To prevent losing progress on your world from a critical save bug in Palworld, back up your save data within your PC's files. Discover how to backup your save data for Steam and Xbox Gampass in Palworld in this guide.

How to Back Up and Restore Save Data In-Game - Palworld

1. Game Automatically Backs Up Data Every 30 Seconds
2. Select World, then Restore from Backup Data
3. Select Which Backup to Load

Back Up and Reload System in World Select Menu

Version 0.1.5.0 Update Major Fixes
・Implemented backup of save data on the world selection screen

The Version 0.1.5.0 Update has introduced a new feature to back up and restore the world's saved data. Note that this feature is only for the Steam version of Palworld since the Xbox Game Pass version has a different system for saving data.

Automatically Backs Up Data Every 30 Seconds

This new feature automatically saves the world's data and makes a backup every 30 seconds. The most recent backups can then be restored from the World Select Menu.

Select World, then Restore from Backup Data

To restore a save data that the game has already automatically made a backup of, select the world you want to restore data to from the World Select Menu.

Then, select the Restore from Backup Data button at the bottom-left corner of the screen. This will then show all the available backups to load.

Select Which Backup to Load

This menu offers a mix of 13 recent and older backup files. The names of each file display the date and time the backup was made.

Backup Data Name Format

Backup Data Name Format
Year.Month.Day-Hours.Minutes.Seconds YYYY.MM.DD-HH.MM.SS

The automatic backup will have the name format displayed above. A backup named 2024.01.25-20.59.30 was made at 8:59 p.m. on January 25, 2024.

Loading a Backup will Overwrite Current Save File

Restoring a backup will overwrite the current save file for the world and potentially delete any changes or progress since the last backup.

Restoring an old backup will still make the more recent ones restorable unless those, too, are overwritten by more recent automatic backups after loading the world.

How to Back Up Save Data on Steam - Palworld

1. Access Save File Directory
2. Select the Desired Folder to Back Up
3. Make A Backup of the Folder

Critical Save Bug

Steam players have been noticed by the game's launch banner that the developers have acknowledged a critical save bug that deletes players' save data.

Continue reading the guide to find out how to back up your save data to protect it from bugs.

List of Palworld Bugs and Error Codes and How to Fix

Access Save File Directory

Search for %appdata% on your PC

Get to the AppData folder by searching %appdata% on the Windows's Start menu. This should open the file explorer to the user's Appdata\Roaming folder.

Access the Appdata\Local Folder

From the Appdata\Roaming folder, go back to one folder by clicking the AppData text in the address bar.

From there, open the Local folder. The Palworld folder should be in that directory.

Reach the SaveGames Folder

Open the Pal folder, then the Saved folder, then the SaveGames folder. There should be a folder named with random digits. That folder contains all the save data for that PC's worlds.

Select the Desired Folder to Back Up

Match the time when the folder was last updated and your world's last save time. The folder with the same time as your world should be the folder you want to back up.

Make A Backup of the Folder

Copy the folder to a secure location to have a backup of your world if you somehow lose it from a bug or other means.

How to Back Up Save Data on Gamepass - Palworld

1. Gamepass Loads A Backup on Losing Save Data
2. Access Save File Directory
3. Back Up the Save Data Folder

Gamepass Loads A Backup on Losing Save Data

Fortunately, Gamepass automatically loads a cloud save of your most recent save if it detects a mismatch between your PC's save files and the cloud's.

If you do not have cloud save enabled on your device, follow the steps below to back up your save file with the Gamepass version.

How to Save the Game

Access Save File Directory

Search for %appdata% on your PC

Get to the AppData folder by searching %appdata% on the Windows's Start menu. This should open the file explorer to the user's Appdata\Roaming folder.

Access the Appdata\Local Folder

From the Appdata\Roaming folder, go one folder back by clicking the AppData text in the address bar.

From there, open the Local folder. The Gamepass Savedata folder, named Packages, should be in that directory.

Reach the wgs Folder

Open the Packages folder. The folder you want to look for next starts with PocketpairInc.Palworld. Open the SystemAppData folder, then access the wgs folder.

Back Up the Save Data Folder

The following folder has a string of texts and digits as the folder's name contains all the save data for all the worlds you have. Copy the folder to a secure location to have a backup of your world if you somehow lose it from a bug or other means.

