Why Does Steam Ask Whether to Upload or Download to the Cloud
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| I've recently gotten into Risk of Pelting two, a corking Roguelike that features character and detail unlocks as you progress through the game. Being enamored with the championship, I too downloaded information technology to my laptop to play. Huh, my laptop seems to take downloaded an older version from the cloud; oh well. I'll but close up and manually port information technology from my desktop tomorrow. Today I log into my desktop and find that the cloud OVERWROTE MY DESKTOP FILE WITH THE VERSION ON MY LAPTOP. A week of unlocks? Gone. Well permit me check the online versions on their deject management site. Oh, each title has ONE VERSION WITH NO BACKUP. OK, there must be an erstwhile version on my SSD. NOPE, THE CLOUD JUST OVERWRITES EVERYTHING WITHOUT ARCHIVING THE Terminal VERSION THAT WAS DISCARDED. And so now I can see the unlocks on my achievements, merely none are available in game. Equally many are luck-dependent, I likely won't replicate them without considerable time and endeavor. It'south merely a terrible design all around. Groovy for a unmarried machine but a constant mess with whatsoever sort of..yous know...syncing. Give me the choice to "push" and "pull" saves from the cloud space past game instead of leaving it up to the automated system. Relieve multiple versions. Foreclose desperation. |
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| I've had multiple instances were as was asked whether to employ the local or server version in instance of conflicts. Perchance the implementation for that game is buggy? Sucks, though. Fifty. |
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| I've had multiple instances were every bit was asked whether to apply the local or server version in case of conflicts. Maybe the implementation for that game is buggy? Sucks, though. L. Yes I've seen that, just only in some instances. My theory in this case is that for some reason this game didn't sync during the week, and so the calendar week-onetime save was loaded to my laptop and the timestamp was updated, meaning that it was the latest and greatest the next time I logged onto my desktop, triggering a replacement. For this particular game you can manually "cheque off" achievements and thus master unlocks in your save file, so I managed to recreate the bulk of my progress in nigh an hour of research and editing. This wouldn't be an event if there were backups on replacement, to cover issues. If y'all swap between two machines ofttimes, missed syncs are poorly mitigated, specially as Steam seems to only enquire sometimes whether or non you want to apply the local or cloud file. |
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| I've had multiple instances were as was asked whether to use the local or server version in example of conflicts. Peradventure the implementation for that game is buggy? Sucks, though. L. Yeah I've seen that, but merely in some instances. My theory in this case is that for some reason this game didn't sync during the week, so the calendar week-one-time save was loaded to my laptop and the timestamp was updated, meaning that information technology was the latest and greatest the next time I logged onto my desktop, triggering a replacement. For this item game yous can manually "bank check off" achievements and thus main unlocks in your save file, so I managed to recreate the bulk of my progress in about an hour of research and editing. This wouldn't be an upshot if there were backups on replacement, to embrace issues. If yous bandy between two machines frequently, missed syncs are poorly mitigated, especially as Steam seems to only enquire sometimes whether or not you want to utilize the local or cloud file. Is it Steam cloud saves in particular I wonder though? I thought this was more in the developer'due south dorsum chiliad, as the service generally only works but the results in private games will vary. Ideally if it sees a discrepancy in cloud saves - what y'all have from whatever local source you're connecting from and what is the latest version saved to cloud successfully - information technology should ask you lot which you want, with a designation of which is local/cloud and which is newer/older. I come across this semi-regularly, as I use a combination of GeForce NOW, and my own gaming laptop, to run games. Some games are pesky and don't handle cloud saves VS local saves well. Some games will weirdly attempt to marry the differences. Easiest/best IMO is the case I gave above where it asks you which you want and labels things clearly. |
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| I'one thousand a big anti-fan of Steam, but syncing stuff, whether it's to the deject, or on the desktop to something similar a PDA, has always been a hard thing to do. Nobody has ever come up with a perfect implementation, you'll always come across devastating instances of it non working as expected similar this. Some companies have made millions off patents that get you 90% at that place, because prior solutions simply got you 85% there. The primary affair you tin can do is have skilful backups, I guess, which is true of computing in general. 🤷♂️ |
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| What got me to turn it off was Bethesda games (Fallout, Oblivion) where it seemed to exist trying to sync the unabridged salvage game folder every fourth dimension. Exit the game and Steam is still syncing tens of minutes later. I don't switch between devices, and then I only care about backups and I can do that myself to an AWS S3 bucket or USB hard drive. |
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| What got me to turn it off was Bethesda games (Fallout, Oblivion) where it seemed to exist trying to sync the entire save game binder every fourth dimension. Get out the game and Steam is still syncing tens of minutes later. It might only be syncing one salve game. That's 150MB in size considering those games runway everything. |
