PC to PC game saves

[glasgow-space-cadet]

hi commanders o7, im looking to upgrade to a new pc soon and im worried about my saves. see my current PC save is logged on from a ps4 account cause that's where i started my elite journey. Now, when i bought the PC version on steam, all my character, credits and ships etc rolled onto my PC profile, which i was surprised at and thought great. Will the same thing happen when i get a new PC? is going from ps4>pc>pc going to cause a problem? is there anything i need to do to keep my commander or will it just switch automatically to new pc?

appreciate the advice. o7

 

[metatheurgist]

Your CMDR is actually held on Frontier's servers so as long as you use the same login you get the same game. You might want to save your binds, journals and visited stars cache. There are several posts on where they are located. If you can't find them I'm sure someone will supply the location.

 

[Lhorndra]

As @metatheurgist said, there are no traditional "saves" on your computer. The whole progress and all possessions of your CMDR are stored on FDev's servers. However, your whole configuration as well as some QoL (quality of life) files are only saved locally. The file paths mentioned below are the default ones. It's possible, although very unlikely, that they are somewhere else on your machine.

• Configuration files
  • Your whole in-game configuration: audio, graphics, ship preferences like orbit lines etc, and most importantly, bindings
  • Backup everything in there, it'll save you a lot of time and trouble
  • %LocalAppData%\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options
• Journal files
  • These files contain all the actions that your CMDR has taken. You don't need to carry them over, but they are useful for 3rd party tools like EDMC, EDD, Observatory, EDCopilot etc.,
  • %HomePath%\Saved Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous
• VisitedStarsCache.dat
  • Used by the in-game Galaxy Map to show you all stars you’ve visited. The Galaxy Map filter relies solely on this file, there is no server side backup. Without this file, the GalMap filter will show no system as "visited". Paradoxically, the game itself does know if you've visited a system before, it's just the GalMap filter that doesn't know. Yeah.
  • There is a seperate file for each CMDR present on your PC. The placeholder {CMDR_ID} in the path below is the internal ID of a CMDR account, usually a number with 7 or 8 digits.
  • %LocalAppData%\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\{CMDR_ID}\VisitedStarsCache.dat
• Screenshots
  • Take them or leave them
  • %HomePath%\Pictures\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous

If you use 3rd party tools, I'd backup their configs as well.

 

[glasgow-space-cadet]

amazing folks, thanks so much. Tbh, the most important thing is my commander, creds and ships looks like wont be a problem due to being stored on frontiers side. However, some things are giving me the fear, like first off , i have an Inara profile which im studious about and love updating and using Inara and its rankings, journal files and the visited star caches i would really be annoyed at. I am elite in exploration and there is a lot of different ways i have ventured into the black, each time i set aside a week or 2 for another deep black discovery trip i go the opposite ways i have been before.

im not very technically minded, so is just a case of copying the above files onto a drive then re-paste them in onto my new pc and everything should be good?

 

[Codger]

amazing folks, thanks so much. Tbh, the most important thing is my commander, creds and ships looks like wont be a problem due to being stored on frontiers side. However, some things are giving me the fear, like first off , i have an Inara profile which im studious about and love updating and using Inara and its rankings, journal files and the visited star caches i would really be annoyed at. I am elite in exploration and there is a lot of different ways i have ventured into the black, each time i set aside a week or 2 for another deep black discovery trip i go the opposite ways i have been before.

im not very technically minded, so is just a case of copying the above files onto a drive then re-paste them in onto my new pc and everything should be good?

Yes, just save those files and copy them over after you switch machines. I've done it a few times myself, and lost nothing.

 

[Lhorndra]

However, some things are giving me the fear, like first off , i have an Inara profile which im studious about and love updating and using Inara and its rankings

Just to clarify: your Inara profile will not be affected whatsoever by switching machines. Also, you won't need your old journal files for Inara, as everything in those files should have been uploaded to Inara as well. Inara can also access your official account on FDev's server, if you let it. However, some of the various statistical functions and summaries of local 3rd party tools are only able to give you the whole picture with a complete journal folder. Like for example the "Statistics" tab of EDD.

, journal files and the visited star caches i would really be annoyed at. I am elite in exploration and there is a lot of different ways i have ventured into the black, each time i set aside a week or 2 for another deep black discovery trip i go the opposite ways i have been before.

Maybe consider opening an account on EDSM before switching machines. You can upload all your old journal files to EDSM. Then, EDSM can show you a travel map of all your journeys. I consider EDSM as a kind of cloud backup for all my travels.

im not very technically minded, so is just a case of copying the above files onto a drive then re-paste them in onto my new pc and everything should be good?

As long as you copy them into their right locations, yes.