How To Sync Your Saved PC Games Between Computers With Dropbox

What’s your favorite game genre―action like Call of Duty, sports like FIFA 14 or puzzles like Brain Age? Well, no matter which games you like the most, have you ever realized how great it would be to play and save games on one computer and then access them from another instead of depending on only one?

Fascinating, isn’t it?

Well, then you would be happy to know Dropbox can make this happen easily. You can save game files from PC to a Dropbox storage account and share the saved files with friends anytime and anywhere. Let’s find out how

The Process

When a game gets downloaded, files are usually saved in the local My Documents folder. We need to copy those save files to Dropbox and then generate a symbolic link pointing to Dropbox the original save folder. In this way, whenever you plan to save the game, it will get redirected to the synced saves in Dropbox.

To make this job easy, we’ve divided the process into several steps for clarity.

Step 1: Backup The Files

The first job is backing up the saves you intend to synchronize.

These files might represent a significant amount of gaming time, so a backup is highly important, and this should be the first step.

Step 2: Install the Dropbox Client

Installing the Dropbox Client should be the next step, as it will simplify the synchronization process.

However, ensure there is enough free space available before initiating it so the effort isn’t wasted.

Step 3: Locate the Saved Game Files

Find out where the game files are stored on local machine. Ideally, it should be found in the My Documents folder or in a My Games folder within it, but the location varies depending on the game.

If you still can’t figure it out, try to right click on the game’s shortcut icon, and choose Open File Location from the pop up options.

Step 4: Transfer Saved Folders to Dropbox

This is pretty easy. Let’s say the game saves are located in the My Games folder and you want to move them. Now, all you need to do is simply create a folder in your Dropbox and copy the files into it and that’s all; the files from PC to Dropbox will be transferred seamlessly.

Another way out is the Dropbox Folder Sync Add-On.

This will help move any folder to your Dropbox account, and a symbolic link will be generated to point to the new address. All you have to do is install it and then just right-click on the folder you intend to transfer on your local machine,select the “Sync with Dropbox” option, and that’s all. It will move all the saved files in a couple of seconds.

Step 5: Synchronizing On Other PCs

You’ve saved your files on Dropbox and now want to synchronize them to other computers. So, how to go about it? Here are two ways to make it happen.

Remove or rename the game’s original save folder and run the following command as an administrator.

“C:\Users\User Name\Documents\My Games\Game Name” “C:\Users\User Name\Dropbox\Game Saves\Game Name”

The first file path should be the game’s original save folder, and the second one should be the new Dropbox save folder. Now press enter, and the symbolic links will be created. To ensure it worked, go back to the original folder to check whether the shortcut has really been created .Reiterate this process on all the computers you want to synchronize.

The other way is to use the Dropbox Folder Sync app. Download it onto the other machine, locate the game saves and again choose the “Sync with Dropbox” option like before.The app will identify whether a Dropbox folder with a similar name already prevails and all you need to do is allow it to merge and overwrite.

However, you must ensure that the saved files are already available on this computer, and they must be backed up to another location, and then the indigenous files must be removed from the folder. It will ensure zero contradictions with Dropbox saves.

Step 6: Test

This final step is important to help verify whether the process really worked. Begin the game on one computer, save it in any arbitrary location, and then try starting that game on the other machine and if it’s a success, you should be able to load your most recent saved file from the first computer!

There are other tools available as well to synchronize your saved PC games between computers. One of them you must be familiar with already is Steam Cloud, which is quite popular. However, unlike Dropbox, it doesn’t support all kinds of games.

Also, when it comes to game saves, Steam Cloud doesn’t restore previous versions, which can be done with Dropbox easily.

Conclusion

Dropbox is pretty reliable, easy to set up, and works exceptionally well. Once someone gets accustomed to the process of moving files from PC to Dropbox and accessing them from several other machines, setting this up on additional computers should be pretty easy.

Read our guide if you have trouble with Dropbox not syncing.

Have you tested the process yet? Are there any other steps you would like to add? Do leave your comments and thanks so much for reading!