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| Dominion #1 If Steam asks you to sync manually, become and back up your save starting time! I take merely been screwed in one case, that was enough... Rule #ii Merely disable cloud saves for a given title if you don't crave them. |
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| What got me to plow information technology off was Bethesda games (Fallout, Oblivion) where it seemed to be trying to sync the entire save game binder every time. Exit the game and Steam is still syncing tens of minutes after. It might only be syncing one save game. That'south 150MB in size because those games rail everything. Information technology shouldn't taken ten minutes to upload 150MB though... |
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| I'chiliad a big anti-fan of Steam, but syncing stuff, whether it's to the cloud, or on the desktop to something like a PDA, has always been a hard matter to do. Nobody has ever come up with a perfect implementation, you'll always come across devastating instances of it not working equally expected like this. Some companies have made millions off patents that become yous 90% at that place, because prior solutions simply got you 85% there. The main thing you lot tin do is have good backups, I gauge, which is true of computing in general. 🤷♂️ If your solution is imperfect, give the user more back-up and command. Why aren't there manual upload/download buttons to let picky users to choose when to backup to the deject? Why aren't there multiple versions on the local and cloud drives for these games with 1MB salve files? In theory this is an amazing service, as otherwise you would have to dig effectually your drive for where each and every game drops its saves and backup all fifty of them, just the implementation is just primative. |
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| Not looking to minimize your experience, but I will offer as a counter that Steam's Cloud Sync saved me a lot of grief when my PC's SSD died and took with it my ~90% complete Fallout 4 game that the backup app somehow missed. |
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| I'm a big anti-fan of Steam, but syncing stuff, whether information technology's to the cloud, or on the desktop to something similar a PDA, has always been a hard thing to practise. Nobody has ever come up with a perfect implementation, you'll always come up across devastating instances of information technology not working as expected like this. Some companies have made millions off patents that get you 90% there, because prior solutions only got y'all 85% there. The main thing you can do is accept skilful backups, I estimate, which is true of calculating in general. 🤷♂️ ... except, of course, that this example is the kind of thing that information technology should be fairly like shooting fish in a barrel to make 100% reliable. I mean it would be trivial to code a conflict-free replicated data structure for anything like game unlocks. Then you lot get 100% easily. |
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| Not looking to minimize your experience, simply I will offering equally a counter that Steam's Cloud Sync saved me a lot of grief when my PC's SSD died and took with it my ~90% complete Fallout four game that the fill-in app somehow missed. A useful tool implemented desperately can still be of assistance. Asking for a manual upload/download function is simply improving cloud backup. |
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| This over again? I'll simply repost what I said in OP'due south other thread: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1477112 Quote: I'm in total agreement. Also Steam has the infuriating addiction of reverting to cloud saves despite repeatedly disabling information technology, simply by switching between offline and online mode. And then side by side time I switch it online, the stupid fucking thing keeps trying to pull cloud files that haven't been relevant for days, files that shouldn't even be there in the kickoff place. But cloud storage sucks Camel Testicles in general; just another infringement on my right to command and access my own data, masquerading as a "service". Given cloud has repeatedly failed to administer personal information, why would anyone await relieve files to piece of work properly? Deject's supposed to represent a utopia of "everything updates automatically for me". Instead what really happens is "I lost hours of progress because information technology sync'd old data" or "I took the whole day off to play my game but couldn't because the cloud server was downwardly, so I couldn't access my progress". Requite me the DOS way with games having saves and config files in the same binder of the game. Makes the whole matter completely portable, robust and transparent due to sheer simplicity. OP has two options:
I practise option #2 and I've yet to experience any failure. I have at to the lowest degree iii copies of my current progress. It too doesn't assistance that modernistic games shit data all over the system using combinations of the registry, my documents, %user%, <steam> and whatever other orifice they please. Because...reasons. I've actually seen several Steam games that decided to switch where they saved their data halfway through the game , and information technology looked like I had lost all progress. Fortunately manually syncing both folders from my backups stock-still it. Skilful luck doing that with deject that doesn't even know near the other folder . Once more, if all games used \Save within their binder similar DOS games did, things would be much easier for everyone. But instead we take the monstrosity that is "progress". |
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| Run into, you wouldn't have this problem if you got out and got some fresh air. [/U-99's mom] |
