Save locations
A save location is where a game keeps its saves on disk: a single file or a folder, written as a path. Because the exact path differs on every machine, you write it with symbols like {APPDATA} that fill themselves in per computer. Auto-discovery finds the location for most games; when it gets one wrong or misses it, open Edit location on the game’s detail screen and point Save Override at the right file or folder.
A location you set is yours alone until you choose to share it. Click Recommend to send it to the catalog. Recommend stays disabled until the path is safe to share. It has to use at least one symbol (like {HOME}), and it can’t contain anything tied to your machine or your account — no drive letter (C:\), no network path (\\server), no .. that steps outside the folder, and nothing that identifies you, like your Steam ID.
You can write those symbols in by hand. Or click Make portable, and Save Override swaps the personal parts — your home folder, your Steam ID — for symbols in one step. The path still resolves to the same folder, just without anything personal left in it. Changed your mind? Revert puts the literal path back.
Screenshot — The location editor: a path with symbols, the live preview of where it resolves on this machine, the Make portable button, and the Recommend control for sharing it.
Alt: the Save Override location editor showing a placeholder path, its resolved location on disk, a Make portable button, and the Recommend control.
Today a location points at one file or one folder. Pointing a single location at many folders at once (matching them by pattern) is planned but not live yet.
Expansion symbols
Every symbol you can use in a path, and what it resolves to per platform. A symbol shown as — isn’t available on that OS, and any path using it is skipped there — which is why a location usually sets its platform to match.
| Symbol | What it points to | Windows | macOS | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|---|
{HOME}, {USERPROFILE} | Your home folder | C:\Users\You | /Users/you | /home/you |
{APPDATA} | Per-user app data (roaming) | %APPDATA% (AppData\Roaming) | ~/Library/Application Support | $XDG_CONFIG_HOME, else ~/.config |
{LOCALAPPDATA} | Per-user app data (local) | %LOCALAPPDATA% (AppData\Local) | ~/Library/Application Support | $XDG_DATA_HOME, else ~/.local/share |
{LOCALLOW} | Per-user low-integrity app data (Unity games) | %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow | — | — |
{PROGRAMDATA} | Shared, system-wide app data | %PROGRAMDATA% | — | — |
{PUBLIC} | Shared public user folder | %PUBLIC% (C:\Users\Public) | — | — |
{WINDIR} | Windows install folder | %WINDIR% (C:\Windows) | — | — |
{MY_DOCUMENTS} | Your Documents folder | Documents (follows OneDrive) | ~/Documents | ~/Documents |
{MY_GAMES} | Your Saved Games folder | Saved Games | ~/Saved Games | ~/Saved Games |
{GAME_DIR} | Where the game itself is installed | install folder | install folder | install folder |
Launcher symbols
These pull values from the launcher a game came from. Use the {FAMILY:PROVIDER} form, where the provider is STEAM, EPIC, or GOG. One symbol takes an optional third part — {USER_ID:STEAM:LONG}, below.
| Symbol | What it points to |
|---|---|
{LIBRARY:STEAM} (also :EPIC, :GOG) | The launcher’s game library / install root |
{USERDATA:STEAM} | Your Steam Cloud save folder for this game (under the Steam install’s userdata); :EPIC/:GOG reserved |
{USER_ID:STEAM} (also :EPIC, :GOG) | Your account or profile id for that launcher |
{USER_ID:STEAM:LONG} | The 64-bit form of your Steam ID (the long 7656… number), for games that name their save folder with it — some Klei and Unity cloud saves. {USER_ID:STEAM} stays the shorter account-folder number. |
{APP_ID:STEAM} (also :EPIC, :GOG) | The game’s id within that launcher |
Save Override detects your Steam library automatically. The other values come from what it learns about a game’s install, so a launcher symbol that can’t be filled in leaves its path skipped — the same rule as the — cells above.