How to backup and restore your saved game

With this simple guide you will be able to backup your current saved game and then restore it when you are not happy with the ugly things that can happen during this hard game.

Introduction

Faster Than Light is a hardcore game, as you probably now.

The hardest part of the game is that you cannot save your progress when you are proud of the decisions you have made and then return to that state when you mess it up. You may be playing for 3 hours and ♥♥♥♥ it up in 1 simple move... no return.

With this guide we will try to explain how to solve it as easy as possible. For those who want to change it from hardcore to just hard, continue reading. Otherwise, stop reading right now ;)

I followed the instructions I have written in this guide along the guide Brian Johnson created for unlocking the Crystal Cruiser. You can find his great guide here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=170464357

Where to find the saved game files

FTL saves the progress of the game when you click the "Save + Quit" option in the Main menu. When you save the game and exit, you will be able to find a file containing the saved game. This is the file we are going to backup and then restore when necessary. You can find it at the following directory:

Windows users: %UserProfile%\Documents\my games\FasterThanLight
MAC users: $HOME/Library/Application Support/FasterThanLight
Linux users: $HOME/.local/share/FasterThanLight

The file you will find there:

• continue.sav

Now, in order to backup or restore a saved game to a previous state, you must follow the manual copy instructions or the automatic copy instructions.

Manual backup/restore your saved game

In order to manually backup or restore your game, go to the directory previously indicated and:

• Backup your game:
  Copy the file continue.sav to a file named continue.backup
  
  
• Restore your game to the latest saved state:
  Copy the file continue.backup to a file named continue.sav

For doing the backup/restore process a bit more handy, you can create an executable file that automatically do the copies explained in this section.

Semiautomatic backup/restore your saved game (Windows)

Go to the directory indicated in previous sections and create the following files:

• a backup.bat file containing the following line:
  copy continue.sav continue.backup
  
  
• a restore.bat file containing the following line:
  copy continue.backup continue.sav

Once you have created the files:
In order to backup the game, just double click on the backup.bat file.
In order to restore the saved game, just double click on the restore.bat file.

Semiautomatic backup/restore your saved game (MAC / Linux)

Note: This has not been tested, please write a comment if you test it.

Go to the directory indicated in previous sections and create the following files:

• a backup.sh file containing the following line:
  cp continue.sav continue.backup
  
  
• a restore.sh file containing the following line:
  cp continue.backup continue.sav

Give execute persmissions to the files, for example by launching the following commands from a shell:
chmod 777 backup.sh restore.sh

Once you have created the files:
In order to backup the saved game, just execute the backup.sh file.
In order to restore the saved game, just execute the restore.sh file.

So... how this works?

Well, now you know more or less the things you should know, follow these instructions while playing:

Backup a saved game:

• When you are playing and you realize you have just made a couple of very good jumps, exit the game saving the progress (remember... click the "Save + Quit" option in the Main menu).
  
• Follow the manual/semi-automatic instructions for backing up the saved game.
  
• Enter the game and continue playing. Now you will have a safe copy of the saved game.

Restore a saved game:

• When you are playing and you realize you have just made a very bad move, exit the game by clicking the "Quit" option in the Main menu (actually the "Save + Quit" option will work also).
  
• Follow the manual/semi-automatic instructions for restoring the saved game.
  
• Enter the game and continue playing. Now those bad moves have been undoed !

Enjoy!!!

P.S. Thanks for the comments received.

[Monke Drip ™]

poggers

[Fer]

Maybe you have configured the Windows options to not show suffixes for known file types... Windows 9 ???

[TFTEnthusiast]

I am running on windows, I have never used Mac or Linux. I just don't know why the name is just continue, but I can back up the save and it works. I am running on windows 9 if that has somthing to do with it.

[Fer]

In windows systems the file to save is still continue.sav
Maybe in Linux or Mac systems the file is now named "continue", without extension. If you could confirm this point I would update the guide.

[TFTEnthusiast]

the files in my directory is ae_prof and continue not continue.sav is it the same or did i go to the wrong place.

[Astronema]

nice !
but I probably wont use this. The dies -> respawn -> dies cycle is the most amazing thing about this game. A smallest mistake is unforgivable.

[breadtilt]

Hmm, maybe I made a mistake at some point? I usually backup the continue.sav file only, but if ship unlocks are saved on prof.sav then it shouldn't have any impact. You're probably right, but next time I get a ship unlock quest done I'll try it again and see what happens.

[Fer]

Do you really lose ship unlocks by restoring a saved game? I think this information is saved in the prof.sav file instead of the continue.sav file. If this is true, maybe the game developers have changed something since I wrote this guide, because this didn't happen before :(

[breadtilt]

It would be a good idea to note that you can lose ship unlocks and such by loading save data from before you completed such a quest. For example, if you save your progress in sector 1 after getting some ridiculous weapon that you want to keep for experimenting with different combinations and loadouts, then subsequently complete a ship unlock quest, then loading that sector 1 save will also erase your progress in that ship unlock. I am not sure if there is a way around this.

[Fer]

Comment received and accepted. I will update the guide with your suggestion. Thanks Bloodycrow.