Outer Wilds: How to Restore a Corrupted Steam Save from Backups

Check the game’s automatic recovery prompt first

Outer Wilds keeps automatic local backups and may be able to recover the latest good data for a profile when its save is lost or corrupted. At startup, the game prompts to restore files it finds missing or unreadable. Start with that offered restoration route. The developer describes recovery as something that may be possible from the backup, so a prompt alone is not a guarantee that the available copy is healthy. [1]

Find the backup for the affected Windows profile

The documented backup location is C:/Users/{username}/AppData/LocalLow/Mobius Digital/Outer Wilds/Backup. Replace {username} with your Windows user folder. The files are stored beneath individual profile names, so locate the profile whose progress you need. For the manual route, the developer identifies Backup/{profilename} as the source and SteamSaves/{profilename} as the destination. Match those profile names rather than copying an unrelated profile’s data. The manual route uses the matching profile directories. [1]

Copy the backup contents into the matching SteamSaves profile

To perform the manual restoration, copy the items inside Outer Wilds/Backup/{profilename}/ into Outer Wilds/SteamSaves/{profilename}, then relaunch the game. The procedure copies the contents of that profile’s backup folder into its save folder. This is a Windows Steam recovery route; the two named directories are local game-data locations, rather than a request to put files in the Steam installation’s steamapps directory. [1]

Steps

1. Copy the items in the matching Backup profile into its SteamSaves profile, then relaunch Outer Wilds. [1]

Temporarily disable Steam Cloud if it prevents the copy from taking effect

The support instructions warn that Steam Cloud synchronization may need to be disabled for the manual copy to go through. Open Outer Wilds’ Steam Properties and turn off its Cloud synchronization setting, then repeat the backup-to-profile copy and relaunch. The support page locates that named control in its Updates menu; use the game-specific Cloud synchronization setting displayed by your installed Steam interface. After playing with the restored file, the developer says you can optionally enable synchronization again. The intended sequence disables synchronization before copying and makes re-enabling it optional. [1]

Steps

1. If Cloud blocks the restoration, disable synchronization before repeating the copy; optionally re-enable it after playing with the restored save. [1]

If crashes continue, preserve player.log before launching again

For a continuing crash, include the Unity Player log with the report. It is located at C:/Users/{username}/AppData/LocalLow/Mobius Digital/Outer Wilds/player.log. The developer warns that each launch overwrites this file, so preserve the log from the failing session before another launch replaces its crash information. Use the support page’s bug-report route if further help is needed, and keep the recovery result distinct from the separate task of diagnosing why the game crashed. [1]