Back up before every new mod and before every mod update. No exceptions. Mods reach deep into the game. If a mod is missing, a save with its devices no longer loads. If a stack size is reduced, surplus ingots are gone. A backup takes a minute, a lost base takes weeks.
Where the saves are
Everything that is yours is stored under:
Documents\My Games\Stationeers\Inside, every world is a folder of its own:
Documents\My Games\Stationeers\saves\<world name>\
<world name>.save the actual save
autosave\ automatic saves
manualsave\ saves made by hand
quicksave\ quick savesThe automatic saves are named after date and time, e.g. 061026_192936_auto.save (day, month, year, then hour, minute, second).
If you chose a different save location in the game settings, you will find the saves there. The path is in Documents\My Games\Stationeers\setting.xml in the SavePath entry. The same file also holds SaveInterval (time between autosaves in seconds) and MaxAutoSaves (how many the game keeps before it deletes the oldest).
A .save file is a ZIP archive. Among other things it contains world.xml (the world), world_meta.xml (game version, name, key figures), terrain.dat and two preview images. Some mods add entries of their own, the World Map for example Weltkarte.json with the shared markers. Don't edit anything inside it with an archive tool, always back up the whole file.
What belongs in a complete backup
| What | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The world folder | Documents\My Games\Stationeers\saves\<world name>\ | the save including autosaves and quick saves |
| Mod settings | <game folder>\BepInEx\config\ | all .cfg files of the mods, plus the private markers of the World Map (BepInEx\config\Weltkarte\) and the notes and favourites of the IC10 Editor Tablet |
| Mod packs | Documents\My Games\Stationeers\profiles\ | which mods belong to this world |
| The game's mod configuration | Documents\My Games\Stationeers\modconfig.xml | enabled mods and their order |
| Your own IC10 programs | Documents\My Games\Stationeers\scripts\ | the game's script library |
On Steam the game folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Stationeers by default.
How to back up properly
- Quit the game. Don't copy while the game is running, or you may catch a half-written save.
- Create a backup folder outside
Documents\My Games\Stationeerswith the date in its name, for exampleStationeers-Backup\2026-10-07 before Power Engineering 1.0.0. - Copy the whole world folder from
saves\into it, not just the.savefile. - Copy
BepInEx\config,profiles,modconfig.xmlandscriptsalong with it. - Make a quick note of which mods were active in which version. A look at
profiles\my mods.xmlor a screenshot of the LaunchPad mod list is enough.
Keep several generations. A problem often only shows up three sessions later, and by then yesterday's backup is no help.
Restoring
- Quit the game.
- Do not delete the current world folder, rename it instead, for example to
<world name> broken. You might still need it. - Copy the backed-up world folder back into
saves\. The folder name has to be exactly<world name>again. - If you are restoring mod settings too: copy
BepInEx\configandprofilesback from the backup. - Enable the same mods as when you made the backup. A save with devices from Power Engineering needs Power Engineering in the active pack, otherwise it won't load.
- Start the game and load.
Steam Cloud
The saves folder contains a steam_autocloud.vdf, so Steam syncs the saves with the cloud. That is no substitute for a backup of your own: a broken or incomplete save gets uploaded just as dutifully as a good one. If Steam reports a conflict between the local file and the cloud at startup, read carefully which side is the newer one before you click.
When a backup is mandatory
- Before every new mod. Even if it looks harmless.
- Before every mod update. An update may read saved data differently than the previous version.
- Before removing a mod. If a mod whose devices are in the world is missing, loading aborts, and the log then shows
The specified type was not recognized: name='…savedata'. - Before reducing a stack size in Barren Stacks. Larger stacks are cut down to the new limit on the next load, the rest disappears.
- Before a game update from RocketWerkz. Mods are built against a specific game version. Until a mod has been updated, better wait with a backup in hand than experiment on your only save.
- Before switching the mod pack for an existing world.
Removing mods without losing the world
- Make a backup.
- In the game, deconstruct all of the mod's devices and also remove the mod's kits and items from lockers and storage.
- Save, quit the game.
- Only now remove the mod from the pack.
- Load and check. If it doesn't work: put the mod back into the pack, restore the backup, repeat step 2 more thoroughly.
The World Map is more relaxed about this: without the mod the save loads normally. If you save it that way, though, the shared markers are gone.
Multiplayer
The save is on the host or on the dedicated server. That is where you back up, not on the other players' machines. The private markers of the World Map and the notes from the tablet, on the other hand, are stored by each player in their own BepInEx\config.