Save games

[CraZy DoC]

Dear Steam platform developers! I have not so much a problem as a big request to you - please make it possible to save games to a randomly selected or created folder on my disks in addition to your cloud. The fact that all game saves end up on the system disk by default does not suit me at all, since sometimes you have to reinstall the operating system, and with it all saves are lost. The cloud helps, of course, but it's very small and requires an internet connection, and I'd like to have a backup option for uploading my game progress offline, just in case.

[Jaunitta 🌸]

The games developers are responsible for where saves are set not Steam.
It's usualy not acceptable to save to a temp disc such as USB.
Windows identfies USB as not perminent such our internal windows drive.
Best and safest option is to buy a large WD HDD USB and connect it then back up your files for saves / screenshots . Then you will always have them safe.
Replace the USB every 5 or so years.

[Felix]

good job bro, nice.

[nullable]

Originally posted by CraZy DoC:

Dear Steam platform developers! I have not so much a problem as a big request to you - please make it possible to save games to a randomly selected or created folder on my disks in addition to your cloud. The fact that all game saves end up on the system disk by default does not suit me at all, since sometimes you have to reinstall the operating system, and with it all saves are lost. The cloud helps, of course, but it's very small and requires an internet connection, and I'd like to have a backup option for uploading my game progress offline, just in case.

Save games have always been saved to disk, and and always will be. Cloud saving is a nice backup/sharing option, that's it.

As far as

The fact that all game saves end up on the system disk by default does not suit me at all, since sometimes you have to reinstall the operating system, and with it all saves are lost.

What are your circumstances where backing up important data are so impossible for you that the whole software industry needs to change?

You should look into https://www.gamesave-manager.com/, you can store the archives you create to whatever cloud storage you prefer. This is all well within your power and responsibility to do for yourself. It's not the game developers job to manage your data for you.

[CraZy DoC]

Originally posted by nullable:

Originally posted by CraZy DoC:

Dear Steam platform developers! I have not so much a problem as a big request to you - please make it possible to save games to a randomly selected or created folder on my disks in addition to your cloud. The fact that all game saves end up on the system disk by default does not suit me at all, since sometimes you have to reinstall the operating system, and with it all saves are lost. The cloud helps, of course, but it's very small and requires an internet connection, and I'd like to have a backup option for uploading my game progress offline, just in case.

Save games have always been saved to disk, and and always will be. Cloud saving is a nice backup/sharing option, that's it.

As far as

The fact that all game saves end up on the system disk by default does not suit me at all, since sometimes you have to reinstall the operating system, and with it all saves are lost.

What are your circumstances where backing up important data are so impossible for you that the whole software industry needs to change?

You should look into https://www.gamesave-manager.com/, you can store the archives you create to whatever cloud storage you prefer. This is all well within your power and responsibility to do for yourself. It's not the game developers job to manage your data for you.

Dear, Have you read carefully what I wrote? I wrote not about the fact that they are saved to disk, but about the fact that they are saved to the SYSTEM disk by default. And it is impossible to change this. And there is no need to talk about "the entire industry" when it is enough to add just one submenu in STЕАM. And as for cloud storage, I wrote that there is not always the Internet to use it. Ordinary archives can be copied yourself, but it takes so much time, starting from finding these saves (they are not in the same folder yet and not to tell you about it) and ending with the assembly that I don't even want to talk about it. And besides, we do not live at the dawn of the development of computer programs to do everything manually.

[William Shakesman]

There is no standard single save file. Each game has a different location, thanks in part to Microsoft changing the standards on this with their characteristic wit.

That said, Steam DOES know where the saves are for each cloud game, but they do not and cannot know for non cloud games.

You should be able to pull out the old appdata and documents directories before reload though. That would clear 95% of the issues. Is that not the standard practice?

[BJWyler]

Originally posted by CraZy DoC:

Originally posted by nullable:

Save games have always been saved to disk, and and always will be. Cloud saving is a nice backup/sharing option, that's it.

As far as



What are your circumstances where backing up important data are so impossible for you that the whole software industry needs to change?

You should look into https://www.gamesave-manager.com/, you can store the archives you create to whatever cloud storage you prefer. This is all well within your power and responsibility to do for yourself. It's not the game developers job to manage your data for you.

Dear, Have you read carefully what I wrote? I wrote not about the fact that they are saved to disk, but about the fact that they are saved to the SYSTEM disk by default. And it is impossible to change this. And there is no need to talk about "the entire industry" when it is enough to add just one submenu in STЕАM. And as for cloud storage, I wrote that there is not always the Internet to use it. Ordinary archives can be copied yourself, but it takes so much time, starting from finding these saves (they are not in the same folder yet and not to tell you about it) and ending with the assembly that I don't even want to talk about it. And besides, we do not live at the dawn of the development of computer programs to do everything manually.

As someone else mentioned, the developers determine how and where their game files are stored. Steam has no control over that, and it really can't without modifying the game itself - and that's a hard no.

What should be standard is you backing up critical files and folders before reinstalling your OS. And if you have to reinstall your OS so frequently as to this being an issue, the real issue you need to look into is why you need to reinstall your OS so much. In the 30 odd years I've been using Windows, I've had to reformat and reinstall at most only 2 or 3 times.

[nullable]

Originally posted by CraZy DoC:

Dear, Have you read carefully what I wrote? I wrote not about the fact that they are saved to disk, but about the fact that they are saved to the SYSTEM disk by default.

Because that's the only disk guaranteed to exist. Lots of systems only have one disk. So.... what should the default be? Novel idea... the thing that's going to exist.

Regardless, lots of data is written to the system disk by default. And a lot of save games are written to the user Documents folder, but you can configure that to exist on a secondary drive. I do, because it addresses one of your complaints for more than just games.

Originally posted by CraZy DoC:

And it is impossible to change this. And there is no need to talk about "the entire industry" when it is enough to add just one submenu in STЕАM.

No. Steam doesn't manage game save locations, that's managed by the game itself.

There's just not going to be a way to control all save games locations from a single setting anywhere in Windows or Steam.

Your best bet is to use https://www.gamesave-manager.com/ set up a schedule, archive the save games off on a secondary drive. It's regularly updated to track all possible save locations for a majority of games, because they can be all over the place.

Backups are good.
Backups on a secondary drive are good too.

It might not be exactly what you want, or the way that you want it. But what's more important, the result or the implementation?

Originally posted by CraZy DoC:

And as for cloud storage, I wrote that there is not always the Internet to use it. Ordinary archives can be copied yourself, but it takes so much time, starting from finding these saves (they are not in the same folder yet and not to tell you about it) and ending with the assembly that I don't even want to talk about it. And besides, we do not live at the dawn of the development of computer programs to do everything manually.

Not exactly clear what you're saying. At any rate, there's already a solution. Take it or leave it.