How to find save game files on Steam Deck (2023)

[@LiterallyJustTheWorst]

felt like a dummy for not picking up on it right away, but for anyone else who didn't: those Numbers in the CompatData are literally the AppIDs, like he said. You can find those a couple ways, but one quick and dirty is by copying the URL from the app's store page and looking for the related number as part of the url.

[@12qasdz]

Yeah sorry for not clarifying, I just wanted to keep the tutorial super short and sweet. Can also use this site to find app id steamdb.info/apps/

[@LiterallyJustTheWorst]

@@12qasdz Nah. it's all-righty. Like I said, you actually DID mention it's the App ID! I re-listened to verify, and I totally just missed it.

[@12qasdz]

@@LiterallyJustTheWorst enjoy your deck!!

[@MerrickCamo520]

​@@12qasdz yes I have a question how do I find my ppsspp save data I wanna put my psp save data on here but can't find it please help me !!! 👍👍

[@falkerhard]

Wow, this comment should be stickied.

[@blastv110]

You are a hero. I've been trying to figure this out for weeks. Now I continue fallout 3 on my steam deck without staring all over again.

[@12qasdz]

Yay!

[@TheVoidofNothing11]

That's what I'm playing now actually!

[@blastv110]

@@TheVoidofNothing11 it's amazing on the deck. I'm falling in love all over again with that game.

[@TheVoidofNothing11]

@@blastv110 It's my first playthru actually! Crazy I know... I played New Vegas and 4 quite a few times, and probably will after playing 3 this time lol. I want to play New Vegas for sure after this. To bad cloud save isn't compatible with these.

[@TheOneAboveAII]

It did the same thing for me I logged in to fo3 and my save files weren’t there it just said new game and I was already about 10 hours in, I went to files and there were no save games and f03 is the only game I have that doesn’t sync to steam cloud so idk if that have something to do with it

[@RichieMyers12]

You saved me so much hassle. I was looking everywhere for an Origin game save for Mass Effect and your instructions were perfect!

[@hakariyuzuka5100]

You're the first to make the process of finding and identifying the save data file, simple enough to port it over to a MicroSD card (as one such as myself being new to Linux...), I have ever personally seen done on KZbin (or anywhere). Having simplified the procedure so well, I now can place the file path into a readme or something and forever remember how to backup save games manually - without the overcomplicated hassle. On behalf of gamers everywhere (particularly on Steam Deck) I thank you, for helping us backup save data files that don't have "Steam Cloud" (such as Dark Souls 3, for instance...). For this, good man. I hereby subscribe to you this day.

[@12qasdz]

cheers brother

[@DarkAnomaly]

Thanks so much for this. Only got my Steam Deck fairly recently and holy moly trying to navigate the maze of files and folders was quite confusing to say the least. I wouldn't need to do this if Steam Cloud worked properly. I wanted to continue on with Sonic Frontiers on PC but for some reason it wouldn't sync with the Cloud on my Steam Deck so I had to do it manually and everything's ok now so many thanks for this.

[@blucpinygaming]

How do I activate those save files in game?

[@genthean]

Dude thank you, i recently had to reinstall the binding of isaac and it reset my config folder, im usually used to windows so i was super confused, thank you man.

[@hhch2]

holy moly it's REALLY deep in there! Thanks for the instructions!

[@louissolano9929]

Thank you! Not every hero wears capes. This helped me resolve the “cloud sync error” for particular games. Keep it up!

[@kobzster06]

Man, thank you so much for this! I started playing Fallout 3 and realized there is no cloud save. There's plenty of videos on how to transfer files from PC to steam deck, but I couldn't find anything on where to exactly put those save files on the steam deck. Thanks to this guide I was able to locate the FO3 save folder, pasted the save files from my PC, and now it's good to go.

[@TheRisky9]

Someone who knows what they're talking about. We know you know what you're talking about because you managed to take a complex thing for us non Linux users, simplify it and unfold it so neatly that even a child could understand it!

[@igable82]

I couldn't figure out why I didn't see the folder everyone else mentioned but seeing your video helped. Never bothered to check if the "show hidden files" was checked or not. Thank you.

