• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sony save/file/game system

ManaByte

Member
Nintendo suffers from similar frustration moving between Switch consoles.

I transferred my saves from my launch Switch to my OLED and it wasn't that bad. Nintendo's transfer instructions are really clear and the process is pretty painless.
 

Beechos

Member
Download the save from your PS+ cloud save to your PS5.

Go to Settings > Saved Data and Game/App Settings.
Select Saved Data (PS5) or Saved Data (PS4).
Select Cloud Storage and select a game > Download to Console Storage.


It does it itself if you have it set to do it automatically in the settings, which I think is on by default.

What some people in this thread is not understanding is cloud saves do upload automatically when set via os and that works fine. But that does no good with this wacky conversion. You need both the ps4 version and ps5 installed at the same time and have to manually upload the save again inside the ps4 version of the game even though its already in the cloud!!!!! I expect this sort of stuff from nintendo thank god dont have to worry about next gen game updates from them lol. But their voice chat and friends system was a joke in this day and age.
 
Last edited:

RoadHazard

Gold Member
I don't think any game does that yet.

We'll have to see how Uncharted 4/Lost Legacy does it next week.

Pretty sure there are examples of this. Not that it just automatically works with your PS4 save without you having to do anything at all, but that it can be imported from your cloud saves into the game without first having to manually upload it from within the PS4 version.
 

ManaByte

Member
Pretty sure there are examples of this. Not that it just automatically works with your PS4 save without you having to do anything at all, but that it can be imported from your cloud saves into the game without first having to manually upload it from within the PS4 version.

No game has a "cloud save import" option. You have to go into the system settings and manually download the file to the system.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
No game has a "cloud save import" option. You have to go into the system settings and manually download the file to the system.

Ok, but you can do it without having to have access to the PS4 version, yes? That was the point (and what this thread is about).
 

Gamerguy84

Member
To progress in just about any game people usually have this save thing figured out. OP mentioned it was in cloud (psplus)

I knew nothing about PS5 when I plugged it in and figured out PS4/PS5 and console/cloud storage in about 3 minutes naturally without looking anything up.

It's not that difficult. You have to not upload any saves even they they usually have their console set to do it automatically, not backup any saves on USB, and trade in your old PS4 before you hook up your PS5 to screw this up.

Some people did though and that does suck for them. I agree Sony should make this completely fool proof. They also need to make all PS4 saves automatically work for PS5.

Also you don't have to move things one at a time. Select all than copy and there they are.

So it's not a huge deal but 2nd post in as many days where this happened. This OP sounded more genuine than the last one though, hopefully they got it sorted.
 

ManaByte

Member
Ok, but you can do it without having to have access to the PS4 version, yes? That was the point (and what this thread is about).

I think Death Stranding DC was the last major release with a PS5 upgrade and you still had to patch the PS4 version to get your save in the PS5 upgrade. Like I said we'll need to see how Uncharted handles it since that's the next one out.
 

sainraja

Member
Pretty sure there are examples of this. Not that it just automatically works with your PS4 save without you having to do anything at all, but that it can be imported from your cloud saves into the game without first having to manually upload it from within the PS4 version.
Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut does it (if no plus, you can do manual transfer via USB and it will work, meaning no PS4 version needed).
 
Last edited:

arvfab

Banned
How are they supposed to know that they should?

It's not like instruction manuals, FAQ pages, Google etc. exists. Also common sense and logic.

Counter question:
Why do people expect it to just work?

1. It is the first Sony console to have full BC since PS1->PS2. On the first BC PS3s, you couldn't import any saves if I remember correctly (maybe via hardware adapter).

2. The only other console doing it right, is the one which sold less in the previous 2 generations.
 

Orbital2060

Member
It's not like instruction manuals, FAQ pages, Google etc. exists. Also common sense and logic.

Counter question:
Why do people expect it to just work?

1. It is the first Sony console to have full BC since PS1->PS2. On the first BC PS3s, you couldn't import any saves if I remember correctly (maybe via hardware adapter).

