some things i learn about Presets folders:
- The game will load any and all presets from both Steam/Main folder and the User AppData folder.
- However the User AppData folder (AppData\Local\Radiant\Saved\CharacterPresets) is the 'active' and preferred folder for presets. If duplicates Presets exist, then the game loads from the AppData folder as priority instead of the Steam/Main Game Preset.
- Creator Editor loads and saves the modded versions in User AppData folder.
- Subsequent edits load the preset in the User AppData folder and continues saving the modded versions in User AppData folder.
- Therefore for the sake of clarity and avoiding confusion, it is better to keep edited Presets in AppData folder and NOT save into the Steam/Main Folder (i.e. leave the Main Game/Steam Game default CharacterPresets folder untouched).
All very well reasoned and researched!
Generally speaking, the purpose of
%APPDATA%
is for per user configuration settings an data. It is also always writeable by that user. Some 'per user' applications even go as far as to
run out of
APPDATA
which I don't think is that smart. Newer versions of Windows, especially, require administrative rights to write to
Program Files
and
Program Files (x86)
and storing configuration settings, data, etc there is depreciated.
Most modern games and software will use
APPDATA
for user content, files, settings, mods, etc (or other locations in
%USERPROFILE%
). (Software that doesn't, should.)
Conversely,
%PROGRAMDATA%
is where 'global' data and configuration settings are supposed to be stored by applications. (The registry is somewhat deprecated except primarily for system integration and installer settings.) Although users only have read access to this folder, administrative rights are needed for full control.
(The reason, by the way, for the "Roaming" and "Local" folders under
APPDATA
has to do with Windows Domains where you can have "Roaming" profiles, that follow you if you log in on another machine. Over time it's rather lost it's original purpose, especially with the folder being quite large if games are putting save files in it making replication impractical. Even after many years as a developer, I still am unsure what the original purpose of "LocalLow" is.)