[@theLonelyLemnn]

Wanted to carry over my Fallout 3 save from Windows 10 and this helped. So Dumb a lot of publishers haven't added Steam Cloud to older titles since the Deck launched. Thank you!!!

[@WHI7EW0LF]

5 star video, short and concise and helped me restore a save file within less than 5 minutes.

[@12qasdz]

cheers man!

[@johnstevenson1861]

Thanks! I was trying to delete my Horizon Zero Dawn game data- since you couldn’t delete it in the game. This helped. Thanks to anyone who reads this.

[@CobyIsThinking]

Thank you!!!! I was not searching for saved file for the sims 4 I was searching for the EA folder where the mod folder is I’m not sure why no one is sharing these details but this video helped me with something else THANK YOU!!!

[@christopherf.994]

Very nice, thank you so much, needed it for Witcher 3, now it works!! :)

[@MoistToilet]

Can you please let me know where you found them?

[@chadburchett4170]

Thank you. Straight and to the point. Appreciate it.

[@saintlusso2907]

Came here to say thanks! Everything I was reading online basically stopped short and never told me to continue further into the pfx folder!

[@Celltastic]

Thanks for the help also to add to this video alot of games places saves in appdata so instead of going to documents in 1:10 go to application data saves for games like dark souls and elden ring are there instead

[@planterznuggz]

What type of file are these these backup files? Are they a .bak?

[@TearsOfCyanide]

I just got my steam Deck and unfortunately my save data for DS2 & DS3 doesn't back up on the Steam cloud so I had to download it and move it manually. I had no clue where the save data was until I found this video. Thank you so so so much!!!!

[@AllynCR]

This was exactly the missing info I had been looking for. Already had the game ID info and knew how to make a symlink for the save folder. Just could not locate the path to find it. I mean, if the posts on the reddit page where I found your video linked weren't too lazy to fill in where to start looking for the directory path to begin with.... Any way, great video!!

[@Polimathe]

This helped me more than anything I was able to find online, thanks!

[@12qasdz]

Let’s goooo!!! glad i helped

[@ethanleung4091]

You're my hero! My Deck crashed while I was playing the 3rd DLC for Spider-Man and it sent me back around 80% in the campaign bc of Steam Cloud. All that's left is to actually move the save data

[@myles5388]

Fallout 3 doesn’t allow cloud saves & I had a 13 hour playthrough that I didn’t want to replay after losing it when upgrading my steam deck to OLED Thank you so much for this!!’ Just copied save over from my old deck to the OLED so I can carry on, would never of found that save file on my own😂

[@samlokureglan4761]

You are our saviour, you don’t know how long it took me to find undertale save file and thank you you I’ve found it Thank you

[@KseroFob]

I love u man, I didn’t see any files and it’s just that simple freaking hidden files 😂

[@SwaxMain4u]

Thanks man this really helped me out

[@jeanbiroute]

You are awesome thank you so much. I need to edit a file for an old game.

[@12qasdz]

hahahaha glad i could help some one!

[@jetin335]

Thank you, saved me so much headache. I was playing GTA 5, then moved it to the SD card and save was gone. What had happed when I move the install, Steam moved all files, including the Proton File folders (The Faux Windows Drive/Folders) with the saves. It didn't find the saves since it is always looks at Faux drive_c on the internal Storage. Thanks to you pointing out that Proton makes these folders, I found the save on the SD card and moved the saves from the SD card back to the internal, it worked. I see Valve getting a lot of complaints about this and would A: change how the auto move works (so it just leaves them alone), Or B: post a guide. I can't be the only one that had this problem. Now if I move the game back from SD to Main, It may overwrite my saves with the old ones from the SD, or delete them if that folder is empty. PSA: maybe best to always back up saves before moving Back and forth.

[@12qasdz]

Glad this helped!

[@niapolong]

this helps me a lot and its straightforward. Thank you!

