My blog tends to be a collection of solutions for problems that I have faced. Today I had set out to write about transferring Steam game save data.
I recently upgraded from my Steam Deck LCD to a Steam Deck OLED. Most games use Steam Cloud to sync the save data. I found that I did have a few games that didn’t (looking at you Train Bandit).
With the best of intentions, I sat down and formatted a micro SD card that I had laying around. I set out to figure out how to transfer the local save data.
First, I formatted the micro SD card, as it was the first time using it with a Steam Deck.
Then I rebooted into desktop mode. I even took screen shots along the way.
I browsed the local files, checked a handful of places in the file system, and I found some game save data. Unfortunately, it was a bit all over the place, with no real consistency to where the data was housed.
At some point it hit me. Why in the world would I waste more time trying to find game save, when I could just be playing the games?
Diminishing returns are real. While I like to solve problems, sometimes it’s just not worth it.
Since the majority of games utilize the Steam Cloud, I was left with less than ten games that didn’t back up. Across those games, there was less than then hours of play time across all of the games.
So yeah, is it worth it to sit and try to figure this out when I could just, I dunno, play the games from the beginning?
For me personally, nah, it wasn’t worth it. Sure, the blog fodder is great, but also, playing games is even greater.
