• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Totilo: The PS4's Cloud Save System Is Inadequate

Sucks, but you do have to maintain that little bit of cloud storage. Even those little PS+ games that we install and play for 30 seconds wind up with a 10MB save file.

They're going to have to increase it at some point.
 
Inadequate is an understatement of enormous proportions.

It's absolutely ridiculous. When you see your major competitor offering UNLIMITED storage, things get every worse.

The the reality check is that A LOT of PSN is completely inadequate. Service needs a huge revamp.

Unfortunately, we know from history that Sony gets lazy when it's leading. Couple that with the company's dire financial situation, and I don't see the kind of changes needed happening anytime soon.
 
DeepEnigma said:
Yeah, just ignore that they were bitching about the free games offered, etc.

Where were we again? Oh yeah, unlimited or if they need a cap for partitioning reasons, have it high enough to not effect anyone.
Click to expand...

Really? If you disagree with us, why don't you post an actual argument instead of insulting us?
 
Pretty shocking how easy it works on xbox one to be honest. Just sign into my account at a friends house and boom....local coop Borderlands with my own character. I don't even have to think about it. Having to manually manage what is in the cloud to ensure I have enough space is extremely frustrating.
 
Freedom = $1.05 said:
the worst is with games that have HUGE save files like fucking Apotheon. It's save file is 1/3 of the total cloud limit, those fucking criminals
Click to expand...

That's my biggest pet peeve too. And I get that some games want to save your replays/videos/custom items... but that should not be part of the save file. The save file should always be the 10MB file and the rest should be a separate profile.

LBP2 on PS3 had the same issue and they fixed it later by separating the files. Now with 3 they reverted back to the idiotic one giant file.

And I get that you can retroactively go back and select the "creations" in LBP3 or the replays in Driveclub and delete them, but every time you play the game again, and the file is "new" it tries to upload again.

Even if they don't expand the cloud size, which they should, they need to enforce better local restrictions and also allow better local management with easy check/uncheck of the various files for all games.
 
1gb should have been absolutely cool for ps4 cloud saves(minus a few special cases), but sony didn't take an agressive stance on save file size with the launch of the system. Some of these saves are fucking 1000 times larger than they need to be. Why the fuck does every game need at least 10mb for files?

Given the situation, sony really need to provide more online storage. I started using a cheap usb drive to make sure my saves are all backed up because the cloud storage is so worthless. If only sony allowed me to provide scheduled syncs to the usb saves (or a real cloud provider)
 
Walpurgis said:
Really? If you disagree with us, why don't you post an actual argument instead of insulting us?
Click to expand...

If your feelings are hurt because a thread about a cloud save cap shouldn't divulge into complaining about the free games, (there is a thread for that), then that is on you.
 
Never had a prob with the cloud storage yet. And I am a pretty heavy user and have a vita ps3 and ps4 all using it.

But I am pretty OC when it comes to save files.
 
DeepEnigma said:
If your feelings are hurt because a thread about a cloud save cap shouldn't divulge into complaining about the free games, (there is a thread for that), then that is on you.
Click to expand...

If you can't understand that cloud saves on PS4 are related to the quality of PS+ as a service and resort to insulting people, that is on you.
 
Cleve said:
1gb should have been absolutely cool for ps4 cloud saves(minus a few special cases), but sony didn't take an agressive stance on save file size with the launch of the system. Some of these saves are fucking 1000 times larger than they need to be. Why the fuck does every game need at least 10mb for files?
Click to expand...

yeah, having just got a ps4 and having a lot more experience with the xbox systems, that was a big surprise.
also would love that update to allow external harddrives...
 
Collingwood said:
I keep saying this and I'll continue to. 1GB should be plenty for save files. The problem isn't the 1GB. It's the insane fucking file size for saves on Sony platforms that's the problem. Between my 360 and Xbox One, my combined total size on saves isn't anywhere near 1GB for over 200 games.

It's the file size that's the issue
Click to expand...

I keep forgetting about this. All around it needs to be changed.
 
