[Suggestion] Change default save location

(previously 'DEVELOPER') Private forum for registered community members. To register, please visit www.prison-architect.com/register.

Moderator: NBJeff

konso
level1
level1
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat May 03, 2014 9:04 pm

[Suggestion] Change default save location

Postby konso » Tue May 20, 2014 2:32 pm

This topic was touched a bit in this thread:
http://forums.introversion.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=17781

I think it's impractical to save games in Local AppData folder (eg. Users\(yourname)\AppData\Local\Introversion). I'd suggest using the user's Documents folder or Saved Games folder. This would make the savegame files easier to find (for editing or for backups). Also, Local AppData is meant for application settings, not savegames.

Some more thoughts on the subject:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/24/start-it-the-place-to-put-save-games/
User avatar
VoiD88
level5
level5
Posts: 1001
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:24 am
Location: Soltau, Germany
Contact:

Re: [Suggestion] Change default save location

Postby VoiD88 » Wed May 21, 2014 8:44 am

I actually agree with this in part, and not just for PA (which I realize is an Alpha, so I'm not THAT concerned about it yet, I just hope IV will change it in time :mrgreen: ).

The habit of saving game states, cache data and other relevant stuff on the C:\ drive that has sprung up among game developers in the last couple of years really annoys the hell out of me. My C:\ drive is a lot smaller than the other HDs, because it's meant to be for the operating system ONLY. I hate the fact that in most recent games, I cannot decide to save data in a subfolder of the game folder itself, which would make much more sense than on my system drive in my opinion. The worst example I ever saw was the game "Spore" which actually dumped over 3 f***ing gigabyte of graphical cache on my C:\ drive! :evil:

So here's one of the very few pleas I've made of the devs in this forum: PLEASE don't have the finished game use the C:\ drive for savegames ;)
User avatar
xander
level5
level5
Posts: 16869
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:41 pm
Location: Highland, CA, USA
Contact:

Re: [Suggestion] Change default save location

Postby xander » Wed May 21, 2014 5:00 pm

VoiD88 wrote:So here's one of the very few pleas I've made of the devs in this forum: PLEASE don't have the finished game use the C:\ drive for savegames ;)

I think that this is a problem not with individual game developers, but with Windows itself. While my experience with Windows is more limited than my experience with Mac and *NIX, my understanding is that Windows has a standard location where user data is supposed to be stored (similar to /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support on a Mac). There are good reasons to keep user data in one location, and to have such a standard directory. UNIX-style systems make is easy enough to put the /usr/ directory on any drive and have it work correctly (via symlinks). The problem is that the standard location for Windows is on the C:/ drive, and is difficult(?) to change.

That being said, since Windows is unlikely to change, the ability to choose a path would be nice.

xander
User avatar
Medu_Salem
level1
level1
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri May 16, 2014 6:42 pm

Re: [Suggestion] Change default save location

Postby Medu_Salem » Wed May 21, 2014 5:37 pm

@ Xander:

Ever since Windows Vista/7.... Windows has various locations to save Program Data...

First of all there's the default application folder(s):

C:\Program Files\ ... (for x64 and 32-bit only)
C:\Program Files (x86)\ ... (for 32-bit under x64)

They are changeable during installation (at least with most of the programs and games, some are being selfish and don't have this feature so you couldn't change the installation path)... and some of the programs put all their stuff in their, even user-account seperated stuff, which is just the worst as everybody can access it from there.

Then there are at least 2 locations where programs or games can save the user-account related data like for example save-games:

C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\ ... They are not changable. Can't move that to another drive/partition or folder. You'd probably have to fiddle around with the Registry breaking half of Windows and the installed Programs if you'd try to change it.


C:\Users\<user name>\Contacts\
C:\Users\<user name>\Desktop\
C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\ ... <- That's the most commonly used one by programs/games for savegames
C:\Users\<user name>\Downloads\
C:\Users\<user name>\Favorites\
C:\Users\<user name>\Links\
C:\Users\<user name>\Music\
C:\Users\<user name>\Pictures\
C:\Users\<user name>\Videos\
C:\Users\<user name>\Saved Games\
C:\Users\<user name>\Searches\

... Those are changeable individually if you set the default-location in each of the folder's properties. You can change their location to be literally everywhere, even on a network-mapped drive, as long as they are reacheable by windows upon start-up otherwise windows will freak out and probably break.

And if you use Game Platforms like Steam then there are also various games that put their savegames in the game's folder within the Steam-folder itself... Which is also a mess.
There's like no strict guideline from Microsoft on how to do it and therefore every development team has their own strategy leading to this inconsistent madness.

Everything has been so much easier back with Windows XP... There only existed like 2 locations back then.


But back to the topic... I'd also welcome it if the default save folder would be placed within C:\Users\<user name>\Documents\ ... as that's the most common style, even I wouldn't do it this way, but that's how most games do it anyways.
5hifty
level4
level4
Posts: 589
Joined: Sun Aug 18, 2013 8:22 am

Re: [Suggestion] Change default save location

Postby 5hifty » Thu May 22, 2014 2:01 am

I agree that the save folder should be selectable. But I would like to point out that everyone is saying that it's hard/impossible to change where user data is stored on windows, when in fact, since Vista, it is incredible easy. C:users/(user-name)>(any folder)>Right click>Properties>Location. Doesn't everyone have their user data stored on a drive other then C?
User avatar
VoiD88
level5
level5
Posts: 1001
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:24 am
Location: Soltau, Germany
Contact:

Re: [Suggestion] Change default save location

Postby VoiD88 » Thu May 22, 2014 10:05 am

5hifty wrote:I agree that the save folder should be selectable. But I would like to point out that everyone is saying that it's hard/impossible to change where user data is stored on windows, when in fact, since Vista, it is incredible easy. C:users/(user-name)>(any folder)>Right click>Properties>Location. Doesn't everyone have their user data stored on a drive other then C?

:shock: MOTHER OF GOD!! :shock:
Thank you so much, why have I never found this out before?
5hifty
level4
level4
Posts: 589
Joined: Sun Aug 18, 2013 8:22 am

Re: [Suggestion] Change default save location

Postby 5hifty » Thu May 22, 2014 12:14 pm

No worries mate. I think that was the reason that I loved Vista so much over XP. It was the first thing that I found out about the operating system. Ever since then all my user data is on a separate HD. Bare in mind that some old software doesn't use the %user% shortcut and will recreate the folder hierarchy it wants on the C drive. Its a little annoying, but I think that the OS will pick it up *sometimes* and change the C:/user/etc string to %user%/etc
matuchodeca
level0
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:54 pm

Re: [Suggestion] Change default save location

Postby matuchodeca » Thu Sep 25, 2014 5:05 pm

This has been an extremely important issue for me: Since I'm a spanish user and my name has special characters, the game refuses to read my saves and therefore I lose any prison I make as soon as I exit the game, despite having saved my progress. I hope the devs fix this.

Return to “Community Members”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests