Uninstalling Games, keeping Save File(s)

[Brian Boru]

Have any of you tested this, or just know the answer—if I uninstall a Steam game, and come back to it a year later, will my save still be accessible? Interested in the other retailers too, if you know.

I expect the answer is 'Yes', that it's a benefit of being online during play.

Obviously I'm good if the uninstall didn't zap whatever local saves I had.

I ask because whenever I fancy starting Far Cry 3 or later, it immediately becomes "Do I want to sit thru 20-30 minutes of BS just to start playing the game?"
Guess what the answer inevitably is? "Screw that, I'll play some Launch-within-a-minute game instead."

FC isn't alone, far too many devs can't get over themselves and their very artistic openings—UNSKIPPABLE openings 😡 I'll watch any opening once, but on replay, no thanks.

So the thought is, keep a copy of an early save, from which I can start again a year later.

Of course, for games with only one save slot—thanks again devs, always thinking of us players' interests, ya—I'd have to figure out what & where the file is and make a copy of the Start Real Play file.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Uninstalling a game on Steam doesn't touch your save files. As long as you don't manually delete them or change your hardware, you are good.

Doesn't really matter about being online. Your saves are kept on your computer. In fact, you can play most SP games offline and it all works the same way (Ubisoft games may need to be online). However, what you would miss would be cloud saves, if the developer has them active, which are sort of a backup to your own save files. So even if you come back after changing systems, or log in from someone else's computer, you'll still have your cloud saves.

 

[Brian Boru]

@ZedClampet Thank you kind sir, the answer I was hoping for 🙂

 

[Zloth]

Of course, for games with only one save slot—thanks again devs, always thinking of us players' interests, ya...

Some games really need that for their game play. For a few others, it doesn't matter all that much. But yeah, far too many games are being silly on that front.

Guess what the answer inevitably is? "Screw that, I'll play some Launch-within-a-minute game instead."

Now that I've got a fast PC, I can load X4:Foundations and my save file in under a minute. Barely. 😉

 

[Frindis]

@ZedClampet I experienced that recently with Borderlands 2. Not played it for two years or so and playing on a new computer I was able to access my old save files. Makes you wonder what would happen if any servers gets a hiccup. Perhaps it would be good shady business not to have any recollection of characters/accounts in said game.