Overview
So many users blindly enable Steam Cloud synchronization, thinking it’s useful, “just in case”, or as a disaster recovery option. The major problem is that you cannot easily delete your own game data in the Steam Cloud server. So, you cannot just pick one of your games and disable cloud sync on that game only, thinking all the saves are “reset” and gone, maybe couple days later you turn the cloud sync again, and guess what … the old save files are “restored” like a zombie that keeps resurrecting no matter how many times you kill it.Typically, you would expect each game will have Load, Save, Delete options for the game progress. Quite unusually, such as this game Resident Evil 2 Remake, there is no Delete option. That leaves players to deal with unwanted save slots by either leave them be or overwrite the same progress on all 20 slots as a way to mark them as unwanted.In this guide, i will throw a technique i personally label as “emptying files”, which i first learned from a forum of a program that gave nasty symptoms from its advertisement mechanisms. I believe this is a fairly easy way for Average Joe players to accomplish, and much of the details in this guide are derived from the link below, which i gave much credit to: Kevin Arrows–How to Delete Steam Cloud Saves [appuals.com]
Where are the save files anyway?
First, you want to locate your save files. This is usually
“C:Program Files (x86)Steamuserdata[UserID][AppID]remotewin64_save“
Your [UserID] is unique to you, so i can’t guess what it is, but [AppID] for RE2R is 883710 at the time of this writing.
Now, if you navigate to this folder you will find a list of files like this:
- data000.bin
- data00-1.bin
- data001Slot.bin
- data002Slot.bin
- data003Slot.bin
- data004Slot.bin
- data005Slot.bin
- data006Slot.bin
- data007Slot.bin
- data021Slot.bin
Some players say data00-1.bin is your game profile, that has all the collected records and unlocks and stuff, so leave that one out for sure. Based on my observation, data000.bin is an Autosave file, and anything data???Slot.bin is your manual save going chronologically from the top. For some reason, my data021Slot.bin has been there since i first downloaded the game, so idk, maybe you can manually save up to 20 slots.
Core Steps (4) to Take
If the game is already running or Steam is open, completely shut them down, just to be sure.
Step (1)
What you want to do next is “empty” the save files you want to delete. For example, if you want to get rid of data003Slot.bin, first you make a copy of the file in case of backup, then delete the file. Then you create a new .txt file, from the Windows File Explorer, or Notepad. However you create that .txt file, just backspace everything and save it so it’s 0 bytes on the Properties. And then, you have to change its filename, INCLUDING ITS EXTENSION, as data003Slot.bin. You will know you did it correctly if Windows pops up a small warning saying “changing extension will make the file unusable” blah blah blah. Click Yes, right-click and pick Properties, and mark data003Slot.bin as READ-ONLY.
Step (2)
Start Steam and run the game, Steam should ask you there’s a conflict with the files and whether you want to download or upload files. Choose UPLOAD and continue loading the game.
Step (3)
Typically, as soon as you get to the Main Menu and exit the game, Steam will sync the save files with the server. This is what i call forcing the sync process. Hopefully, forcing once or twice is good enough for your original goal.
Getting back to my example, when you check the Load Game, you should have that 3rd slot empty. Also, when you try to save on the 3rd slot, it will say failed to do so. Force the sync one or two more times, if you like, and shut down Steam completely.
Step (4)
Go back to the save folder and open the Properties for the file data003Slot.bin, tick off the READ-ONLY attribute. When you start Steam and run the game again, you should still find that 3rd slot is empty, but now you can save on it.
Last Words Before Wrapping Up
In a rare case my example doesn’t work at this point, you have to turn off Steam Cloud synchronization from Steam setting (Steam client) AND Resident Evil 2 setting (individual game), and retry Steps 1-2-3-4 above.
This might look daunting, but if you grasp the ideas of “emptying” files, and forcing the sync process until Steam no longer displays conflict pop-up, you’ll see how quick this can be.
Hope i helped somebody in some way today… 😀