2. The only other console doing it right, is the one which sold less in the previous 2 generations.
Because it literally just works without a single hassle on the Xbox/PC/Cloud.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
I transferred my saves from my launch Switch to my OLED and it wasn't that bad. Nintendo's transfer instructions are really clear and the process is pretty painless.
One way is easy but I still use both of my Switch consoles. Moving back and forth is kind of annoying.
 

sainraja

Member
It's not like instruction manuals, FAQ pages, Google etc. exists. Also common sense and logic.

Counter question:
Why do people expect it to just work?

1. It is the first Sony console to have full BC since PS1->PS2. On the first BC PS3s, you couldn't import any saves if I remember correctly (maybe via hardware adapter).

2. The only other console doing it right, is the one which sold less in the previous 2 generations.
Nah, they can definitely improve how it works. People shouldn't need to study manuals in order to do it. They have improved it from how it was before but there is definitely room for imrovement.
 

ManaByte

Member
Pretty sure there are examples of this. Not that it just automatically works with your PS4 save without you having to do anything at all, but that it can be imported from your cloud saves into the game without first having to manually upload it from within the PS4 version.
The last two major games released where Ghost of Tsushima DC and Death Stranding DC, both still make you do the PS4 save transfer:


 

sainraja

Member
I was quick to react before but the above tweet is asking people to download locally to their PS5 console. If you are expecting it to work automatically well then it's not going to do that. But it does bypass the need for a PS4 version installed since the way Sucker Punch did it, it will recognize the PS4 save file.)

EDIT

It will recognize the PS4 save without needing the PS4 version of the game installed, is what the point was, wasn't it?

Link
 
Last edited:

Orbital2060

Member
Not to mention how some saves straight up does not work on both consoles, like Yakuza LAD.




Its just poor customer service. No way for most people (not reading forums) to know this.
 

ManaByte

Member
Not to mention how some saves straight up does not work on both consoles, like Yakuza LAD.




Its just poor customer service. No way for most people (not reading forums) to know this.


Yea that's why I held off starting the game until the PS5 upgrade was out.
 

sainraja

Member
Pretty sure there are examples of this. Not that it just automatically works with your PS4 save without you having to do anything at all, but that it can be imported from your cloud saves into the game without first having to manually upload it from within the PS4 version.
Don't go by what ManaByte just tried to dismiss with the tweet which doesn't prove him right btw (he's being manipulative again or he didn't read what you said) — it is only asking people to download the save from the cloud. The bolded portion of your post is true. It's not automatic as you stated — no one was saying that — but avoids needing to install the PS4 version, which is what your point was. Small improvement but is one nonetheless. They do can do a lot more to improve it — there is no doubt about that.

Read here:

The way Death Stranding handles it is weird though. You have to start the game and find a terminal (+ need to be standing near it) in order to do the process. They made it into a gameplay thing but WHY?
 
Last edited:

Turk1993

GAFs #1 source for car graphic comparisons
Was it added in one of the first updates? Because I definitely continued my PS4 platinum save on Spiderman Remastered and it was near launch. It also automatically unlocked all the trophies for the PS5 version.
How? I have all my Spiderman save files on my PS5 but the game couldn't detect a save file. I only tried it with SM: MM and it didn't work, maybe only works on the 1st game?
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
PlayStation saving is easy lol
ps2-sony-memory-blue-large-image.jpg
 

sainraja

Member
^^ On the PS3, you could just plug that thing in with an adapter lol. I still have my original 8mb cards. :D
 
Last edited:

Withnail

Member
The last two major games released where Ghost of Tsushima DC and Death Stranding DC, both still make you do the PS4 save transfer:




Latest SDK can read PS4 files without conversion. They do have to be on the drive, can't be read from cloud storage unfortunately. Death Stranding DC was finished ages ago and presumably uses an old SDK version but Ghost of Tsushima reads PS4 saves no problem.
 

