Hello all.

I have been playing No Man's Sky since it first debuted in 2016. In fact, it was this game that hooked me up to steam and started me on my new retirement favorite pastime: gaming.

It didn't take long for me to turn off the cloud save feature on steam, and build my own savegame backup routine. Their cloud sync feature is, IMO, flakey at best.

Last night, while I was playing NMS they apparently updated the steam client on my PC, and in that process turned the cloud sync back ON. I have spent 3 hrs today trying to figure out what messed up my game last night, and finally got a sync error message from steam saying that their version of my NMS data was from 2018, and wanted to know which version I wanted to keep: last nights version or their 2018 version. Yikes!! How could they ask such a stupid question?? I turned the cloud sync back off, but now I'm a bit paranoid that this could happen again.

Anyway, I'm considering buying NMS again on GoG (I already learned that I don't get any $$ breaks) but wanted some input from others who are playing NMS on GoG, and perhaps have also played on steam as well.

Questions about: game updates, GoG client vs steam client (particularly with regard to controlling my PC data), ease of use playing my game(s). IOW, if GoG offers a better environment to game in then I will probably rebuy/buy all future games with GoG, and say goodbye to steam.

One particular question: Once I install the NMS game, start a game, then can I restore my current savegame data easily and pick back up where I was last night, only on GoG?

Thanks for any help!

First, I would temper your expectations of a "better environment", especially depending what you mean by such a vague statement.

Second, the save file for NMS (should) be located around %APPDATA%\HelloGames\NMS\, so retrieve at your desire. Be careful with cloud saves in either case.

That I do not know. With some games, the saved games are not compatible between the GOG and Steam versions of the same identical games. But maybe NMS is.

One thing I do know for sure though, is that Cloud Save data errors can also occur with GOG Galaxy just like they can with Steam.

And if that happens, then GOG Galaxy is also going to ask you which save file you want to keep. So if you think switching to the GOG version is definitely going to solve all of your Cloud Save sync problems; that is not necessarily going to happen. The same thing could happen to you again with the GOG Galaxy version just like it did with the Steam version.

I'm not saying it would, but rather, just that it's a definite possibility.

You can download offline installers; that way there's 0% chance that any cloud saves would ever be used since those require Galaxy. However the online stuff in this game does require Galaxy, so if you want that then you're back in the position of having to rely on a client that has cloud saving. You can turn that off; I don't normally use Galaxy but I've never heard about it turning options back on by itself.

Hi-ya.

This will be a semi-long post, but I will try to answer most of your concerns. GOG bothers to explain this only with a small side note -- the client is optional*. (There are caveats that I will get to)
You don't need it to download your games and play them.

While it is true that many games from steam can also be played without the launcher/client once downloaded - you do need the client to download them in the first place.
(Also small side note - it is possible to use an older version of Galaxy 1.2, that has a different UI and some people still swear by it.)

Granted - whether you download a client and use it to manage your games, OR download an entire game yourself and unpack it makes only a difference if you plan on playing offline a lot.

And here comes a very large caveat... this is true for single-player games. Virtually every multiplayer game, that is not hotseat/split-screen or LAN, requires Galaxy. :/

Considering most publishers are reluctant to put there games here, I guess some sort of authentication that a game has been legally purchased - is not that bad :/ - given that the only alternatives are mandatory clients.
[i] (The people behind Supreme Commander Forged Alliance Forever had an ingenious solution to this:

1.) You need to make your profile public for a short while.
2.) You need to press ''Check profile button''.

This looks at your profile whether SupCom is indeed in your library...) [/i]

I know this has nothing to do with NMS or your question(s) - but this ingenious solution is something that needs to be mentioned! :D

Back to your question(s)...

The thing about game updates:

From what I understand the Steam client/launcher forces you to update your games to the ''latest & greatest version'' whether you want to or not. Galaxy does not. (Obviously you won't be able to play multiplayer though)

Galaxy also has a rollback option. You can switch back to an earlier version of a game.
The problem with this is - how it works depends on the game and devoleper. :/

There are very very few games where you can go and look at how v.0.0.1 of a game looked like. In most cases you can rollback only 3-5 patches/updates.
(Go go Timberborn! v1.0) :D

There is also an unfortunate precedent where Saints Row IV: ''Game of the Century Edition'' got replaced with Saints Row IV: ''Re-elected''.
Unless you downloaded the previous version, or are willing to resort to piracy - you cannot play GoTCE anymore.

