Respect Windows Storage Paths

[MicahZoltu]

Factorio is writing ~400MB to %APPDATA%/Factorio on my computer at the moment. That is dominated by game save files. %APPDATA% is the roaming storage location, which means it is synced over network or the internet and often a default location to be backed up. %APPDATA% is meant to store configuration files and other small user-specific data, it is not intended to be a primary storage location for large data objects (like game saves). %LOCALAPPDATA% is the appropriate location for large user-specific data that shouldn't be automatically synced over a network.

Please move game saves to %LOCALAPPDATA%/Factorio so I don't burn up all of my backup provider bandwidth syncing Factorio game saves.

[Klonan]

You can set this in the config

`write-data=C:/users/saves`

[CheeseMcBurger]

Klonan, I agree with MicahZoltu. This should be the default path, even if it can be changed in the config file. I believe it's the responsibility of every established software programmer to respect the OS's file hierarchy standard.


MicahZoltu is right about using %localappdata% over %appdata% because folders in roaming profile should be reserved for important data and kept as small as possible because they may be are synced across slow links.

The preferred way however is to use a KNOWNFOLDERID named FOLDERID_SavedGames which is located at %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/window ... wnfolderid

It would be nice is this would be the default save path, although it's real nice of you guys to provide a way to change it for us players.

[FuryoftheStars]

Yeah, you have to figure that a lot of people wouldn’t know this, or are uncomfortable with editing configs.

The game really should default the saves to the userprofile as CheeseMcBurger noted, and probably the mods and all of that to either the same location or to its root install folder. Factorio is the only game I’ve had where I need to dig into the roaming profile folder for these types of things.

[Rseding91]

Thanks for the suggestion however the save location isn't going to be changed. You can change it yourself if you like but it's staying where it is.

[CheeseMcBurger]

What a confrontational response. Too bad.

[Rseding91]

What a confrontational response. Too bad.

Your response fascinates me. How would you have liked what I said to be phrased so you wouldn't consider it confrontational?

I wasn't trying to be confrontational or aggressive. There was no meaning beyond reading the request and giving an honest answer.

[BattleFluffy]

System Admin here, just wanted to weigh in that %localappdata% is imho the "technically correct" best place to store larger files like Factorio save games.

I can give a specific technical example of a problem this could cause in the real world.

In a Windows Domain, a feature called "Roaming Profiles" copies the contents of %appdata% on a user's workstation any time a user logs on. If the user logs on at a different computer, their config and preference files contained within %appdata% are copied to the new machine, ensuring a consistent experience across all of the computers in the domain.


So for example imagine some chain of internet cafes each with a bunch of gaming PCs set up. A regular customer visits a different cafe from their usual, and logs on to play Factorio on a computer they've never used before.

When they attempt to log on, they may find it takes ages and ages as it transfers all of their previous save games over the slow VPN link from the cafe they normally visit. There would be no indication that this was happening, they'd simply be stuck at the "logging on..." screen for a very long time.

This then creates a headache for the System Admin of the cafes, who has to figure out why logon is slow, and ultimately may even end up reading this very thread in the course of figuring out how to modify the config file to point to %localappdata% instead. Or they might decide to not allow Factorio to be played at their cafes..


A better behaviour would be to store the save games in %localappdata% by default. In this scenario, the customer who logs on at a different cafe need only transfer the tiny configuration files from %appdata%, so the logon is processed much quicker. A fresh "%localappdata%" is created from scratch for them.
Then they can download their save games from Steam and they are stored in %localappdata%. It downloads fast because it goes straight over the internet, instead of through the cafe's site-to-site VPN.

So, that is why I think that %localappdata% would be a better default location for save games. If it's still not changing, that's fine though. I still think you guys are awesome. :>

[disentius]

@Rseding:
A straight "no" without motivation doesnt happen often: you devs spoiled us
A reason why you won't change this, would be appreciated, Battlefluffy has a valid point.

[sepharim]

As Sysadmin on a Internet Cafe like point for our young guys, that can't go to home after school, we had that trouble with factorio. And standard behavior for a sysadmin is to block factorio sync in %appdata% completly. Therefore we had a battle because everyone wanted to be back at the PC used the last time, to not setup factorio again. So in my opinion: if you use %appdata%, please use it correctly. If you don't want to use it correctly, no reason to use it at all...

Edit: Our solution now: disable the start of a process called "Factorio" if it is not started via our script, that sets the directory to somewhere on the temp disc, and sync it on startup/shutdown of the Factorio script...

[CheeseMcBurger]

What a confrontational response. Too bad.

Your response fascinates me. How would you have liked what I said to be phrased so you wouldn't consider it confrontational?

I wasn't trying to be confrontational or aggressive. There was no meaning beyond reading the request and giving an honest answer.

The request for changing the storage path objectively follows best practice and the current storage path is objectively not best practice. You categorically refused ("You can change it yourself if you like but it's staying where it is.") to change the path without explaning your reasoning. Sometimes best practices cannot be followed for a good reason -- I work in IT and this happens all the time -- but since you didn't give any insights to your decision, and by using the words you used ("it's staying where it is" is a very absolute choice of words), you gave me the impression of being confrontational.

