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Game Saves Are Messing Up Our Drives!

By - | Views: 48,555
My first article on here! Hi everyone! :)
I am writing this in the hopes that someone who can do something about this, reads it
eg. Valve and all game devs I guess.

I now have over 300 games for Linux. In most ways this makes me very happy. But there is one thing that is getting me very unhappy. Currently games seem to be saving wherever the hell they like, it's making one hell of a mess. Heaven forbid I might want to ever backup all my savegames.
Just trying to navigate my home folder to find something important is becoming extremely annoying.

There needs to be some rules that are followed. Like making all games save in a certain place
like /home/user/.local/share/gamename or /home/user/.config/gamename or better yet /home/user/.savegame/gamename
If they save ANYWHERE else, DON'T let them onto Steam.


Just for fun here is my current installed saved games (at least that I can find).
I will only write the names of really bad examples though.

3 folders In ~/ and NOT HIDDEN! Devs really didn't care here.
3089/, eschalon_b1_saved_games/, PlanetExplorers/

18 hidden folders in ~/.

4 folders in ~/Documents/ - not hidden
(cause we wanna be like Windows, right? Or maybe we like opening our savegames with LibreOffice.)
7 Days To Die/, BladeofDestiny/, NeocoreGames/, Shadowrun Returns/
The Shadowrun Returns folder is completely empty and doesn't need to exist, it saves elsewhere.

12 folders in ~/.config/
Harebrained Schemes/ is another empty useless folder from Shadowrun Returns.
Zigfrag also has a folder in ~/.config/unity3d/
Snapshot also has a folder in ~/.local/share/

60 folders In ~/.config/unity3d/ (Lots of Unity engine games, but not all Unity games save here.)
Here are some standouts.
Bigmoon Studios_ S_A_/, Bigmoon Studios, S.A./ both for Jagged Alliance
Headup Games GmbH _ Co KG/, Headup Games GmbH & Co KG/ both for Shiny the Firefly
N_Fusion Interactive/, N-Fusion Interactive/ both for Leisure suit larry
Pathea/ Pathea Games/ both for Planet explorers + don't forget also has 3rd folder unhidden in ~/
The Fun Pimps also has a folder in ~/Documents
Entheogen for Zigfrak also has a folder in ~/.config/
Harebrained Schemes for Shadowrun Returns has other folders in ~/.config/ and ~/Documents/
Logic Artists for Expeditions-Conquistador has another folder in ~/.local/share/

24 folders In ~/.local/share/
Snapshot/ Snapshot also has another folder in ~/.config/

71 folders In ~/.local/share/Steam/userdata/somenumber/ for cloud saves

So the Top 3 messiest games
--Planet Explorers
1 folder in ~/ wich isn't hidden, holds the actual savegame
2 folders in ~/.config/unity3d/ both with identical config files

-- Shadowrun Returns:
1 empty folder in ~/Documents
1 empty folder in ~/.config/
1 folder in ~/.config/unity3d/ which has prefs
1 folder in /home/bjorn/.local/share/Steam/userdata/3790390/234650 which has the savegame

-- 3089 and Eschalon Book share this spot for not at least being hidden in ~/

I only have 154 of 301 Linux games installed. I can only imagine the mess if I install the rest. I try to keep my HDD nice and tidy, with everything in its place. I don't have my music collection splattered everywhere, it's all in my ~/Music. Pictures are all in ~/Pictures etc.

Please someone with some pull, FIX THIS. Until then I might make a separate user just for games.

Does this annoy anyone else? Voice your opinion, let them know this isn't acceptable. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Misc
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60 comments
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Orkultus Sep 30, 2014
Yeah i had noticed how long it took my home folder to load up. I hope they can re-direct the saves to somewhere in the .steam/ folder. Or at least in a .steamsave/ folder.
N30N Sep 30, 2014
@stan: rewritefs. I use it myself as I'm a organization freak. :)
adolson Sep 30, 2014
Quoting: DrMcCoy
Quoting: deBeauharnaisCreate a file named .hidden in the same folder than the unwanted folder.
Except that is something only Nautilus (aka "GNOME Files", the GNOME file manager) does, nothing and no one else.

Cinnamon/Nemo does it as well. It started as a fork, yes, but still, something other than GNOME/Nautilus does support the .hidden file.

It's not really a solution to the problem at hand, though.
fabertawe Sep 30, 2014
Random crap strewn throughout $HOME has bugged me as long as I've used Linux!

Re 3089... I put it to the dev a while back who replied - "just rename the directory to .3089 - I programmed the game to look for and use that directory first if it exists". Why "$HOME/3089" is even a possibility is just crazy.

Something randomly creates an empty "Documents" folder which I keep deleting. I'll find the culprit one day and when I do.... :><:
minj Sep 30, 2014
Linux: we need games!
Devs: here you go.
Linux: too many game save folders!
Devs: first-world problems.


Seriously, I approve this message.

My naughty list:

Quote~/:
.Broken Rules
.Cobra Mobile
.Nifflas
.dynamitejack
.frozenbyte
.klei
.paradoxinteractive (use to be in ~/Documents/)
.renpy
.sidhe
.uplink

With the amount of games available it's gonna be folder soup in any case.
Hence I would actually prefer ~/.local/share/games/$GAME_TITLE
Who has the time to learn 100 game studio names and their games?
adolson Sep 30, 2014
Quoting: fabertawe"just rename the directory to .3089 - I programmed the game to look for and use that directory first if it exists".

Well, that's pretty cool, actually!

Quoting: minjLinux: we need games!
Devs: here you go.
Linux: too many game save folders!
Devs: first-world problems.

Heh... Pretty much.

QuoteWith the amount of games available it's gonna be folder soup in any case.
Hence I would actually prefer ~/.local/share/games/$GAME_TITLE
Who has the time to learn 100 game studio names and their games?

It wouldn't solve the clutter problem, but if Game Stasis had taken off (seems to be abandoned), a good backup solution would have existed. I'm not aware of anything similar.
berarma Sep 30, 2014
Quoting: tuxisagamerActually, this is not limited to Linux games. Windows games are just as messy.

Windows is messy by nature. Probably no one notices the savegames.
fredrikfritte Sep 30, 2014
Good article skully
I agree and hope devs and valve can adress this, all saves in same folder would be nice.
No fun backing up disc with the mess

Agree on first world problem but its worth taking up
GoCorinthians Sep 30, 2014
Im fine with it...too much noise out of nothing!
adolson Sep 30, 2014
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: adolson
Quoting: fabertawe"just rename the directory to .3089 - I programmed the game to look for and use that directory first if it exists".
Well, that's pretty cool, actually!
IMO it just adds insult to injury.
At least he gives us a choice...
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