[@Basureitor]

Thank you a lot man!! thanks to this I could manage to migrate my Dark Souls 2, which for whatever reason doesnt have steam cloud

[@DesiNutts]

I am glad i found your video. V helpful

[@PixelBomb]

This was a MASSIVE help - thank you so much! 😃

[@Skyztamer]

Thank you for the video! This solved my issue of trying to transfer over my save data from the Dragon Quest Builders 2 demo over to the full game. Despite both versions being stored in my Deck's internal drive, it didn't recognize my demo save in the main game (supposedly it works fine on other platforms; including PC, but for whatever reason not on a Steam Deck). So I had to copy & paste it over and I got my save working in the full game (now also via Steam Cloud too since the demo didn't support it).

[@doctorpuppet7690]

OMG thank you so much. I was following PC Gaming Wiki save locations for Linux. Whoops! I also had no idea about the ghost drive_c!

[@TimCulture]

Thank you so much!

[@jameseladiooo3477]

Thankyou so much ! finally i can replace my rdr2 save data from my PC steam to steam deck ! thankssss

[@adht2853]

Yo helped me so much godamn thank you so much man!

[@muigokublack6487]

Thank you for this! I was having a hell of a time trying to find my save file for Jurassic World Evolution 2.

[@benhall2230]

You’re the fucking man. I got as far as the app id and didn’t know where to go from there so the easy step by step got me through the rest

[@12qasdz]

cheers brother

[@flashsentry1791]

Awesome video! Thank you.

[@retrobrahhh]

you helped me find my shenmue 3 save file. no cloud saves for that game. it was buried deep in those windows folders.

[@loneryouth]

real MVP right here, thanks homie❤

[@damakbounce]

Fantastic

[@NamesZKP]

Thank you so much. All I wanted to do was copy my save file from sims 3 on steamdeck to my main PC and vicce versa :D

[@Teisharocz]

Thanks for showing this! I found my 7dtd files but don't t know what to do with it 😅

[@greg1982little]

Perfect tutorial. Thank you.

[@Olegator56]

Thanks, that was helpful. On most sites which I've seen save path ends on pfx folder, for some reason.

[@harveybrooks1460]

Thanks man you are a life saver. Found my 7 days to die save file. ❤

[@batman3217]

AWESOME! This is something Nintendo needs to do. We can't see our save files on the Nintendo Switch!

[@geosan312]

Can confirm this works with L.A. Noire.

[@mrraptor736]

i could not find the "show hidden files" buttton :) good vid 👍

[@user-hs2rb8hr1v]

WTF BRO!? I wanted to delete my old save file from Grand Theft Auto 4 and you came on first page of Google search like some type of HERO...

[@MrGalax00]

Really useful thanks, this video pointed me into the right direction.

[@empebe]

I factory reset the deck, then install and play NFS unbound while other games was on download on same time. At first time, the game telled me is cannot connect to EA servers that 3 times, then connect but all the progress was lost (I just finish the story then, like common). Do you know how to recover the lost?

[@mattwestwood100]

thank you so much! Nice video!!!

[@johnandrew1987]

So it seems Jesus has come back. Awesome video dude👍👍👍👍

[@yoshikagekira2132]

Got lost new to linux thanks man 😅👍

[@iog94jupiter87]

Thanks bro I am able to transfer my saves now

[@jamiemcivor8462]

Does this work with Elden Ring?

[@EricCarter12]

Thanks so much for the video. Does this mean that you can download someone else's Completed Save Profiles for PC games and use those? I am asking because when I get the Steam Deck I plan to play games that I have already completed and I would prefer not to start them again from scratch. Would really appreciate if you could answer this question as it is a biggy for me. Thanks!

[@12qasdz]

Correct indeed

[@eduvieojoboh]

Bro saved my life 😭 thanks 🙏🏾

[@CesarACastillo]

Hmm no matter what folder I click on they’re all empty. Cult of the Lamb is saved directly on my deck’s ssd. As such this video should work for it.

[@outofspace2800]

How do you find it on a SD card?

[@spinkey4842]

question... can i take a saved game file from windows and put it in the steam deck and it'll play it (from the same game of course)???

[@nilehowell5382]

This works for like 99% of games but for some odd reason I can’t seem to find my saved data for Lies of P

[@dubshotbrothers]

I am still not seeing my saves when I start gta5. Can anyone help?