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| This again? I'll but repost what I said in OP's other thread: Spoiler: evidence https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1477112 Quote: I'yard in total agreement. Besides Steam has the infuriating habit of reverting to cloud saves despite repeatedly disabling it, just by switching between offline and online mode. So adjacent fourth dimension I switch it online, the stupid fucking thing keeps trying to pull deject files that haven't been relevant for days, files that shouldn't even be there in the first place. But cloud storage sucks Camel Testicles in general; just another infringement on my correct to control and access my own information, masquerading as a "service". Given deject has repeatedly failed to administer personal data, why would anyone look save files to work properly? Cloud's supposed to represent a utopia of "everything updates automatically for me". Instead what actually happens is "I lost hours of progress because it sync'd old data" or "I took the whole day off to play my game but couldn't considering the cloud server was down, so I couldn't access my progress". Requite me the DOS way with games having saves and config files in the aforementioned folder of the game. Makes the whole thing completely portable, robust and transparent due to sheer simplicity. OP has two options:
I practise option #two and I've yet to experience whatsoever failure. I accept at least three copies of my electric current progress. It as well doesn't help that modern games shit data all over the system using combinations of the registry, my documents, %user%, <steam> and whatever other orifice they please. Because...reasons. I've actually seen several Steam games that decided to switch where they saved their data halfway through the game , and it looked similar I had lost all progress. Fortunately manually syncing both folders from my backups fixed information technology. Good luck doing that with cloud that doesn't even know about the other folder . Again, if all games used \Relieve inside their folder like DOS games did, things would be much easier for everyone. Only instead we have the monstrosity that is "progress". Luddites, gotta love 'em. I must give credit where credit is due and BFG10K did find the OP'southward aforementioned screed duplicated. I idea it sounded familiar... And so to clear upward a few things: The event hither is specifically about syncing cloud saves between two different machines, not deject saves in general (that really belongs somewhere else). I have had null issues with thousands upon thousands of hours playing steam and other games on a single machine. Deject saves on steam are, in fact, viewable and downloadable. Granted information technology'due south not very credible (I had to google it) but https://store.steampowered.com/account/remotestorage is where you want to go (it apparently isn't in the steam app itself). From there yous can view and download any and all files. Granted it wont help U-99 at this betoken but because this is the second time it happened it may be wise to support the PC/laptop or steam relieve manually before swapping devices. Information technology'due south happened twice and considering both take been indie games might be the well-nigh prudent activeness here. Yous (BFG10K) brought up all the silly save locations and they actually aren't featherbrained. In fact from a back up *and* multi user perspective they're bright. Program files can exist reinstalled and have upwards a lot of space and so no demand to back them up and the Os is going to exist wiped from time to time making a cardinal user data location ideal. Wipe out everything *but* user data. You lot can't do that when everything is saved under C:\programfiles\whatevergame\random save location. I too hail from the before times and know some games save the, um saves, correct in the program directory, some have a \save directory, some do the C:\game\data\user\files\zzo2io\vv613.tp1 route. The other upside is user profiles. Not something I've used outside of the corporate world and can't recall using for gaming at home but in a nutshell a game is installed one time on my calculator. I play and go to level x or whatever, impale the DRM monster. U-99's more successful brother U-107 comes over and switches the windows profile then he has his favorite wallpaper/system sounds/other arrangement settings. He also can play his own profile of whatsoever game provided the save is under a %user% account. The "proficient 'ol" C:\game\salve method does not. Now I know you'll come back with "But I don't utilize %thing% only others practise and this is exactly why it exists. Think neither Windows not Steam nor the Queen of England make up one's mind where salvage data is located. Information technology'southward up to the programmer. Besides in the CLI days aye fewer characters you had to type the better so near executables were C:\gamename\game.exe and the \saves replacing game.exe for a save location. But now? if you lot're mourning the loss of CLI/DOS prompt y'all truly are lost More specifically for this game developer who has released 3 games isn't going to be on the upwards and up with cloud saves like a more established studio. They make games not enterprise level cloud back ups. What and when they backed up the information to steam/GOG/EPIC is entirely within their purview equally is the /silent tag they can use and so you never see the disharmonize alert. At that place was a time before deject saves became a thing and when the drive died nosotros were But Out of Luck (SOL) unless nosotros actually backed up our data. Speaking of which U-99 you should create restore points and update them every nighttime. Give them a ton of disk space and you'll have enough of curlicue dorsum points or at to the lowest degree back up your files straight from steam (information technology allows you). Bad game software gonna be bad afterwards all - fallout 4 and the slagging of autosaves comes to mind where if you relied on autosave and you had a crash upon entering a new surface area you could wipe out hours of gameplay *if* y'all relied on autosave. Stupid yep only certainly not Steam'due south fault if it syncs a bad save. |
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| Meet, you wouldn't take this problem if y'all got out and got some fresh air. [/U-99'southward mom] But and then how would I postal service in the Soap Box? |