20152276835_3289898f9c.jpg
 
Even if they came out tomorrow and made it unlimited and free for all (no Plus requirement) it would STILL be a woefully inadequate joke.

Xbox:

- Log into any game, on any console, your saves will be there automatically, and when you go home your progress will be reflected

Playstation:

- Log into other console
- Manually trawl through the cloud save list to find the game you want to play
- Download the saves for it
- Play game
- Manually re-upload that save when you're done
- Go home, manually trawl through the list against, find that game and download it.**

God help you if you want to play multiple games, because you'll have to do one at a time, with no option to multi-select, and each time you'll be booted out of he lost and have to start trawling from the top again.

This is incredibly painful for folks like me with multiple consoles.

**Not entirely sure on this last point. Have given up on cloud save entirely so I forget. Can someone clarify, will a primary console auto-download save files that have been updated elsewhere? I was pretty sure it didn't but writing it down it sounds too ridiculous since you could easily overwrite your progress from elsewhere via auto-upload if you forget to manually download.

Also, if they would just compress the damn saves before uploading it would help out with the storage problems a bit. I know it says they're all 10MB+ but most of the time the 10MB ones upload so fast that they can't be anything more than 500K. Yet it still takes the full 10MB on the cloud.
 
Falaut said:
man, it would be so awesome to have some sort of usb save backup option on the PS4 to avoid this...
Click to expand...
Unless that was sarcastic, yeah its an option. It's buried in the save data menus but the options there.
 
I agreed. 1GB limit is ridiculous.

Zee-Row said:
Is there anyway to make the PS4 cloud save only certain games?
Click to expand...

Go to [Application Saved Data Management] > [Saved Data in System Storage] > [upload to online storage] > chose game you don't want to auto-upload, hit Options on DS4 and turn it off.
 
The 1GB is completely fine, it's the save file sizes. 10-30MB for a single save is nuts, not to mention certain games having 500MB saves like LittleBigPlanet 3.
 
mattiewheels said:
Unless that was sarcastic, yeah its an option. It's buried in the save data menus but the options there.
Click to expand...

It's not really a valid option. You have to copy one game at a time. A simple "copy all" would go a long way but it's managed to miss several major firmware updates.
 
FStop7 said:
This makes no sense. It's a valid complaint.
Click to expand...

Yup, I bring it up everytime we get a thread on requested firmware update features. This bothers me more than anything else on the PS4 and I'm utterly stunned that they haven't changed it yet. I imagine a huge chunk of people by now have enough games to have hit the cap.
 
sja_626 said:
Even if they came out tomorrow and made it unlimited and free for all (no Plus requirement) it would STILL be a woefully inadequate joke.

Xbox:

- Log into any game, on any console, your saves will be there automatically, and when you go home your progress will be reflected

Playstation:

- Log into other console
- Manually trawl through the cloud save list to find the game you want to play
- Download the saves for it
- Play game
- Manually re-upload that save when you're done
- Go home, manually trawl through the list against, find that game and download it.**

God help you if you want to play multiple games, because you'll have to do one at a time, with no option to multi-select, and each time you'll be booted out of he lost and have to start trawling from the top again.

This is incredibly painful for folks like me with multiple consoles.

**Not entirely sure on this last point. Have given up on cloud save entirely so I forget. Can someone clarify, will a primary console auto-download save files that have been updated elsewhere? I was pretty sure it didn't but writing it down it sounds too ridiculous since you could easily overwrite your progress from elsewhere via auto-upload if you forget to manually download.

Also, if they would just compress the damn saves before uploading it would help out with the storage problems a bit. I know it says they're all 10MB+ but most of the time the 10MB ones upload so fast that they can't be anything more than 500K. Yet it still takes the full 10MB on the cloud.
Click to expand...
This sums up about my experience when I log into a friends console to play a game at his house. On Xbox I don't even think about it, everything is automated and requires zero user intervention.
 
