HOW-TO: Playing on multiple computers

[zOldBulldog]

I usually play on my desktop, but on occasion I move my gameplay to my laptop. It is simple, but there are a couple tricks to jumping from one computer to another... so I thought I'd write them down for the newcomers:

- For starters, I am going to assume you play Factorio on Steam.
- Don't keep a lot of saves. At the end of each game Factorio saves every single one of them to Steam. If you have a lot, it could take some time. I typically delete all the "extra" saves just before changing computers.
- Remember that your main Blueprints storage does not get stored to Steam. I don't know if this is due to some Steam limitation or Factorio limitation, but it just doesn't get copied to the Steam cloud. This can be a big nuisance, but there is a workaround.

Blueprint workaround:
- Before changing computers, make sure to copy all of your blueprints to your game's inventory, then save the game. If you keep then nicely organized in books then it only takes a few seconds.
- Once you start on the other computer you might want to update that computer's main blueprint storage from what you just brought over through the save. I typically delete all the 2nd computer's blueprint books and save the fresh ones that came over with the save.

I hope that helps some.

[Maddhawk]

The hell? It uploads my saves to Steam? Where do I find these? How can I disable this? How can I delete these saves off Steam?

[Zavian]

If you have Steam installed, and have Steam cloud enabled in the Steam client for Factorio, then the Steam will upload your saves, to make it easier to play on multiple computers. That is pretty much a standard feature of recent games with Steam integration. I have the feature turned off in Steam, because Factorio's save games are pretty big and take too long to upload, but I'm pretty sure that the executables shipped with the .exe installer and the .zip package don't support that Steam feature.

[zOldBulldog]

If you carefully manage your saves to keep them to half a dozen or so then the sync to Steam Cloud does not take too long.

For me, it takes only 15-30 seconds.

[Zavian]

My upload is only 0.41Mb. So if the save file is 100MB, then one named save (at the end of a session, I always try to make a new named save), plus the default 3 autosaves takes 2 hrs to upload. During that time the upload also adds extra latency to all interactive internet traffic, eg web page loading.

[zOldBulldog]

My upload is only 0.41Mb. So if the save file is 100MB, then one named save (at the end of a session, I always try to make a new named save), plus the default 3 autosaves takes 2 hrs to upload. During that time the upload also adds extra latency to all interactive internet traffic, eg web page loading.

Yikes! You definitely cannot use cloud sync. I thought 0.41MB was long gone. I guess you got bitten by the "advantages" of internet deregulation.

[Zavian]

Actually I said 0.41Mbits/s not 0.41MBytes/s. I'm on an adsl2 link that has a nominal upload speed of 512kb. I could get a faster upload speed on a more expensive plan, but for most purposes it's not worth spending the extra money, since I already get around 12Mb/s downloading from steam or youtube, which is probably as much as this phone line can support anyway.

[zOldBulldog]

There are techniques that the devs could use to timestamp changes and only upload/download the differences. Those would massively speed up sync'ing and eliminate your problem.

I am sure it is a pretty low priority right now, but if many others are in a similar situation to yours then I would not be surprised if we see it before a formal 1.0 release. But I suspect that might depend on the demographics of factorio players. In Europe you might have legislation or government driven programs to ensure a minimum decent bandwidth. In large cities the scale economics make high speeds cheap. But in fairly rural areas of the US and 3rd world countries you can expect for bandwidth to be pretty terrible. So, if most players are in large cities or Europe then I would not be too optimistic for improvement anytime soon.

[Maddhawk]

If you have Steam installed, and have Steam cloud enabled in the Steam client for Factorio, then the Steam will upload your saves, to make it easier to play on multiple computers. That is pretty much a standard feature of recent games with Steam integration. I have the feature turned off in Steam, because Factorio's save games are pretty big and take too long to upload, but I'm pretty sure that the executables shipped with the .exe installer and the .zip package don't support that Steam feature.

Didn't know such a thing existed. Thanks for point that out. Cloud is DISABLED! In general I am not a fan of cloud computing when doing personal things and my gaming is something that is very personal to me. Now, I know it can't be escaped entirely as some games, like MMOs, can't function without such technology and that is ok. However, I do not like cloud computing or storage being involved in my private gaming in way, form, or factor.