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| This over again? I'll just repost what I said in OP'due south other thread: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1477112 Quote: I'yard in full agreement. Also Steam has the infuriating addiction of reverting to cloud saves despite repeatedly disabling it, just by switching betwixt offline and online way. So next time I switch it online, the stupid fucking thing keeps trying to pull cloud files that oasis't been relevant for days, files that shouldn't even be there in the first place. But deject storage sucks Camel Testicles in general; just another infringement on my right to control and access my ain data, masquerading as a "service". Given cloud has repeatedly failed to administer personal data, why would anyone await save files to work properly? Cloud's supposed to represent a utopia of "everything updates automatically for me". Instead what actually happens is "I lost hours of progress considering it sync'd old data" or "I took the whole 24-hour interval off to play my game just couldn't because the cloud server was down, and so I couldn't access my progress". Give me the DOS fashion with games having saves and config files in the same binder of the game. Makes the whole thing completely portable, robust and transparent due to sheer simplicity. OP has two options:
I do pick #2 and I've yet to feel whatever failure. I have at least iii copies of my current progress. Information technology also doesn't help that modern games shit data all over the system using combinations of the registry, my documents, %user%, <steam> and whatever other orifice they please. Considering...reasons. I've actually seen several Steam games that decided to switch where they saved their data halfway through the game , and it looked like I had lost all progress. Fortunately manually syncing both folders from my backups fixed it. Good luck doing that with cloud that doesn't even know about the other folder . Again, if all games used \Salvage inside their folder like DOS games did, things would be much easier for anybody. Only instead we have the monstrosity that is "progress". Yes, I posted a similar venting thread before, as it's a recurring outcome. I finally gave up and disabled cloud backup, as the run a risk of a mis-sync is just likewise loftier. Any tips for quickly synching save files between machines? This is 1000x more vexing than it needs to be due to every game seemingly dropping files in random spots. If there was just i folder I could create a desktop->laptop and laptop-> desktop script and be done with it. All this aside, Steam Deject is |-| that close to being bang-up, if I was given the option to instead take transmission command of when to upload and download the files for each game. Then I could utilise the service to rapidly move between machines with known good data. Simply sadly everything is left to automation that tin can blow up in your face |
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| Quote: Any tips for speedily synching salve files betwixt machines? This is 1000x more than vexing than it needs to be due to every game seemingly dropping files in random spots. If at that place was simply i folder I could create a desktop->laptop and laptop-> desktop script and exist done with it. Dropbox will permit you select arbitrary folders on your computer to sync, and it offers versioning as well. If y'all want to be completely sure you won't lose whatsoever data, you could set a Git repository somewhere on your car and update it manually from time to time (and and then push to a remote). Should exist doable with no more than than 30 minutes of scripting. Yous'd need to exercise a little bit of scripting for each game, which would be a drawback; only until Valve fixes their jank, what tin can you practice. On the "reducing the scope of the problem" side: your mileage may vary, simply these days I'1000 a fan of just playing ane game at a time, on only one machine. Not considering of sync issues, just considering of limited time and attending. This could besides help with the above. |
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| Quote: On the "reducing the scope of the problem" side: your mileage may vary, just these days I'm a fan of but playing one game at a time, on only 1 automobile. Not because of sync issues, just because of limited time and attention. This could also help with the in a higher place. I mean, if this was my style of play, I wouldn't have the consequence in the first place. |
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| And so, caveat emptor: Well, I merely rebooted my computer overnight (Windows update), and booted up Griftlands this morning, and my "run in progress" was from that week ago. Quit out, and sure enough, the Settings now has Deject Saves checked On. And so, it didn't ask, changed the Setting for me, and "synced" for the Epic Launcher apparently doesn't even check that the local file is newer. Note this is all on a unmarried calculator. This would be "nearly worst example cloud sync," except that when I turned Cloud Saves off, and rebooted the Epic Launcher, I got dorsum my progress. So somehow it didn't sync per se, merely loaded my cloud save directly or something, simply without overwriting my local copy, something like that? Anyway, the whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth. At present I experience similar I have to manually back up my Epic game saves afterwards each game session or something, just to protect myself from the launcher behavior. TL;DR: The Epic Launcher might turn cloud saves back on without asking, equally well as loading your Cloud Salve instead of your local salvage, threatening loss of your progress since you turned it off. |
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| TL;DR: The Epic Launcher might plow cloud saves back on without asking, as well equally loading your Deject Save instead of your local save, threatening loss of your progress since you turned information technology off. I'grand not a huge fan/defender of the Epic launcher, simply as was mentioned elsewhere in the thread, the example most often is that the game's developer is responsible for the implementation. The only reason I mention this is that I've recently seen the Epic launcher compare local versions to cloud versions. The "scare" about losing progress is almost certainly a product of the developers too - or perhaps I've seen similar letters and not been scared by them. |
