Question: Game Saves

[ianpac]

I'm not sure which thread I was suppose to post this in but I gotta question. So. I recently noticed how much space all these game's saves take up so I bought a USB to store the games I download from here. I wanted to know if I can also copy saves to the USB and be able to play them. Not sure I worded that correctly so I'll give an example. So I located the BeingADik's saves on my computer and copied over to the USB. I then deleted the saves from the computer itself. The save folder is now located on the USB but when I played the game it started up like it was the first time playing creating a new save folder on my computer.

My question is is there any way to have the game access the save folder that is on the USB. The game itself is on the USB, but I wanna know if I can access the saves that I put on the USB. I'm also on a Mac not sure if that matters.

 

[CuddleBear]

One word. Symlinks

 

[anne O'nymous]

So I located the BeingADik's saves on my computer and copied over to the USB.

You mean... in the "[...]/BeingADik/game/save" folder, right ?

[...] but when I played the game it started up like it was the first time playing [...]

Oh no, you didn't meant this.

[...] but I wanna know if I can access the saves that I put on the USB

Look at it that way : You go visit one of your friend. If he haven't moved, you'll be able to visit him without problem. But if he moved without giving you his new address, you'll just bother someone who isn't him.
Well, it's the same for games. They don't read your mind, so if there's no save files where they expect them to be, they'll assume that you never played the game before.

Therefore, you can put the save files on an USB device if you want, but in order to play the next update, you'll have to restore them to their expected place.

 

[ianpac]

Therefore, you can put the save files on an USB device if you want, but in order to play the next update, you'll have to restore them to their expected place.

Lol I loved your analogy. Okay yea I understand that. What I'll probably due is move the bigger save files to the usb until I wanna go back to that game or continue it. So I would have to change the expected place? Kinda seems difficult so might not try that.

I was just wondering cuz I realized how much space on my Mac was taken up by system storage and was searching around on the computer and realized it was on my RenPy game saves from all the games I play/played. Lol I kinda get a little save heavy in some of these games.


Thank you guys for the help though!!!

 

[scrumbles]

It isn't that difficult.
There is a folder with a copy of all your saves: "$HOME/Library/RenPy/". As CuddleBear suggests, you can move it to your USB drive and replace it with a symbolic (or soft) link like that:

ln -s  $HOME/Library/RenPy/ /path/to/USB/drive/

Each time a Ren'py game will save (or load) your progress, your Mac will redirect it from your home directory to your USB drive. It's like if you visited your friend and you found a post-it on the front door, with the new address.

Of course you must replace /path/to/USB/drive with the actual path of the folder on your USB drive. I guess it's something like /Volumes/USBDrive/Renpy/, I don't know exactly. This depends on how the USB drive is mounted and where you have moved the folder.

See also:

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[polywog]

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[ianpac]

ln -s  $HOME/Library/RenPy/ /path/to/USB/drive/

Like this?:

ln -s  $HOME/Library/RenPy/ /Desktop/"IAN'S USB"/"RenPy Saves"

 

[anne O'nymous]

Like this?:

More like that :

ln -s  $HOME/Library/RenPy/ "/Desktop/IAN'S USB/RenPy Saves"

 

[scrumbles]

Yes, if you have spaces and apostrophes in a filename, either you enclose the whole path between quotation marks, or you insert a backslash before each of those characters:

ln -s  $HOME/Library/RenPy "/Desktop/IAN'S USB/RenPy Saves"
ln -s  $HOME/Library/RenPy /Desktop/IAN\'S\ USB/RenPy\ Saves

I'm not sure that is the full path though. I expected something like /Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Desktop/... But I don't know how you have mounted your drive.
To be safe, use one of these methods:

- Right-click the "Renpy Saves" folder
- Hold the alt ⌥ key down
- Click Copy ... as Pathname

Source:

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- Open System Preferences on your Mac.
- Navigate to “Keyboard -> Shortcuts.”
- From the Services menu, enable “New Terminal at Folder.” This will automatically add the option to open the folder in Terminal to the Services menu.
- Open "Renpy Saves" in a terminal, type pwd and press Enter: the full path will be displayed (pwd = present working directory)

Source:

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(the last line is mine though)

 

[ianpac]

More like that :

ln -s  $HOME/Library/RenPy/ "/Desktop/IAN'S USB/RenPy Saves"

Yes, if you have spaces and apostrophes in a filename, either you enclose the whole path between quotation marks, or you insert a backslash before each of those characters:

ln -s  $HOME/Library/RenPy "/Desktop/IAN'S USB/RenPy Saves"
ln -s  $HOME/Library/RenPy /Desktop/IAN\'S\ USB/RenPy\ Saves

Okay I figured it out thanks for the help you guys!!!