People who have just one save file...why?

[Kyralessa]

Then Whatever3, Whatever4, Whatever 53, Whatever 108.1, etc.

Where did you get infinite storage space?

Based on what others say here, apparently it's from not using Steam.

I have a 1 TB SSD and a 2 TB conventional drive. The biggest save I see on my machine is 190 MB. 3 TB can hold over 15000 saves, so I think it's probably enough space.

[Shirasik]

Based on what others say here, apparently it's from not using Steam.

The main reason not to use Steam is its mandate to update games to launch them.

I have a 1 TB SSD and a 2 TB conventional drive. The biggest save I see on my machine is 190 MB. 3 TB can hold over 15000 saves, so I think it's probably enough space.

So your rig loads OS and all software from network and all your local storage is RAID0 array which is hooked up as Factorio's save folder.

[Jap2.0]

I have a 1 TB SSD and a 2 TB conventional drive. The biggest save I see on my machine is 190 MB. 3 TB can hold over 15000 saves, so I think it's probably enough space.

So your rig loads OS and all software from network and all your local storage is RAID0 array which is hooked up as Factorio's save folder.

The point is that you can fit a lot of saves on a modern drive.

[eugenekay]

The main reason not to use Steam is its mandate to update games to launch them.

Today, in "Falsehoods users spread about content distribution networks" !

08-22-2025, 13-14-24.png (110.7 KiB) Viewed 289 times

For most games this might be a valid criticism. In addition to the complete lack of DRM, Factorio makes extensive back-versions available directly through Steam if the user desires it.

But I am guessing you knew this already; and were only posting this to get some sort of "dig" at Steam, despite it only being tangentially related to the Question. Why do people just want to complain and be angry over the Internet, instead of having fun? I do not get it. If you take issue with Other Games DRM then you should consider complaining in their Forums about that problem.

[Kyralessa]

I have a 1 TB SSD and a 2 TB conventional drive. The biggest save I see on my machine is 190 MB. 3 TB can hold over 15000 saves, so I think it's probably enough space.

So your rig loads OS and all software from network and all your local storage is RAID0 array which is hooked up as Factorio's save folder.

No, no, I do actually have other stuff on my PC. Between the two drives I only have about 1.9 TB free right now, so really only room for another 9500 saves.

[Tertius]

The main reason not to use Steam is its mandate to update games to launch them.

That's not mandatory, you're able to configure this on a per-game basis. I see this the other way round: One of the main reasons to use Steam is its automatic downloading and updating feature.
In case you didn't realize yet: Steam is one of the good guys in the gaming industry, and has been proving this for quite some time. They're certainly not Santa Claus but a for-profit company, but a company who take their customers seriously.

[Shirasik]

The main reason not to use Steam is its mandate to update games to launch them.

Today, in "Falsehoods users spread about content distribution networks" !

08-22-2025, 13-14-24.png
For most games this might be a valid criticism. In addition to the complete lack of DRM, Factorio makes extensive back-versions available directly through Steam if the user desires it.

But I am guessing you knew this already; and were only posting this to get some sort of "dig" at Steam, despite it only being tangentially related to the Question. Why do people just want to complain and be angry over the Internet, instead of having fun? I do not get it. If you take issue with Other Games DRM then you should consider complaining in their Forums about that problem.

Simple test case. You installed a game. You installed mods from Steam Workshop. Tested them. Everything works good. You got yourself a game setup. Now you need to configure Steam to never update both game and workshop items while allowing to launch game until you reconfigure it back. How do you do that?

E.g. Skyrim. You might know how much effort it needs to solve mod conflicts. Steam can suddenly ruin all that.

As for Factorio's version rolling back option in Steam, it:
1) Wube's doing not Steam's mandatory for games;
2) the list of versions is far from complete;
3) not related to lack of "don't update and let me have fun without updates" option in Steam.

The main reason not to use Steam is its mandate to update games to launch them.

That's not mandatory, you're able to configure this on a per-game basis.

Long story short: hitting the "Launch" button is immediate update required to launch.

Screenshot-32.jpg (19.28 KiB) Viewed 235 times

No, no, I do actually have other stuff on my PC. Between the two drives I only have about 1.9 TB free right now, so really only room for another 9500 saves.

What a lack of space! This can never be enough for ordinary playthrough!

You mentioned your biggest save is 190MB file. My current save almost hit 500MB. And I don't feel like I expanded enough so it will be bigger. That's not like such files are the issue (for steam cloud it is lol) but I simply don't need any sort of savefile history. If I need a backup (which I prefer to have) I simply backing up current bunch of files to another drive.

[eugenekay]

Why do people just want to complain and be angry over the Internet, instead of having fun? I do not get it. If you take issue with Other Games DRM then you should consider complaining in their Forums about that problem.

Simple test case. You installed a game. You installed mods from Steam Workshop. Tested them. Everything works good. You got yourself a game setup. Now you need to configure Steam to never update both game and workshop items while allowing to launch game until you reconfigure it back. How do you do that?

E.g. Skyrim. You might know how much effort it needs to solve mod conflicts. Steam can suddenly ruin all that.

Factorio does not support Steam Workshop. Mods are downloaded in-game directly from the Mod Portal. To make a local backup you need to save the User Data Directory, and archive it alongside the correct version of the installer - which is accessible for Steam users too.

This is the Factorio Forums. You can find the Skyrim Forums on Steam to talk about that game.


Good Luck!

[Shirasik]

Mods are downloaded in-game directly from the Mod Portal. To make a local backup you need to save the User Data Directory, and archive it alongside the correct version of the installer - which is accessible for Steam users too.

This is the Factorio Forums.

Steam suddenly updates Factorio. Some mods needs to be updated. Either you sitting not having fun waiting when mods will get updated (what may not happen) or you manually rolling back to previous version. Or you using DRMfree version from the very beginning never having any autoupdate issues at all. All in all you want to disable autoupdating. FOR FACTORIO.

[eugenekay]

All in all you want to disable autoupdating. FOR FACTORIO.

Yes, Steam is a Content Distribution Network - it automatically updates your Content to match what the Publisher has released. You can choose the Default Stable, use an Experimental, or stay on an Old Stable if you want.

WiFi Menu --> Disconnect has always worked great for preventing Internet automatic Updates, if that is what you really want to do? None of this has anything to do with Save file Strategies.

Good Luck!

[Shirasik]

The main reason not to use Steam is its mandate to update games to launch them.

Today, in "Falsehoods users spread about content distribution networks" !

08-22-2025, 13-14-24.png
For most games this might be a valid criticism. In addition to the complete lack of DRM, Factorio makes extensive back-versions available directly through Steam if the user desires it.

But I am guessing you knew this already; and were only posting this to get some sort of "dig" at Steam, despite it only being tangentially related to the Question. Why do people just want to complain and be angry over the Internet, instead of having fun? I do not get it. If you take issue with Other Games DRM then you should consider complaining in their Forums about that problem.

None of this has anything to do with Save file Strategies.

[Jap2.0]

Now you need to configure Steam to never update both game and workshop items while allowing to launch game until you reconfigure it back. How do you do that?

I'm pretty sure Steam allows you to turn automatic updates off, and I assume it would let you launch a game without updating it while in offline mode. But I haven't tested that.