What is EmuDeck?
EmuDeck is a collection of scripts that allows you to autoconfigure your Steam Deck, it creates your roms directory structure and downloads all of the needed Emulators for you along with the best configurations for each of them. -https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck
What is Rclone?
Rclone is a command-line program to manage files on cloud storage. It is a feature-rich alternative to cloud vendors' web storage interfaces. -https://rclone.org/
Things You Will Need
A SteamDeck
A storage location to backup to
Before You Begin
Make a manual backup of your save files just in case something goes wrong during the initial setup of Rclone.
Install and Configure Rclone
Boot the SteamDeck > Long press the power button > Shutdown > Switch to Desktop
Click the Application menu > Search Konsole > Select Konsole to launch a terminal
Continue with the following commands in Konsole
# set a password if you haven't already # enter and confirm a password passwd # if emudeck was installed on microSD, run the following to create a symlink in the home directory # if you're not sure, navigate to the path in Dolphin, right click and Open Terminal, then run pwd mkdir ~/Emulation ln -s /run/media/mmcblk0p1/Emulation/saves ~/Emulation/ # make steamos writable sudo steamos-readonly disable # install rclone sudo -v ; curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash # make steamos readonly sudo steamos-readonly enable # verify rclone installed rclone version # configure rclone rclone config # setup a new rclone remote storage location n # enter a name for the remote storage location EmuDeckSaves # select the type of storage # here you can select the storage type to use # SMB/CIFS in this example smb # follow the prompts to configure the remote storage # this will vary depending on the storage type selected # the steps below are for smb # enter the smb host i12bretroDC # enter the smb username to use i12bretro # enter the smb port or press enter to use the default <%enter%> # choose a password option y # enter and confirm the smb password to use <%smb password%> # enter an optional auth domain i12bretro.local # enter advanced config n # review the summary and confirm y # quit rclone config q # test the configuration # if any errors are shown, troubleshoot before moving on rclone test memory EmuDeckSaves:/EmuDeck/Saves # if using a subdirectory, add it after the remote storage name rclone test memory EmuDeckSaves:/EmuDeck/Saves # run an initial sync # once the sync completes, verify the contents of the SMB share rclone bisync --resync --copy-links ~/Emulation/saves EmuDeckSaves:/EmuDeck/Saves
Scheduling Automatic Sync
Continue with the following steps in terminal
# create a systemd user config directory mkdir ~/.config/systemd/user -p # create and edit a systemd timer nano ~/.config/systemd/user/sync-emudeck-saves.timer
Paste the following into the .timer, adjust the OnCalendar value to change from every 15 minutes
[Unit]
Description=Scheduled EmuDeck saves Rclone sync timer
[Timer]
OnCalendar=*:0/15
Persistent=true
[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target
Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to save the changes and exit
Continue with the following steps in terminal
# create and edit a systemd service nano ~/.config/systemd/user/sync-emudeck-saves.service
Paste the following into the .service, updating the two paths in the rclone command to match the source and destionation as needed
[Unit]
Description=Scheduled EmuDeck saves Rclone sync service
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/rclone bisync --copy-links /home/deck/Emulation/saves EmuDeckSaves:/EmuDeck/Saves
Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to save the changes and exit
Continue with the following steps in terminal
# start and enable the systemd timer systemctl enable sync-emudeck-saves.timer --now --user # list the systemd timers systemctl list-timers --all --user
Create some test files in both the SMB share and ~/Emulation/saves and verify the two way sync is working as expected
Special thanks to jcnix for the idea https://github.com/jcnix/emudeck-saves-sync