Figured out how to transfer game saves between gamepass and steam versions

[StormTrooper626]

I asked earlier if it was possible to transfer your game save, your progress, between versions. Both being cloud saved backups, and Microsoft's store DRM, most said it was not likely. Well below I will list the steps I used to transfer my save over to the steam version.

1. Navigate to

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Packages\ROCKFISHGames.EVERSPACE2_wm11qtfe9fmzj\SystemAppData\wgs in windows explorer

Should be a folder with a long series of numbers. Open it. Inside that folder, is the gamepass saves, just with a name format the steam version does not recognize.

2. Start a new game with the steam version. I chose to play past the tutorial till I got to a point of a manual save.

3. Navigate to C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\ES2\Saved\SaveGames to windows explorer

This is the steam game save folder.

4. What we want to do is copy a game save from the gamepass folder over to the steam game save folder. Now the steam version will not see the save, till we rename it. So right click on a steam save, click rename option. Copy the game saves name WITH the .sav part.

5. Move the steam save to desktop or somewhere outside the folder, so you do not have 2 copies with the same name. Next, right click the gamepass save, rename. Paste the steam version name to over right the gamepass name.

6. Load up the steam version, and load that save you renamed. It will still show the picture preview of the previous save, but once reloaded and manually saved again, it will leave a new preview.





Hope this helps someone. I had to figure this out for Control: Ultimate Edition and figured someone else may need to do this in the future.

[StormTrooper626]

https://imgur.com/a/WtBIPOr

[Pappy]

Nice work. I read something that said those files were not only read only but encrypted. I'm assuming you had to also get update rights to that packages folder? This is good to know since I should be able to find all of my Game Pass games here then I assume.

[Rin Palora]

Thanks.

[BOOSTIO]

Thank you so much for this guide. Just saved me a ton of time trying to figure out how to do this. Take my points

[Luck]

Wonder if it's possible to do the reverse? Steam to pc gamepass?

[Admiral von Schneider #Skål!]

Originally posted by Luck:

Wonder if it's possible to do the reverse? Steam to pc gamepass?

Did you find a solution for this? I tried to copy the steam save file to the game pass folder and renaming it but it won't show when I launch the gamepass version. The thing is though, that the game pass folder has like 5 different folders and I am not sure which is the right one to replace. I did it with all of them and then no save file is shown when I launch the gamepass version.

[Luck]

Originally posted by Admiral von Schneider #Skål!:

Originally posted by Luck:

Wonder if it's possible to do the reverse? Steam to pc gamepass?

Did you find a solution for this? I tried to copy the steam save file to the game pass folder and renaming it but it won't show when I launch the gamepass version. The thing is though, that the game pass folder has like 5 different folders and I am not sure which is the right one to replace. I did it with all of them and then no save file is shown when I launch the gamepass version.

I tried the same -no dice.
At this point I'll probably just restart on gamepass unfortunately.

[Definitive]

Thanks

[_skooby_dooby_]

Originally posted by Luck:

Originally posted by Admiral von Schneider #Skål!:

Did you find a solution for this? I tried to copy the steam save file to the game pass folder and renaming it but it won't show when I launch the gamepass version. The thing is though, that the game pass folder has like 5 different folders and I am not sure which is the right one to replace. I did it with all of them and then no save file is shown when I launch the gamepass version.

I tried the same -no dice.
At this point I'll probably just restart on gamepass unfortunately.

Any luck? I am attempting to do the same thing...

I already started over when I reimaged my laptop and didnt take the time to look into this properely.... now I am trying to play on my new PC which currently has the Gamepass version installed....

Just an idea... but what if I have both versions of the game installed on one PC... Launch it in Steam but go into "manage game" and point it at the gamepass directory?

idk if that even makes sense.... my head hurts trying to figure this out....

[Pappy]

I tried with no luck. It's not easy to even figure out which save belongs to which file on the Gamepass version, let alone try to move it into the steam folder.

[Hawky]

Thanks, OP.
I was confused with points 4/5 but in the end made it. I had to rename only the bigger size file that was without .sav part to the same name as Steam version save. The _PREVIEW_.sav had to stay original.

[Pappy]

Originally posted by Hawky:

Thanks, OP.
I was confused with points 4/5 but in the end made it. I had to rename only the bigger size file that was without .sav part to the same name as Steam version save. The _PREVIEW_.sav had to stay original.

The preview file gets overwritten anyway once you save from within the game.

[Thundi]

Sorry for digging this back up, but has anyone figured out a way to do this after the Incursions update? I just bought the game and wanted to transfer my save file like described in the initial post, but after loading the Gamepass file my screen just stays black. Yes, I've renamed it to the same name the original steam save was and played the tutorial until I could save manually.

[Pappy]

I would make sure of the following.

1) The Gamepass version that you are using is the most current version 1.2.39656.
2) Load the game you want to use in Gamepass and save it again so you know it was saved using the above version.
3) Make sure you copy the most recent save file to the steam folder so you know it's the one that you just saved in GamePass and rename it and make sure it's the actual save file you're copying and not one of the other files that gets created using Gamepass because it can be a little confusing. Make sure it's the right size for example, it should be about the same size as the save files you create in Steam.

If it still won't load into Steam then there's something wrong that we can't fix. This should work. It's worked for others. Your best bet at that point is to create a new post in the bugs and technical issues folder and hope that Rockfish will take a look at it. They'll probably want you to send them the file you are trying to load.

Honestly I don't know why you are wanting to do this anyway. The version on Gamepass is now the same version on Steam as far as I can tell. Why don't you just play the game on GamePass?

[Thundi]

Thanks for your input. I did exactly what you described. I did realize though, that the Gamepass version actually has a higher version number than the steam version as of today's update. So maybe I'll wait for the steam version to catch up and then try again.

The reason why I want to continue playing on steam is that my gamepass is due to expire soon and I don't want to renew it for the time being.