Mr Moose

Member
What some people in this thread is not understanding is cloud saves do upload automatically when set via os and that works fine. But that does no good with this wacky conversion. You need both the ps4 version and ps5 installed at the same time and have to manually upload the save again inside the ps4 version of the game even though its already in the cloud!!!!! I expect this sort of stuff from nintendo thank god dont have to worry about next gen game updates from them lol. But their voice chat and friends system was a joke in this day and age.
Worked fine for me with the games I tried (Death Stranding and Skyrim, the latter was easier of the two), haven't had my PS4 plugged in since I got my PS5.
I just downloaded the cloud save in the PS5 settings and it worked. Are you doing it from the icon on the dash? You can do it in the settings for games not installed.
 

Agent X

Member
Yeah Sony has had a long standing practice of unloading these kinds of features on developers instead of providing a broader solution. It doesn't mean they won't eventually get their act together, but until then it's up to the development studios to decide if they are going to implement it and how painful it will or won't be.

Sony does need to get their act together and work on this.

Interestingly enough, there are some older games on Sony systems that do have easy and seamless cloud transfers with little or no intervention from the user. Most of the games that did this were smaller downloadable games.

CounterSpy was one such game for PS3/PS4/PS Vita, where you could play on one console, finish your session, then play later on a different console and instantly resume where you left off. You didn't even need to choose to upload your save, as the game handled it automatically. (I believe the user could disable this through a menu option, if he wanted to progress with separate saves on each system.) CounterSpy had its online services terminated a year or two ago, so this might not work any longer.

There were several other games that did this. Some games required you to select an in-game option to upload your save to the cloud, while others did it automatically (such as CounterSpy described above).

It's also worth mentioning that the functions in these games apparently used their own servers to handle this feature. This means that you don't need a PS Plus membership for the games to sync your save data. The disadvantage of such a method is that it is dependent on the developers to implement this themselves, and also maintain the servers and keep them running.

Ideally, what Sony should do is implement this function themselves, through Sony's own servers. They should also enforce it, so that games submitted after a certain date must contain this ability (similar to what they did in the past with trophies). Bonus if they can do this without requiring the user to pay for PS Plus. Future games should have cloud syncing enabled by default, but also allow the user to opt out if he desires to keep progress separate on different systems.

It is the first Sony console to have full BC since PS1->PS2. On the first BC PS3s, you couldn't import any saves if I remember correctly (maybe via hardware adapter).

Early on, Sony produced a memory card adapter for the PS3, which could read data from actual memory cards for PS1 and PS2. This adapter was apparently discontinued after less than a year, so they might be hard to find now.

Once the data was on a "virtual memory card" on PS3, you could also transfer to other Sony systems such as PSP, PS Vita, and PSTV. For example, I transferred my original data from Wipeout for PS1 to the PS3 using this adapter. As a result, I was able to use my Wipeout data on six separate systems (PS1, PS2, PS3, PSP, PS Vita, and PSTV)!
 

sainraja

Member
Worked fine for me with the games I tried (Death Stranding and Skyrim, the latter was easier of the two), haven't had my PS4 plugged in since I got my PS5.
I just downloaded the cloud save in the PS5 settings and it worked. Are you doing it from the icon on the dash? You can do it in the settings for games not installed.
The disconnect, I think, is people are thinking the fix will make it work automatically — which isn't the case. You still need to have the PS4 save file on your system (you just don't need to run the PS4 version to do the upload — and not every game recognizes PS4 save files without the weird process.)
 
Last edited:

kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
Ideally, what Sony should do is implement this function themselves, through Sony's own servers. They should also enforce it, so that games submitted after a certain date must contain this ability (similar to what they did in the past with trophies). Bonus if they can do this without requiring the user to pay for PS Plus. Future games should have cloud syncing enabled by default, but also allow the user to opt out if he desires to keep progress separate on different systems.

I agree, but it's pretty clear Sony expected people to move forward and probably didn't anticipate the prolonged cross gen situation we find ourselves in. They've taken a bruising from rats on this very board over the generations comment. Based on that comment alone you could assume they thought the period where people would be buying ps4 games and then expecting to upgrade to ps5 was going to be fairly short, making this scenario an edge case.

