As part of its ongoing work to support Steam Deck, Valve has released a new Dynamic Cloud Sync feature to Steam Cloud.
The free feature will allow users to seamlessly move between Steam Deck and PC instances of their games without worrying about exiting the game on Deck.
Valves says it anticipates users will frequently suspend their Deck without exiting the game, which is common with other hand-helds. But with Dynamic Cloud Sync, if users then choose to play on another device such as PC or another Stea, Deck, their progress will be waiting for them.
The feature will automatically upload all modified save game data to the cloud prior to the device entering sleep mode. Then, users can boot up their PC, laptop, or other devices to start playing. Steam will also automatically download any save game changes when users return to their Steam Deck and wake up the device.
Valve says Dynamic Cloud Sync isn’t a requirement, but it is recommended. But even without the feature enabled, Steam will still track when save game data is changed on the Deck. However, if a user suspends their Deck while a game is running and then tries to resume on a different device, they will be prompted to close the running process on Deck or continue without the most recent save game progress.
The only this is that developers must manually enable it on their games in Steamworks and take advantage of some new APIs. Below, you can find the steps to enable it for your games, and more detail about the accompanying APIs.
Originally set start shipping in December, due to supply chain and material issues, Steam Deck will be on its way to customers starting at the end of next month, “global pandemic, supply issues, and shipping issues notwithstanding”.
Valve has yet to see a game Steam Deck can’t handle and it was recently shown running The Witcher 3 without issue. Steam Deck works flawlessly with 80 of Steam’s top 100 games – and it only took minor tweaks to get those games running on the hardware.