Zee-Row said:
Is there anyway to make the PS4 cloud save only certain games?
Click to expand...
I appreciate the way Vita games handle cloud saves, where it's off by default, and you just tap the Plus icon on the game's start screen to say 'cloud saves, please'. It makes more sense in my brain to opt in then to opt out if space is this limited.
 
sja_626 said:
Even if they came out tomorrow and made it unlimited and free for all (no Plus requirement) it would STILL be a woefully inadequate joke.

Xbox:

- Log into any game, on any console, your saves will be there automatically, and when you go home your progress will be reflected.
Click to expand...

What if the game you want to play isn't installed on this other console? If trawling through a list of saved games is too much work then I can't imagine the pain of having to reinstall Ryse.
 
It really is embarrassing. Not only is the available space incredibly lacking, but the feature itself is locked behind a paywall.
 
At the very least, they could improve the ridiculous user interface for managing that storage. The fact, that you get generic error messages when you run out of storage, and that you can't even lookup how much of it you are currently using, is beyond me.
 
sja_626 said:
Even if they came out tomorrow and made it unlimited and free for all (no Plus requirement) it would STILL be a woefully inadequate joke.

Xbox:

- Log into any game, on any console, your saves will be there automatically, and when you go home your progress will be reflected

Playstation:

- Log into other console
- Manually trawl through the cloud save list to find the game you want to play
- Download the saves for it
- Play game
- Manually re-upload that save when you're done
- Go home, manually trawl through the list against, find that game and download it.**

God help you if you want to play multiple games, because you'll have to do one at a time, with no option to multi-select, and each time you'll be booted out of he lost and have to start trawling from the top again.

This is incredibly painful for folks like me with multiple consoles.

**Not entirely sure on this last point. Have given up on cloud save entirely so I forget. Can someone clarify, will a primary console auto-download save files that have been updated elsewhere? I was pretty sure it didn't but writing it down it sounds too ridiculous since you could easily overwrite your progress from elsewhere via auto-upload if you forget to manually download.

Also, if they would just compress the damn saves before uploading it would help out with the storage problems a bit. I know it says they're all 10MB+ but most of the time the 10MB ones upload so fast that they can't be anything more than 500K. Yet it still takes the full 10MB on the cloud.
Click to expand...

I have two PS4s in my house, and multiple friends with PS4s that come round to visit and play games. Despite being perfect target candidates for this service we've never bothered with the cloud storage because it's simply hasn't been worth the effort so far. Maybe a particular game will come along that forces us into it, but we've managed to get by with starting a new game, or in the case of games like GTA Online and Destiny, the game features its own cloud saves anyway.

Also,
It’s still a big feature gap, and what is the competition between consoles for, other than to have each console embarrass the other into feature parity? (I mean, the Wii U is going to add a free-game subscription program and a 500GB hard drive in order to keep up any day now, right?)
Click to expand...
LOL. I'll take completely free online gaming on all consoles, thanks.
My WiiU already has a 500GB HDD, courtesy of the entirely necessary upgrade of my stock PS4 HDD due to mandatory installs.
What a maroon.
 
Compared to steam its straight up bad. That part is obvious. I feel sony hasn't really made any efforts to improve cloud functionality ever since it was put on ps3. There might be some minor difference on ps4, but it's just so behind in terms of quality of life. I guess it helps that Microsoft have a PC background and have been doing it for a long time. Hell, GFWL had cloud saves that worked....sometimes.
 
ShinUltramanJ said:
What if the game you want to play isn't installed on this other console? If trawling through a list of saved games is too much work then I can't imagine the pain of having to reinstall Ryse.
Click to expand...

Imagine a scenario where you have 2 consoles, all your games are installed on both, and you wish to freely swap between these two consoles. Yeah, it's a niche scenario. But it's one that's handled beautifully on Xbox Live but is a clusterfuck on PSN. And yet this is the exact problem you'd expect a "cloud save" system to solve.

Also downloading a game is probably a one time thing, that has one step. Dealing with PSN cloud saves has to happen every time, and has 3 steps (download, upload, download again)
 
I'd just gotten back into Playstation about a week ago (with a Vita and Playstation TV) and cloud saving is probably one of the most disappointing, disjointed features of the Playstation Network (let alone the PS+ subscription). You'd think that cloud saving would be a priority for Sony given they're a little more so a multi-platform/device ecosystem (PS3, PS4, Vita, and PSTV).

