Cloud saves lost with a native Linux game release

[flibitijibibo]

Your system information

• Steam client version (build number or date): Oct 28 2020, at 23:35:02
• Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu): N/A
• Opted into Steam client beta?: No
• Have you checked for system updates?: Yes

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

For Windows-only games, the Steam client will correctly assume Proton as the compatibility tool. This is fine until a native Linux version is made available, where the client will keep the Windows depot but use the launch options cloud saves from the native client, resulting in 'missing executable' errors and potentially lost save data since the saves get lost in the Wine prefix and are not transferred to the proper location.

While Linux native releases post-launch are not an everyday occurrence, this still adds a tremendous burden on developers by introducing tons of bug reports that include save data being completely lost, all due to an issue that the developer has nothing to do with and cannot control.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

Reproducing requires having a Steam app as a developer, with cloud saves implemented via Steam Auto-Cloud:

1. Install a Windows-only game, run it once
2. Create/Upload a Linux depot, launch options, and an autocloud root override
3. Add the Linux depot to the package used by the Steam client from step 1
4. Run the game, missing executable
5. Manually tick and untick the 'Force compatibility tool' box to download the depot
6. Run the game, observe missing savedata

Steps for reproducing via Deck Verified:

1. Create a Windows app, add a fully cross-platform autocloud path
2. Install the app on Steam Deck, create some kind of save data and let it sync
3. Make a Deck Verified report that forces Proton
4. Add Linux support to the app
5. Restart the Deck, game should still be forced to Proton
6. Make a new Deck Verified report that allows native
7. Restart the Deck, "update" should download
8. Start the game, no save files!

[kisak-valve]

Hello @flibitijibibo, the majority of this issue is already being tracked at #7023 / #5736. Let's use this issue report to focus on the lost cloud saves.

[blastermaster77]

yes i have tha same problem

[Draknek]

Someone has just reported this same issue to me. To elaborate on "missing savedata": they reported that the new savefile created by the newly added native Linux version has overwritten the Cloud savefile created by the Proton version.

Is there a known workaround? Would uninstalling the Proton version and then installing the Linux version work better than toggling the "Force compatibility tool" option?

[flibitijibibo]

Sadly the way Steam currently mixes up the depots makes it hard to work around consistently - generally the way I tell customers to safely transition to native is by backing up the save data and manually poking it into the right spot, and thankfully PCGW makes it easy to look at both paths on a single screen (example).

[flibitijibibo]

We just had this happen in the opposite direction today! When Valve overrode Salt & Sanctuary to use Proton (and nobody was told...), a bunch of Deck users lost their save files for seemingly no reason. Luckily the cloud feature was just incomplete enough to where we were able to find the files backed up, but there's an extremely good chance those files will be wiped when it gets flipped back to native!

[Joshua-Ashton]

This works fine for games like Half-Life 2 and friends. Sounds like an app config error on your side perhaps?

Looks like Steam Cloud is only enabled for the Windows version of S&S?
https://steamdb.info/app/283640/ufs/

This list wouldn't account if you are using the SteamRemoteStorage API manually on the Linux version and not the Windows version for saves though, but if you are doing that, then yes, that would be broken.

I also would imagine the game would get overriden to Proton if the Linux version was not compatible with users' cloud saves from Windows.

[flibitijibibo]

Someone appears to have reverted the change to sync them rather than publish, for the 1.0.0.9 release - this has now been pushed. Still: You have a game running fine on a system, Valve forcibly takes that version away without the customer's consent, and suddenly their saves are gone... seems like a bad user experience in my book!

As far as I know, this bug still is not resolved - I fully expect this to persist when Rogue Legacy 2's native release comes out soon, so it would be good to have some kind of assurance that the root issue has been investigated.

[dhollinger]

@kisak-valve @Plagman

Could we get this looked at?

[flibitijibibo]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1253920/discussions/0/3600093929975703750/

[flibitijibibo]

Added a second guide to the OP that specifically shows a repro case with the Deck Verified override program. This shows the bug explicitly affects Steam Deck customers with what is supposedly the long term goal of SteamOS, which is (again, supposedly) to produce more native Linux binaries. This has a negative impact on all customers as well as developers attempting to optimize their game for Steam Deck, and should be treated as a highly-accessible data loss bug.

[flibitijibibo]

A translated version of the workaround, now that Salt is back on the native version... https://steamcommunity.com/app/283640/discussions/8/3714937078835463398/

I have at least one more title in the pipeline that will be hitting this, so even a single shred of evidence that someone on the Steam team has seen this a nonzero number of times would be wonderful - it doesn't even have to be a post of substance, a no-context picture of Squidward with no text whatsoever would be enough at this point!

[gapg64]

Same problem here i lost all my arma 3 saves, its posible make a buttom to force proton in all games?
(English no its my strong point)