Other games, such as Spellforce 3, have a ''legacy'' version bundled... so this is an issue with the developers/publishers, not GoG.
And unlike Steam you can download and backup your game(s).

Now unto your main point... (I did warn this will be a semi-long post) ;P As Dervenond stated - putting your old savefile into the HelloGames folder should be enough...

NMS on GoG
There is a subforum.

The thing about most subforums on gog are - they are empty - if you post something in there - you will have to wait months for anyone to answer. :/
If you have a question about a certain game - better to post it in Main. (I would advise to also post in the sub though, for people who may come upon the same issue.) ;(

NMS advantage is -- it is reasonably popular.
You would not have to wait long for anyone to answer.
There is also an entire star system dedicated for GoG users! :D

Most of the regulars there have their profiles also set to ''accept messages from everyone'' - so you shouldn't have any problem messaging anyone if you have some urgent question or want to do some Expedition or other MP stuff together.

I hope this clears up most of your questions. ;)

As for me and NMS - after several updates turned my bases first into a moon, then into a lava planet, then put a mountain and somehow, more lava on-top my main base - I have not played NMS for quite awhile! :''D
Whenever there's an update I am tempted, but somehow I stick to ''simpler'' games. =)

Thanks everyone for the info and feedback. I think this gives me a much clearer picture of the reality of the world of gaming: The grass isn't greener on the other side; just a different shade. :)

And since I do like going to the Space Anomaly (NMS) and seeing what kind of ships others are flying around in (maybe I want to find one like it and update my collection) and that requires MP with internet connection, then I just need to add a subroutine to my backup routine: namely, check on steam client settings periodically to make sure they didn't change certain settings with the latest update. C'est la vie!

About Saves and different versions - they don't always work from store-to-store, as that can differ from version-to-version.

For example - my saves from Greedfall from Xbox PC App (from Game Pass) to Steam to GOG all worked.

But, my saves from say Spec Ops The Line from Steam to GOG did NOT work. On GOG version - my Steam-save didn't work in old Steam-location and also didn't work in GOG's save location folder either.

So, that's a dice roll.... [shrug]

EDIT - Also, I use GameSave Manager a lot and back-up saves every now and then. That app has a DataBase that gets updated a lot w/ common save locations for lots of different versions of games (not all, though - for example, it don't seem to know Weird West GOG version is). That or back-up the actual game folder, which I often look the game up and its locations listed over on PC Gaming Wiki.

So, I do that backing-up of saves here and there b/c of a lot of non-sense w/ different game-versions (saves from one store to another might NOT work), Cloud Saves causing problems (with wrong saves), you never know when new game-updates break old-saves and need to revert to an older-game version (if that's even possible - had that happen w/ Krater on Steam as Co-Op update wrecked old saves and I couldn't go backwards to old version...so gotta start over and never did), and who knows whatelse. [shrug]

I know this is an old thread, but no one seemed to answer it directly:

NMS save files are just JSON, stored in a fixed location %userappdata%/Roaming/HelloGames/NMS. You can copy this folder or rename it to archive them then restore them by just renaming a folder back to NMS. This does NOT break cloud saving with Steam, and I doubt it would with GOG either. Steam cloud saving will almost always default to your local file, or ask if there is a question.

So while I haven't actually tested this with the GOG version, which I would like to switch to as I believe in owning my games, I don't anticipate any difficulty.

I don't use cloud services for games.

But are there any third party ones available, that give you a greater level of control?

For instance, if you install via Offline Installers and don't use Galaxy, then obviously you don't have cloud backup.

However, I could imagine running a script after I exit a game I just played, and my saves for that game backup to a third party cloud service. Or maybe I do it via a client like Playnite or Heroic. Of course, if I knew what I needed to do, then I could backup just what I needed to, to Google Drive or MEGA etc.

P.S. In the past, I have written BAT files to backup save games from the likes of Quake, Blood, etc to a local backup. They were easy to understand and do.