[Rseding91]

As for why:

I don't consider it worth breaking every single piece of documentation, every single persons remembered location, every single script, and possibly more for what is an extreme edge case issue. The *massive* majority of players do not care or even know where Factorio stores save files/configuration data and would see the location of save files being changed as useless noise (as I do).

Regarding "best practice": As a programmer and one who works with C++ there are hundreds if not thousands of "best practices" for how people think C++ should be written and for every one of them there are an equal amount or more people arguing it should be done another way. Having worked on Factorio now for around 5 years I can say that virtually all of the "best practices" people have for C++ are useless outside of their specific environment. So, with that in mind: saying Factorio should store save files in one location and configuration files in another because it's "best practice" reads to me like the people saying how we should write C++.

So, with all of that in mind my answer was an immediate "no". It's not going to improve the majority players experience and it would in all likelihood make it worse: a net negative for Factorio.

[coppercoil]

Regarding "best practice": As a programmer and one who works with C++ there are hundreds if not thousands of "best practices" for how people think C++ should be written and for every one of them there are an equal amount or more people arguing it should be done another way. Having worked on Factorio now for around 5 years I can say that virtually all of the "best practices" people have for C++ are useless outside of their specific environment. So, with that in mind: saying Factorio should store save files in one location and configuration files in another because it's "best practice" reads to me like the people saying how we should write C++.

I see some miscommunication here. Let’s clear what does mean term “best practice” in this particular case. It’s not about your decision how to write your app. It’s about Microsoft decision how your application should live in the Windows ecosystem. There are lots of software that doesn’t follow best practice for various reasons: it’s because software is not supported anymore but still used; it’s because there are billions of lines of legacy code that unrealistic to change; it’s because some programmers aren’t aware of storage specific and limitations; it’s because they’re aware but [insert hundred different reasons here]. It doesn’t mean that all approaches are good. MS Windows has some data handling strategy; it’s documented and available to read. Could we say “by following OS recommendations it’s not going to improve the majority players experience and it would in all likelihood make it worse“? It’s hard to believe.

Does your application live in peace with MS Windows? Or it doesn’t matter for you? Or maybe, it does matter but there are more urgent tasks for today? I agree, most of users doesn’t care. All developers do their best to let them remain careless.

I made a quick search and found a couple of Microsoft documents here and here, these ones may be slightly outdated but still interesting to read.

[FuryoftheStars]

Yeah, I’d have to say that “best practice” writing code is not quite the same concept as “best practice” for how software should reside/interact with an OS. Someone else has already given their real experience with how the current setup has made things harder for them. I really wouldn’t consider this an extreme edge case.

I also fail to see how moving the location will likely make things worse.

[eradicator]

As a long-time windows gamer i expect save files (and config files, and all other data related to) each game to be in a *single* folder in "My Documents" or nowadays "My Saved Games". Certainly not *split into several different locations*. Whatever MS says "should" be done - putting savedata in a *hidden* folder that the average user couldn't even see if they knew where to look is ridiculous. I bet Average Joe still does his backups by drag+dropping folders to an external USB device. Stuff he can't see will be lost.

Factorio however has great support for config and even cli options to set the path to whereever i want. Most other games require hacks like overwriting environment variables to do this. Anyone who "runs an internet cafe" should certainly be able to cope with this.

[FuryoftheStars]

@Eradicator,

Your post is a little confusing to me. You say you expect the data (including saves) to be in one location (My Documents), but then it seems like you're bashing the MS Docs for saying the saves should be in hidden folders (which I don't think is what they're saying) and then conclude that internet cafe folks can deal with using the config files.

It's like you're starting off agreeing with us all, then somehow in the middle gets things mixed up and side with the devs? As I'm sure you're aware, Factorio currently saves data to a hidden folder (AppData) and we're asking for it to be pulled out of there.

[eradicator]

It's like you're starting off agreeing with us all, then somehow in the middle gets things mixed up and side with the devs? As I'm sure you're aware, Factorio currently saves data to a hidden folder (AppData) and we're asking for it to be pulled out of there.

The opening posts states that it wants only some parts of the data (the savegame files) to be in yet another hidden folder (%localappdata%), while config files should stay in %appdata%. Unless i misunderstood something. Then someone suggested using SavedGames, though he doesn't state if he wants the config files there too. And the "Internet Cafe Argument" is just placing arbitrary constraints "slow vpn sync is bad, but steam sync is fine" and says the devs should solve that too.

The second part of my post was more like "oh c'mon, other software is much worse, factorio at least has support to chose-your-own-location".

[Jap2.0]

Another possibility: put it in the directory the game is installed in - be that under steam or in its own folder. It's a reasonable location for a save to be, works with sync issues, and deals with situations where steam/games are installed on a HDD so that you aren't constantly putting a bunch of files on the boot drive/SSD.

[BenSeidel]

You can set this in the config

`write-data=C:/users/saves`

Hi,
I have been trying to do this for such a long time but I can't do it.
Can you please show me what the "write-data" path would be so that it uses a users "save game" directory in Windows? Hell, even their "My Documents" folder would be good enough.

Reason: Because I'm sick of having to describe to people how to get to their save games. Do you how many people don't know what the ampersand key is?

[disentius]

"How" is described in config-path.cfg

config 0.png (25.6 KiB) Viewed 6037 times

config 1.png (43.85 KiB) Viewed 6037 times