Have you ever lost hours of progress in a game because something happen to your save files? That’s not a lot of fun. I tend to be obsessive about backups so its no surprise to me that I setup a script to backup my Steam Deck saves too.
Why not use Steam Cloud?
This is the first question I got when I was talking about my script and its a good question! I think steam cloud it grate but I don’t use it because of a few reasons.
Not all game I play are steam games.
Steam cloud only works for steam games. But I have a hand full of games from GOG like Stardew Valley.
I want more control over my files.
Last time I checked there was no way to manage the files you have saved in the steam cloud.
I don’t always have internet access.
I live out of town and I went years without having internet. My travels also take me off the grid. So the cloud is not always an option for backups and restores. Even more so with the Steam Deck being a mobile device.
Steam cloud was overwriting good saves.
I had an experience were a save in the steam cloud kept overwriting my new save. I think I was trying to start a new game or something. Anyway since there is no way to manage the files in the steam cloud I could not go and delete the old one. So I just turned off steam cloud. That fixed the issue.
My Steam Deck Saves Backup Script
Now that the reason for the script is out of the way lets get to the script itself. Because the steam deck is a Linux computer you might notice this script is very similar to my Linux PC backup script. I just changed it up a bit to do what I wanted it to do on the Steam Deck. Like backing up the the SD card.
#!/bin/bash
#Steamdeck game save backup script
#Record the current date to a text file so I know when I last ran the backup.
date &> '/run/media/deck/GF8S5/Saves Backup/LastBackup.txt'
#Rimworld Saves Backup
echo "----Rimworld----"
rsync -rltv --delete --progress '/home/deck/.config/unity3d/Ludeon Studios/RimWorld by Ludeon Studios/' '/run/media/deck/GF8S5/Saves Backup/unity3d/Ludeon Studios/RimWorld by Ludeon Studios/'
#Stardew Valley Saves Backup
echo "----Stardew Valley----"
rsync -rltv --delete --progress '/home/deck/.config/StardewValley/Saves/' '/run/media/deck/GF8S5/Saves Backup/StardewValley/Saves/'
#Hellblade Saves Backup
echo "----Hellblade----"
rsync -rltv --delete --progress '/home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/414340/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/HellbladeGame/Saved/' '/run/media/deck/GF8S5/Saves Backup/HellbladeGame/Saved/'
Lets Break It Down
This might look scary if you have never messed with Linux command line but its really very simple.
#Rimworld Saves BackupThis is just a comment. It does nothing. Its just a note for the reader of the code. Anything you see that starts with a # is a comment.
rsync -rltv --delete --progress 'SAVE_FILE_LOCATION' 'BACKUP_LOCATION'Rsync is a linux file copy command.
The “-rltv” are flags that tell it to work recursively, copy simlinks, keep the same file modification time, and to be verbose in the output.
“–delete” tells rsync to delete files in the backup that are no longer at the source location.
“–progress” tells rsync to show the progress of the file copy.
After that you need to fill in the path were your saved files are and were you want to back them up to. This will change depending on the game and SD card your using so you will have to look.
Setting up and running the backup script
The first thing you want to do it make a “Saves Backup” folder on your SD card and save this script as something like “backup.sh” in that folder.
Once that is done you open your Steam Deck up in Desktop mode and open the Terminal inside your “Saves Backup” folder.
Then in the terminal run the script by typing “sh backup.sh”.
I did not have anything to back up here but it gives you an idea of what you might see.
After the first run I just leave the terminal open. When I got back into desktop mode later it is there waiting for me and its already in the right folder. Then I just put UP on the dpad then X and it runs.
Restore Saves
Now you have a second copy of your saves on my SD card in case something ever happens. If you need to restore a save just copy and past it back into its source folder and the game will see it.
Maybe this could be improved.
This works well but i’m not 100% happy with it yet. Maybe we can setup a cron job so it auto runs or something. I don’t know yet. I’m rolling ideas around in my head and if I come up with anything cool I will be sure to update this page.
If you have any ideas feel free to let me know in the comments below!
