Do you really want auto-updates for your games, or actually just want updates-on-demand? Or just a notification with a button to update the game?
Personally I dislike Steams auto updates, because I want decide when a game should be updated. I might have mods installed, only mobile internet or a myriad other reasons not to be forced to download and apply an update right at that moment and instead just play the old version.
For saves, I normally just use syncthing. I have regularly issues with GOG and Steam cloud saves, and syncthing works well enough,
I want auto updates for my games so close to “always” that you can only tell it’s not 100% if you squint a bit. I use Syncthing in other contexts, like syncing emulator saves to and from desktop and Steam Deck, and it’s not quite as easy as Steam cloud saves.
Setup is annoying, and feedback on whether or not it’s working is a bit rough. I’ve lost data by misconfiguring it before. You have to run a background daemon on a device where battery life matters, so I tend to shut it off when I’m done. Syncing saves with SyncThing requires knowing where those save files are, whereas being built into the launcher client means they already know where those saves are, and that step is already done.
Yes, that’s the selling point, but I also value automatic updates and cloud saves most of the time.
Do you really want auto-updates for your games, or actually just want updates-on-demand? Or just a notification with a button to update the game?
Personally I dislike Steams auto updates, because I want decide when a game should be updated. I might have mods installed, only mobile internet or a myriad other reasons not to be forced to download and apply an update right at that moment and instead just play the old version.
For saves, I normally just use syncthing. I have regularly issues with GOG and Steam cloud saves, and syncthing works well enough,
I want auto updates for my games so close to “always” that you can only tell it’s not 100% if you squint a bit. I use Syncthing in other contexts, like syncing emulator saves to and from desktop and Steam Deck, and it’s not quite as easy as Steam cloud saves.
Why so? I use SyncThing and I have no issues with it what so ever.
Setup is annoying, and feedback on whether or not it’s working is a bit rough. I’ve lost data by misconfiguring it before. You have to run a background daemon on a device where battery life matters, so I tend to shut it off when I’m done. Syncing saves with SyncThing requires knowing where those save files are, whereas being built into the launcher client means they already know where those saves are, and that step is already done.