How do games remember save files after deletion?

[BattleToads]

So many times I have completely deleted a game from my machine to download the updated version and beheld that my old save file is still there. This is obviously very convenient, but how does this happen? Do games store the save files within windows somewhere? If so, where? Do I have a bunch of save files hiding away in my system somewhere? 

[Hinjima]

5 minutes ago, BattleToads said:

So many times I have completely deleted a game from my machine to download the updated version and beheld that my old save file is still there. This is obviously very convenient, but how does this happen? Do games store the save files within windows somewhere? If so, where? Do I have a bunch of save files hiding away in my system somewhere? 

Many games use cloud save so its stored online somewhere,  So when you download the game and want to play it again the save file / Your progress will be there.

[PDifolco]

4 minutes ago, BattleToads said:

So many times I have completely deleted a game from my machine to download the updated version and beheld that my old save file is still there. This is obviously very convenient, but how does this happen? Do games store the save files within windows somewhere? If so, where? Do I have a bunch of save files hiding away in my system somewhere? 

Yes that's it

Since a few years saves aren't in same folders than games anymore, and are often in some subdir of WIndows/Users/(you) ...

And saves don't get deleted when game is uninstalled, and you have them getting dust

 

[Spotty]

Save files are often stored separately from the game files. The folder they're stored in will depend on the game but many games will use the my documents folder or the appdata folder. 

 

There's also cloud backups for save files like what Steam does for games. 

[Tetras]

14 minutes ago, BattleToads said:

Do I have a bunch of save files hiding away in my system somewhere? 

Yes. It would be nice if they stopped storing them in hidden folders! What was wrong with My documents?

[OddOod]

24 minutes ago, Tetras said:

Yes. It would be nice if they stopped storing them in hidden folders! What was wrong with My documents?

People would delete them while clearoung out old documents. Now they tend to be in appdata which is easily accessed by just putting %appdata% in the explorer address bar

[PDifolco]

5 hours ago, OddOod said:

People would delete them while clearoung out old documents. Now they tend to be in appdata which is easily accessed by just putting %appdata% in the explorer address bar

Yeah but it's super messy, all games use different locations and none tells which one it uses

I can't understand why there's no standard for that  

[Holmes108]

16 hours ago, PDifolco said:

Yeah but it's super messy, all games use different locations and none tells which one it uses

I can't understand why there's no standard for that  

 

Yep, I hate it. and then often the folders aren't even named after the game, but rather after the company, etc... very annoying. I hate that I have to google where they're stored basically every time when necessary.

 

Edit: To clarify, I love that they're stored separate and persist through an uninstall. I just want them in a more consistent, simple place.

[Spotty]

11 hours ago, Tetras said:

Yes. It would be nice if they stopped storing them in hidden folders! What was wrong with My documents?

Just wait until you download a game from the Microsoft store and the game is installed in a folder you don't have access to and it shows the folder size as 0kb even though there's a 100GB game installed there. 

[BoomerDutch]

2 hours ago, Spotty said:

Just wait until you download a game from the Microsoft store and the game is installed in a folder you don't have access to and it shows the folder size as 0kb even though there's a 100GB game installed there. 

Oh god no please no and thank god windows is bleeding more Linux users on the way.