Palworld Related Guides

Tips and Tricks

Sakurajima Update Tips

Sakurajima Island Tips
PvP Arena Guide	How to Find Meteorite Event
Oil Rig Stronghold Guide	Best Crude Oil Base Locations
How to Farm Dog Coins	Supply Drop Guide and All Items
Sakurajima Location and How to Get There	How to Unlock More Accessory Slots
Sakurajima Early Access Play Review	Junkyard Locations and All Items
Lockpicking Guide	-

All Sakurajima Update Features

General Palworld Tips

General Palworld Tips
Best Starter Pal	How to Level Up Fast
Best Base Locations and How to Move Bases	Best Stats to Upgrade
Best Ancient Technology	Statue of Power Guide
How to Get a Gun Fast and Early in Palworld	Day/Night Cycle
How to Get Ancient Technology Points Fast	Pal Distillation Pod: How to Rank Up Pal
Base Building Guide	Raid Guide
How to Remove Wanted Status	List of Palworld Achievements
Best Palworld Team	How to Destroy and Move Structures
When Do Items and Resources Respawn?	Transferring Characters
Base Level Rewards and Requirements	How to Attack Enemies on Water
Best Structures for Your Base	How to Trade Pals
Best Type Combinations	What to Do in Palworld
Can Pals Evolve in Palworld	How to Mount and Ride Pals
How to Get More Base Storage	When Do Bosses Respawn?
Benefits to Killing Syndicate Thugs	All Black Marketeer Pals
How to Move Bases	How to Create and Join a Guild
Story Walkthrough Guide	Post Game Guide
Pal Buy and Sell Values Explained	Post Game Raid Boss
Choices, Missables, and One-Time Events	How to Fly
How to Handle Pals Not Working and Assign Pals to Jobs	How to Get a Level 5 Work Suitability Pal
List of the Best Palworld Mods	Rare Drops List and Best Rare Drops to Farm
How to Change Player and Pal Names	Stats and IVs Explained
How to Change Your Character's Appearance	How to Keep Items on Death
How Many Pals Are in Palworld	How to Refresh Vendor Stock
Feed Box Optimal Positioning	Pals That Don't Sleep
Level Cap	All Pal Skins and How to Change
Palworld Halloween Skins	-

Pal Catching Tips

Pal Catching Tips
How to Catch Pals	How to Catch and Sell Humans
How to Get Lucky Pals	Pal Sphere Farming Guide
How to Reroll Dungeon Bosses	-

Survival and Exploration Tips

Survival and Exploration Tips
How to Cook Pals	How to Farm Paldium Fragments
How to Heal Pals and Player HP	How to Keep Pals Happy and Sane
How to Increase Carrying Capacity	How to Increase Stamina
How to Upgrade Palbox	How to Repair Tools
How to Fix Pal Injuries	How to Revive Pals
How to Cancel Arrows	How to Eat Food
How to Put Out and Avoid Fires	How to Increase Movement Speed
How to Cure Depressed Pals	How to Cure Weakened Pals
How to Cure Pals of Overfull	How to Get Keys
Night Guide: How to Survive the Night	How to Manage Food Expiration

Best Base Locations
Coal Base	Paldium Fragment Base
Ore Base	Sulfur Base
Skill Fruit Base	-

Settings and Multiplayer Tips

Settings and Multiplayer Tips
How to Play Palworld on Mobile Devices	Best World Settings for Palworld
How to Change World Settings	Multiplayer Guide
Does Palworld Have Crossplay?	Is There PvP in Palworld?
How to Save the Game	How to Set Up Dedicated Server
Which Difficulty Settings to Choose	How to Backup Save Data
All Controls and How to Change	How to Drop Items and Pals
All Console Commands and Cheats	Palworld PC System Requirements
How to Migrate Server Data	How to Change Death Penalty Settings
Is There Splitscreen Local Co-Op in Palworld	-

Glitches and Exploits

All Glitches and Exploits
Infinite Pal Sphere Exploit	Guild Save File Deletion Bug
Pal Pathfinding Bug Fix	How to Catch Tower Bosses
Refresh Food Expiration Glitch	Infinite Sweepa Boost Glitch
Carry Weight Glitch	Pal Sphere Gliding Glitch
Egg Duplication Glitch	Instant Pal Revive and Heal Glitch
Infinite Syndicate Thug Glitch	Black Marketeer Gold Glitch
Item Duplication Glitch	2 Combat Pals at A Time Glitch
Unraidable Base Glitch	Clipping Glitch
How to Fix World Save Bug	Infinite Loot Glitch
Infinite XP Glitch	Freeze and Rocket Launcher Glitch
Pal Skill Cooldown Reset Trick	Fierce Fang Glitch