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| It's depressing that something every bit simple as comparing files between cloud and local storage, and letting user select based on some meta-information is apparently hard to practice... Show me the time stamps of the two files and the location (Cloud - Last Modify, 02/04 2022 at 13:44, Local - Last Change 04/04 2022 at 16:43) and just let me make up one's mind. Odds are I'll ever want newest, and there can exist a button for that, simply at least information technology's transparent. L. |
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| It'south depressing that something as simple equally comparing files betwixt cloud and local storage, and letting user select based on some meta-information is apparently hard to practice... Evidence me the time stamps of the two files and the location (Deject - Last Alter, 02/04 2022 at xiii:44, Local - Last Change 04/04 2022 at 16:43) and just permit me determine. Odds are I'll always desire newest, and there can be a button for that, but at least information technology'south transparent. That works for games that shop each save in a separate file that gets created at signal of save, but that's by no means universal. |
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| Information technology's depressing that something as simple as comparison files between cloud and local storage, and letting user select based on some meta-data is apparently difficult to do... Show me the fourth dimension stamps of the two files and the location (Cloud - Last Alter, 02/04 2022 at 13:44, Local - Last Change 04/04 2022 at 16:43) and just allow me decide. Odds are I'll always want newest, and there tin be a button for that, but at least it'due south transparent. That works for games that store each salvage in a separate file that gets created at bespeak of save, but that's by no means universal. Games that store each save as a separate file just sync upwardly all of the files. That would be the method for a game that uses a single file for each save. The other thing is that asking the user to perform their own conflict detection is expecting a lot of the average user. Things similar cloud sync aren't built for the people who know what they're doing and could hands curlicue their ain sync service. It's built for the people who would become dislocated over a timestamp. As long as the number of errors due to mismatched timestamps on the automatic side is lower, in amass, than the expected errors when cloud saves are managed manually across the tens of millions of users the calculus will proceed to come up downwardly on the side of an auto sync, with no manual intervention, being preferred. That said, it would be trivial for Steam to automatically keep the final x versions and to provide you lot with a directly link to the cloud saves and then you lot can marking a reversion. That wouldn't be something that any game would even demand to know about in guild to work. |
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| It's depressing that something as simple as comparing files between cloud and local storage, and letting user select based on some meta-data is apparently difficult to do... Testify me the fourth dimension stamps of the two files and the location (Cloud - Last Change, 02/04 2022 at 13:44, Local - Last Change 04/04 2022 at 16:43) and simply let me determine. Odds are I'll always want newest, and there can be a push button for that, simply at least information technology's transparent. That works for games that store each salvage in a split up file that gets created at point of save, only that's past no means universal. Games that shop each relieve every bit a split up file simply sync up all of the files. That would be the method for a game that uses a single file for each save. The other thing is that asking the user to perform their own conflict detection is expecting a lot of the boilerplate user. Things like cloud sync aren't congenital for the people who know what they're doing and could easily roll their own sync service. Information technology'southward congenital for the people who would get confused over a timestamp. Equally long every bit the number of errors due to mismatched timestamps on the automatic side is lower, in aggregate, than the expected errors when deject saves are managed manually across the tens of millions of users the calculus will proceed to come downwardly on the side of an motorcar sync, with no manual intervention, being preferred. That said, it would be trivial for Steam to automatically keep the final x versions and to provide yous with a direct link to the cloud saves so you tin mark a reversion. That wouldn't exist something that whatsoever game would fifty-fifty need to know about in social club to work. That'south why you have a "Use newest salvage" button, and the compare timestamps is subconscious for coincidental users (behind a "Show details"). Otherwise we are dorsum to the software trying to decide, and not always doing a good job. Though I'd concur more often than not you lot always desire the newest file for a save, it's not like people are doing versioning of saves very oft. I've several times been presented with just "Use Deject / Use Local" which is kinda useless if I don't know which version is near recent. Seeing when each file was saved would assistance. And again, this would but happen in conflicts where there isn't a good way to tell which is the correct file. L. |
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| Fun update on Steam Cloud Sync: If my laptop loses its connection and kicks me off Steam, deject sync turns itself on when I log back in. |
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Source: https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1477814
Fix Steam Cloud Sync Error With These Troubleshooting Methods
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