[@mrvnzmstr1654]

thanks so much

[@zoicaras2992]

YES THANK YOU you fuckin legend. There have been so many irrelevant videos and reddit posts about this, but none clearly explaining how you get to the actual game folders. I wanted to copy over a downgraded GTA IV install from my PC and could not figure out where the hell to place the game folder.

[@12qasdz]

😂😂😂😂😂😂glad to help man!

[@joker_news6270]

How do you figure out the random number associated with the game you want to work with?

[@loopimperactive.studio1795]

0:33 que curioso que buscaramos el mismo juego gta 4 un clásico

[@sansofspace]

This isn't working for me! Im trying to reset my save for Pizza Tower because the Controller settings got fucked up by a friend of which I will not name, and I've been told to reset my game data.

[@Nagisa113]

thanks bro, you saved me!

[@SoUtHMeMpHis]

Thanks so much 🙏 Now is there anyway to do this on a Pc ?

[@exstiborsch6895]

thx bro!

[@straightfrommissouri]

YES! tysm spent an hour trying to find it myself

[@JamesTechJackin]

Thank you!

[@abysswatchers3098]

What do you do once you find the folders

[@AlbertHoffman-mb6tv]

Just uninstalled no rest for the wicked and restart it and my saved data so when I get to the files where they're all numbers how do I know which number is no rest for the wicked?

[@tamay2231]

Thank you so much

[@jamescoleman4499]

Excellent video. Do you, by any chance, have a list of those ID numbers for various games? Much appreciated.

[@12qasdz]

steamdb.info!!

[@jamescoleman4499]

Thank you.

[@silenthillguy1998]

this makes no sense, i go to the game folder but i don’t see any profiles, i just see config.ini like what am i doing wrong?

[@jpbazooka]

How do you modify them? Tedious playing a new game on Mount and blade from 0 still awesome vid!

[@ridinlow01]

Found it on mine. But still can't find my doom 64 saves lol

[@angelbb444]

I tried this for the Sims 4 and it still wouldn't load my saved game I was playing on PC T-T Anyone have any tips? I don't want to start a new game from scratch on my Steam Deck.

[@1000Ducks]

Dumb question but how do i load or open the specific correct save file once i get there? Ie how to get the game to open and load that save

[@mrFAhR3Nh3iT]

I can’t find it for Stray, the cat game. 😢

[@spencerbeck07]

So where do I find the save local files for a game and then how would I copy it and transfer it to my sd card?

[@beepsarieaniIwee]

What buttons do you push to save the location you’re at in a game before you turn off the deck? I lost my game progress since I didnt make it to a “save location” . I can’t find this answer anywhere. I did this once before and now have no idea where I found the answer. It gave the save option in a middle of a game. Thanks 😊

[@maxvallee5118]

I followed your instructions and found my save file, but then how do I actually move it back onto the game… sorry for the dumb question

[@Takeo117]

Tks mate

[@GMoney-yj7yg]

Where would The Epic Games file be if its a non steam.game.

[@misaeltoral508]

Can you download a save file directly to the Steam deck and copy it to a game folder to replace the original save file?

[@bimmer8602]

Man this is so weird. I've been playing fallout 3 for the past few months and it just randomly deleted my save data. No cloud save and the game already has problems so I guess it was bound to happen :( My other games with no cloud save are working perfectly fine and the save files are still there.

[@hollywoodjamesanderson]

Didnt bring me to any of the cloud saves just a bunch of numbered files

[@z0rrer0]

Thanks ^_^

[@maxprem3332]

Very helpful. Idk why, but Bioshock Infinite is not working with steam cloud, even though it says that it is. Had to manually copy my save.

[@12qasdz]

had issues with steam cloud as well… have only been able to get local save files to work tbh

[@RFNY315]

What about while in game mode? I can see where you can uninstall games, or transfer games to an sd card , but nothing regarding saved data. (While in game mode)

[@ericawildfong3728]

okay, so now that ive found my save data...how do i restore it? do i copy and paste it into the game file? im playing skyrim and a bunch of my saves were recently deleted. i have no idea what happened or how it happened, they are just gone...any advice?