Even still, it seems like we will be headed into a future of more backward compatibility on almost all platforms and Sony will HAVE to address this. Honestly I wouldn't hold my breath for anything, but maybe in the next year or two at the absolute earliest you could see something.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Not sure why it's so hard for Sony to compile saves and have them work on PS5 right from the get go. It's not like the saved files dont work. They do. It's just you got to do some weird PS4 download and transfer first. Or they purposely gimp people not automatically doing cloud saves unless you pay for PS+. I guess they dont want their servers with billions of saved files.

I bought Skyrim Special Edition on Xbox One OG. The cloud saves carried over when I played One X and then when I picked it up again to finally finish the game on Series X.

Get to the menu screen and load game and there's my saves on Series X. All 400 of them. Then finished the game at about save #600.
 
Last edited:

CatLady

Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
Because it literally just works without a single hassle on the Xbox/PC/Cloud.

Exactly what I was going to say. I can't believe there are people actually defending this convoluted crap or blaming the user. Seems like a lot of QoL features are MIA in the PS5 O/S in general but people keep defending it.
 

kingpotato

Ask me about my Stream Deck
Hi kretos.
I'm not that user, and I only use the title since they proudly label themselves that way. There are plenty of gamers who rightfully enjoy Xbox (like myself) without wanting to associate themselves with vermin, but their also exists a contingent of small brained rodents who bandy about that kind of retort because they are insecure that other people aren't devoted to a brand like they are.
 

sainraja

Member
Not sure why it's so hard for Sony to compile saves and have them work on PS5 right from the get go. It's not like the saved files dont work. They do. It's just you got to do some weird PS4 download and transfer first. Or they purposely gimp people not automatically doing cloud saves unless you pay for PS+. I guess they dont want their servers with billions of saved files.

I bought Skyrim Special Edition on Xbox One OG. The cloud saves carried over when I played One X and then when I picked it up again to finally finish the game on Series X.

Get to the menu screen and load game and there's my saves on Series X. All 400 of them. Then finished the game at about save #600.
Hopefully it is something they are trying to address. It is an area for improvement no doubt.
To clarify one thing (not saying it is better, but an improvement from before), many games are not requiring the PS4 version to be ran/upload save data from anymore (e.g. Ghost) — yes, there are still exceptions to this but that's unfortunately the downside of how it's been done. Right now it is basically a case of: it is what it is. I hope they are able to fix it or at the very least, have it work how PS4/PS5 native save files work with their respective versions — do the sync upon install when there is a save file detected for the game. It shouldn't be tied to the PS+ though....so that's not good.
 
Last edited:

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Exactly what I was going to say. I can't believe there are people actually defending this convoluted crap or blaming the user. Seems like a lot of QoL features are MIA in the PS5 O/S in general but people keep defending it.
The amazing thing is PS cloud saves are offered only if you pay for it with PS+. So you'd think it would be the best and easiest out of all of them. Googling it right now, it says if your PS+ sub lapses and you dont renew it in 6 months, the saves are deleted too.

So given Sony's requirement for paying for cloud and also deleting your files if you dont renew in 6 months, it shows their view on cloud is only worth offering if you're a paying customer.
 

PCH

Neo Member
I think this confusion comes from the way sony does their save files. Since days of PS1 saves are including a title ID in a header, hence same save file for PS4 or PS5 game is different. Just like exactly same save differ between US and other region- its just title id needs to change and save needs to be encrypted again.
For example Assassin's Creed Valhalla on PS5 ID is PPSA-01491 while on PS4 CUSA-18522, encryption keys will be different too. Sony always did it this way- going back to PS1 (PS3 for example has BLUS-xxxxx and PS2 has SLUS-xxxxx).
They would have to take title id from a actual save, validate encryption keys from PS4 to PS5, major changes to SDK. It is not as simple as lot of people think.
 
Top Bottom