Syncing multiple Torchlight 2 Characters across multiple computers

Question

As far as I know Torchlight 2 has Steam Cloud support, so you can sync your save games across multiple computers. Is it possible to play one character on one computer and an alternate character on another without syncing up? And when I do finally sync up, will my savefiles be damaged, assuming I only play each character exclusively on one computer?

The situation is that I play on two desktops, one at home and another somewhere else. My other computer sometimes has limited Internet access (I can't predict when this happens). This means that if I play ahead, I can't be sure when I can sync my progress back to home, which is a problem if I want to continue that character.

So this rules out playing the same character on both computers. But I was thinking maybe I can run an alt on my other computer so that each computer will be progressing a different character. Then I could at some point in the future sync both computers up and get both characters at home. However, I know very little about the save system so it doesn't seem immediately obvious whether this would work or not.

So, is it possible to do this without damaging my save files?

Answer 1

Disabling Steam Cloud Synchronization

It is unfortunate that you have to play two different characters on those computers, however if you are happy with this to be the solution, all you need to do is the following:

1. Right click on Torchlight II in your games list and select Properties

2. On the Updates tab, you will find a setting for disabling Steam Cloud (The Steam synchronization service)

It is your choice whether you want to disable Steam Cloud on both (Just follow those steps on the other computer). If you leave it enabled on one computer, you will have that game data safely backed up on Steam's Servers.

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Resolving the Conflicts Later

First back up your game data

1. Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Runic Games\Torchlight 2
2. Copy the saves folder to somewhere else and keep until certain that the game works.

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If Steam Cloud conflicts when you re-enable it, tell steam to not copy either files:

Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Runic Games\Torchlight 2\save in Windows Explorer and open the folder which is made up on random numbers (#################).

Add your other character file in there and then tell Steam Cloud to force your local files onto Steam Cloud.

Disclaimer: I have not tried this and have posted this answer entirely based on my theoretical understanding of this game. I cannot verify that this method will work. You should back up your game data first in case anything goes wrong or something breaks.

The sharedstash.bin file cannot be merged with another (to my knowledge), so that will not be able to be copied over. The character stash is saved in the character file, so that will remain intact.

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Restoring Game Data if Something Goes Wrong

1. Navigate to where you backed up your saves folder.

2. Delete the saves folder in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Runic Games\Torchlight 2 and then paste in your backup copy.

You can then either try again, try a different method or just choose to keep one set of game data.

Answer 2

Here is an excellent guide I found on the runic forums that tells you how to set yourself up across multiple computers: http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=37612

The basic idea is to locate your local client's save folder and establish a pointer to an alternate folder location; the typical application here is through Dropbox, but you could use those instructions to set up a junction (folder pointer) to a flash drive. Keep that on your keyring and you're good to go regardless of internet availability.

This method will ensure that your character files (and perhaps more likely, your shared stash) will not be corrupted or accidentally overwritten. On the other hand, you have to always have that flash drive on hand.