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Steam Saved Games question (transporting saves between computers)


peteer01
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Probably a silly question, and I can look into the details of how to do it if it's reasonably easy to do, but I wanted ask how tough/easy it is to transfer saved games between different computers, and whether or not it depends on the game.

 

Basically, I have some games that I want to start playing that I can play on my current laptop, but I have enough games to keep me busy that if transferring saves is a pain in the butt, I can stick with games that I don't really care about the save files until I start gaming on my gaming PC.

 

Does anyone have a good answer for this? Does it depend on the game? Does Steam make things more or less complicated? Will it matter that I'm moving from one motherboard/OS/etc to another? Can I save directly to a USB thumb drive or network drive and then load off that same drive from another computer, simply logging into Steam on that computer? (As you can see, I have enough questions to not even know exactly where to start, that's why I'm coming to you guys for help. :) )

Edited by peteer01
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Depends on the game. But try using GameSave Manager and see if it can make things easy for you. Personally, I've had success with transferring stuff from an external to my internal the once or two I've re-formatted my computer. You just have to remember where the files are located. I didn't like GSM when I used it ages ago, but now it seems to be great. PXOD did a write-up on it recently which reminded me about it.

Edited by Faiblesse Des Sens
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Ugh, fucking hell, had like 3 whole paragraphs written up but then some copy/paste "accident" made me lose it all and fuck retyping it all.

 

Basically, it varies from game to game. Some will put them in their Steam directory, some will upload them to Steam Cloud in which case you don't need to worry about it, some will put them in My Documents and then some will put them in weird ass places like

 

C:\Users\your username\AppData\ etc...

 

Some games will also use different directories depending on the version of windows you're running.

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some will put them in My Documents and then some will put them in weird ass places like

 

C:\Users\your username\AppData\ etc...

 

Some games will also use different directories depending on the version of windows you're running.

That's what I was kind of afraid of, and finding it hard to articulate. Both computers are running Win 7, but one's running Win 7 Pro and the other's running Win 7 Home Premium. I'm also not 100% sure, but my user name (and the user data folder) should be the same on both computer...but if it wasn't, would that possibly cause issues with a save?

 

I didn't like GSM when I used it ages ago, but now it seems to be great. PXOD did a write-up on it recently which reminded me about it.

You mean this one? I had no idea what GSM meant, but I searched for it on the site, and found that article. Sounds fantastic, as it also solves my concerns about SSD space being eaten up by large games I won't play much, while wanted other games on the SSD. (Maybe move games to the HDD after I beat them if I don't plan on playing them again?)

 

Haven't tried it yet...but it sounds like a great idea. Anyone have any experience using this regularly? (Especially if you've taken advantage of the SSD Steam Spreader function! Also, how is Dropbox? I'm usually against relying on the cloud, but solely as a free back up for save files, I could see that being an acceptably good idea.)

Edited by peteer01
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I used the full name before shortening it! But yes, that's it. Dropbox is great. Easy to use. Also, if you sign up, use a referral from me! http://db.tt/2TIadOq

Yes you did. Sorry, my brain is overloaded getting ready for all the TLAs I'll need for my next Cisco exam, so my alphabet soup goggles locked in on GSM, since right now acronyms are important. :blush:

 

If any of you can't figure out, TLA is defined below. But even if you don't know, you can figure out it pretty easily:

Three Letter Acroynm

 

Edited by peteer01
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Didn't read the whole thread, but using Dropbox for savegame backup is a great idea! If that was what you meant by using it...

 

I'm thinking of junctioning the savegame folder to dropbox.

 

Of course, with my savegame habits (over 7GB of skyrim saves!) my dropbox would probably be full in a few weeks...

 

EDIT: This is so cool because Dropbox has history. So if you accidentally overwrite 1 of your saves, it will be so easy to revert!

Edited by elev3n
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@eleven: Game save manager, the program mentioned second post in, has a feature to backup the save archive to dropbox. But you could manually add individual saves too if you wanted. Personally I wouldn't use it to save directly to mainly cos of the bandwidth issues you'll start to encounter. Personally when I've plonked a Game Save Manager Archive in there I've trimmed it of certain games due to their size (it'd quickly push me up to my Dropbox limit and I've a pretty big free account) So I'd just set certain games to auto-backup periodically then it's less of a hassle with Dropbox.

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