

This is so easy lol Idk why no one answer this yet. Ok right click on MY DOCUMENTS then PROPERTIES. Then click on LOCATION on top left of the window. Then click MOVE to any drive you want. Any question ask me lol.

i can`t do it

[Sulliver]

ow