What I found out playing around playing a few Vita games is that PS+ isn't necessary if the cloud saving feature is built-in to the game (like Pixeljunk Shooter Ultimate). You do need it for some games and it's the only way to separate the save file from the game otherwise. I couldn't figure out for the life of me if it automatically syncs the save when it contacts the server but the save worked between my Vita and PSTV without needing to swap memory cards (or use PS+ even jankier upload/download feature) ... same with Dynasty Warriors 8 ... Borderlands 2 ... they support cloud saving but require varying degrees of user interaction to work.
 
Agreed, and the more it gets reported on hopefully the more chance we have of getting it increased - and increased by quite some distance. I don't even use it heavily, but games like Bloodborne and The Witcher (and fucking Minecraft, which my daughters have put hundreds of hours into and I have to disable cloud backup for) soon eat it up. :/
 
Falaut said:
man, it would be so awesome to have some sort of usb save backup option on the PS4 to avoid this...

I'm curious how many people would revisit some of their old saves as they sat in the cloud for years on end, like for Bethesda games. I had 30 saves at one time for NV for example, and at 3mb each that was almost 100mb that was using up my cloud storage. I was able to cut that down to 3. If the system allowed unlimited storage, I would not bother to delete the data because 'who cares'. That does not seem like an efficient system.

So, 1gb IS a joke (it should be something like 5), but so is unlimited cloud storage, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

It does allow you to back up saves onto a USB


TheChewyWaffles said:
Yep, I even started a thread about this not too long ago. Their system is useless to me right now. I have a ton of saves on my local PS4 that simply aren't being backed up anymore.
Click to expand...

Only real solution right now for protecting your save files is to copy them unto a USB drive which is what I'm gonna do
 
ShinUltramanJ said:
What if the game you want to play isn't installed on this other console? If trawling through a list of saved games is too much work then I can't imagine the pain of having to reinstall Ryse.
Click to expand...

Then you install the game? What's your point? You might as well complain about install times in the first place, since it has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion. And once it says 'playable' you play it and your saves are already there waiting for you. I didn't even realize my stuff was going into the cloud at first on xbox, but I can freely dump and reinstall games if I need space, or go play somewhere else, and they're always just 'there'. It's so smooth I bet lots of people don't realize they're even getting the service.
 
The Cloud save on PS4 is pretty poor. I've stopped using it for most games and just dump saves to external storage. I'm not interested in the sync side just the backup side but the 1GB limit and poor design of GUI makes it fairly worthless - heck unless it was just me DriveClub and Alien Isolation alone ate up over 500MB of my allowance.

I'm not expecting a quick fix though because as the article notes, this is going to be a very niche issue in terms of seriously affecting the average console owner and as MS superior service doesn't seem to matter at market I doubt Sony are rushing to fix it because it clearly doesn't matter much in the big (or even medium) picture.

They really should sort it out though.
 
My main thing is why the hell are the saves so damn big? Every thing is 10MB +, while the same game on Xbox One has saves that are maybe 200kb. What the hell is that?
 
Hope more noise is made about the stupidly bloated save files and miniscule save space for cloud storage. If you buy the wrong combination of games, this feature effectively becomes borderline useless and every bit as tedious as cleaning out the fridge with the Wii.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Leaked Xbox Cloud Controllers
2
78
571
Dorfdad replied
What is your "Old man yells at cloud" gaming take?
2 3 4
186
1K
Guilty_AI replied
With hardware prices going up, do suddenly everyone think that the future is in the cloud?
2 3 4
157
2K
Mr Reasonable replied
Fortnite Save The World coming to Switch 2
4
228
CuteFaceJay replied
Microsoft Windows 365 goes down the day after Microsoft celebrates 'reimagining the PC as a cloud service that streams a Cloud PC'
Drama 
13
424
moogman replied
Top Bottom