Change where default CorsixTH userdata is kept

[lewri]

This is mainly about Windows and Mac OS interfaces, Linux interfaces are likely correct

As discussed the other week, the implementation of userdata gets made and stored is not actually user friendly. Instead, it feels more developer focussed to those with good knowledge of a operating system's internal workings.

In general, it was pointed out we're following similar to the FreeDesktop standard (Linux people?). However, this does seem to lead to some weird offshoots of behaviour in Mac and Windows environments.

This post is to discuss whether there are the right choices for storing this data.

As a Windows user, I can only speak for the Windows space. Currently, we dump everything in %APPDATA%/CorsixTH/Roaming, a neat little place to store transferable information; not so much in the current day to dump everything if the user is intended to have easy access to it. I would suggest for Windows:

Logs, Config and Hotkey file: remain in %APPDATA%\CorsixTH\Roaming
Saves, Campaigns (user), Levels (user), Screenshots: move to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\CorsixTH (i.e. C:\Users\foo\Documents\My Games\CorsixTH)
^ Note, the above would cause us to have an incompatibility at first launch with Windows XP and older (if we even still support it)

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A wilder, second option, is to present the folders GUI on first launch and ask users to confirm locations.

[Matroftt]

Sure, map editor files should be saved in CTH root folder, like old map editor did

[TheCycoONE]

Nothing should save in Program Files except the installer.

[TheCycoONE]

I think you could achieve a similar level of user friendliness with less disruption on Windows by simply including a shortcut to the %AppData% folder.

Note that Windows does not follow the XDG standard, it follows a windows recommendation for where to store application data that should be persisted and follow the user account on a multi-terminal system (think school computer lab.)
https://www.lifewire.com/find-and-use-the-appdata-folder-in-windows-4771752

The XDG is of course the appropriate place for Windows as well.

I suppose a typical place on a MacOS system would be under /Library/Application Support/ but that's also hidden from the user by default.

All that said typically a user has no need to go to their saves folder - and we have a configuration option to change it if anyone feels compelled.

[lewri]

I think you could achieve a similar level of user friendliness with less disruption on Windows by simply including a shortcut to the %AppData% folder.

We already do this in the start folder, but in practice we have seen time and time again from the help channel in discord (and some issues) that this still isn't friendly enough.

[TheCycoONE]

I strongly suspect people won't be able to find them no matter where they are.

[lewri]

So I had some dig around in my Windows OS and can generally see the following for user data (which also shows the absurd lack of conformity across games) [funnily enough, quite a handful of these use some default I assume Unity layout structure]:

Location	Number of Games	Examples
AppData/Local	7	Forza 5, Hogwarts Legacy, Prison Architect, Murky Divers, RUSH, ScribbleIt, Unfortunate Spaceman
AppData/LocalLow	14	DREDGE, Firewatch, ISLANDERS, Recipe for Disaster, Mini xyz series, Enter the Gungeon, Poly Bridge, PlateUp!, 112 Operator, Phasmophobia, A Little To The Left, Supermarket Simulator, Not Tonight
AppData/Roaming	14	Minecraft, Papers Please, Airport CEO, Cats Hidden in xyz series, Dancing Duelists (demo), 100% Orange Juice, Human Resource Machine, Oneshot, Slay The Princess, Persona 3 Royal, Yakuza Like A Dragon, The Witness, Tropico 3
Documents	3	OpenTTD, 100% Orange Juice (again?), GTA V
Documents/My Games	15	Binding of Isaac, Danganronpa, Democracy 3, Fallout xyz series, Life is Strange, Oneshot (again?), Orwell, Rocket League, Civ 5, Skyrim, Tabletop Simulator, Tropico 6, War Thunder

Judging on this, I think your other comment from spicedonline paints some of the picture but not all. There is no uniformity and it's all chaos (actually worse than I thought).

So chances are, the location is actually acceptable in retrospect. I still don't agree it makes sense, especially for bug reports, but maybe some other changes can be made instead.

Also looks like someone had a solid thread going about this on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/x0yrqj/ideally_where_should_windows_pc_games_store_their/

[TheCycoONE]

If I may add: https://splicedonline.com/where-can-i-find-my-game-saves/