Place game saves in user folder

[ThreeWholePunch]

This is specifically a OSX request but I'm sure could also apply just as well to windows and linux.

I had the unfortunate thrill of having to reformat my machine recently. It is my user folder that I backup to multiple locations. I don't bother (and I admit this is my fault, but also a limitation of cloud storage backups) with backing up any other location. If my machine goes down, I can just reinstall my apps, no big deal, this machine in particular is not what I use to make my living. Needless to say my kerbal saves, and some screenshots, are now gone .

The real catastrophe here is that I left about 20 kerbals stranded on the Mun, 7 on Duna, 3 in orbit around duna, and 3 at eeloo....it was an expensive space program...

Anyway some of my games, seams like some steam games, save some data into the user folder. This seems like a good location for things like saves since it is the most user friendly location; heck maybe even mods too.

just a thought,

-joel

Edited May 2, 2014 by ThreeWholePunch

[Zeroignite]

You can install KSP into an arbitrary location. If you don't want to move the whole install, stick your save folder wherever you want and symlink it from the main KSP directory.

[ThreeWholePunch]

You can install KSP into an arbitrary location. If you don't want to move the whole install, stick your save folder wherever you want and symlink it from the main KSP directory.

Cool, i've actually already build a job to backup the file on a regular basis, but I didn't realize you could pick and choose install paths for a steam app. thanks.

[magico13]

Because KSP doesn't require Steam or anything else they just put the saves in the same folder as the executable. Like suggested before, symlinks will work nicely for you (in OSX or Linux, even Windows but it's a little harder). Put your saves and screenshots folder in your user folder and link them into the KSP folder, then they'll get backed up and KSP won't know the difference. It should just be

ln -s /Saves/Folder/In/User /KSP/Install/Directory

(I don't know the mac os file structure, so I don't know what the specific paths would be)

You could theoretically use my DataSwitcher program with just the saves and screenshots folder and keep DataSwitcher in the user folder. It creates symlinks in the main KSP folder. You'd run it, create a new instance and import the screenshots and saves folders (or copy them manually into the instance folder), then just activate the instance. You'd never have to run it again if you didn't want to. You could even delete the .jar file.

Edit: Though, DataSwitcher may have some problems if you don't have the user permissions to create symbolic links. Otherwise it should be fine.

[Sirrobert]

My god NO

I HATE programs that keep different folders in different places. Keep everything tougether, or everyone is going to have to search for everything everywhere

[carbonFibreOptik]

(Pasting a copy of this from a similar thread as it directly applies to the issue at hand. Original thread here.)

Here's a helpful solution for all your syncing needs (and one I use myself for most games). Install Bittorrent Sync and then set up your saves/mods/whatever folder as a synced folder. Then install BTSync on the other computer(s) and tell them to also sync those folders. Now your games will sync whenever at least two computers are turned on and have BTSync running in the background. In effect, it's just like Steam Cloud; there's an advantage however, in that BTSync tries to use your local network ~before~using an Internet connection. It's faster as a result and you never have to worry about Internet or service downtime.

Also while it may use the Bittorrent protocol, BTSync uses a unique key system to make it completely private for your own use. No need to worry about prying eyes or someone stealing your stuff. :3

While I agree that official Steam Cloud support makes sense for this game, unfortunately it's not an active feature at the moment. You gotta do what you gotta do until that time that it is.

[Red Iron Crown]

My god NO

I HATE programs that keep different folders in different places. Keep everything tougether, or everyone is going to have to search for everything everywhere

I agree with this so much. I know that proper programming conventions on Windows suggest putting savegames and config files somewhere in the user directory, but that creates some problems if you run more than one instance of KSP or run a synchronized copy on multiple machines (no idea how common those are, but I do both).