Return saves back. Lost, lose and gone save fix.

[F*CK PUTIN]

I had lost all my saves after the game crashed. My PC restarted, and I have nothing to load. The 'Load' button was grey. I found all my saves in the local folder, but the game still can't read them and shows me nothing.

Now I have 2 ways. It works only if you have local saves on AppData/Local.

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!!WARNING!!
First step of that ways is turn off Steam Cloud. It's dargerous way! If your Windows get broken, you will lost all your saves. Also you can't continue game from other devices after it.

I warned you.

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First way

1. Turn off Steam Cloud for Stalker 2.
   
   
2. Open foulder C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Local\Stalker2\Saved\STEAM\SaveGames\Data. Grap all saves and move to desktop.
   
   Check this location for GamePass:
   C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Local\Packages\GSCGameWorld.S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2HeartofChernobyl_6fr1t1rwfarwt\SystemAppData\xgs\000901FF7F99E1D5_0000000000000000000000007782504A\SaveGames\Data
   
   
3. Delete folder Stalker2 form AppData\Local.
   
   
4. Open Stalker 2 and start new game. Skip cutscenes.
   
   
5. Make 1 new save manually. Do not turn game off. Just roll it down.
   
   
6. Open foulder C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Local\Stalker2\Saved\STEAM\SaveGames\Data. Find your manual save. Copy name of save.
   
   
7. Take one of previous saves. Change the name.
   
   
8. Delete new save from \AppData\ and put there old save.
   
   
9. Roll game up. Try to load your save.
   
   
10. Make one more manually save after load.

Game open all the time of manipulations. It's important.

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Didn't work? Lets try more.

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Second way

1. Turn off Steam Cloud for Stalker 2.
   
   
2. Open foulder C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Local\Stalker2\Saved\STEAM\SaveGames\Data. Grap all saves and move to desktop.
   
   Check this location for GamePass:
   C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Local\Packages\GSCGameWorld.S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2HeartofChernobyl_6fr1t1rwfarwt\SystemAppData\xgs\000901FF7F99E1D5_0000000000000000000000007782504A\SaveGames\Data
   
   
3. Delete folder Stalker2 form AppData\Local.
   
   
4. Open Stalker 2 and start new game. Skip cutscenes.
   
   
5. Make 1 new save manually and turn game off.
   
   
6. Open C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Local\Stalker2\Saved\STEAM\SaveGames\Data. Find your manual save. Copy name of save.
   
   
7. Downgload or take online Hex Editor. I recomend https://hexed.it/. You need a Hex Editor with the ability to save files in .sav format.
   
   
8. Open one of your lost saves.
   
   
9. Check it. If your save is broken take previous. What I meen (screenshot) [ibb.co].
   
   
10. Don't change something! Just use "Save as" and put name of your fresh save (from step 6).
    
    
11. Put it in C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Local\Stalker2\Saved\STEAM\SaveGames\Data.
    
    
12. Try to launch game and load it.
    
    
13. Make one more manually save after load.

Even if the hexes aren't all zeroes and corrupted, the save file might still not work and show up as "corrupted". For someone, it worked only for the 5th or 6th save. Try all your saves. It's better than starting a new game.

After the replacement, the save will show that you have spent 03 minutes in the game. This is normal. The game always shows this after replacement. Load it and check.

You ABSOLUTELY have to use a Hex Editor. Don't change the name manually. It doesn't work!

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The first method was found by a guy in the comments. The second one is my personal method. Give us a third one if you have it, and I will add it to this post. We are a community, and let's try to help each other.

Let us know if these fixes didn't help you.

Special thanks to Consural and AngryBeavers for usefull comments.

[KILLJOY_TV]

Не помогло(

[Узбек и стан]

Та же проблема. Играл через пасс хкоробки. 10 часов в пустую…

[Agronom son of the Agronom]

thnx a lot it works!

[KILLJOY_TV]

Originally posted by Agronom son of the Agronom:

thnx a lot it works!

Its work for u?

[LieToMe]

God bless You, the best man in the world. I wish You to get 3 more inches to Your massive ♥♥♥♥ size, be haunted by the most beatiful weman, and money just spilled all over Your 300 year long life.

[GRZZLI]

Dude, I wanted to end it all 10 minutes ago. you saved my life, this worked, thank you so much. Exact same issue as you

[TaskMister]

not work for me

[F*CK PUTIN]

Originally posted by KILLJOY_TV:

Не помогло(

Originally posted by Узбек и стан:

Та же проблема. Играл через пасс хкоробки. 10 часов в пустую…

Дайте мне в личку больше инфы. Может разрулим. У меня получилось не с первого раза + я нашёл ещё один способ, если у вас есть старые сохранения.
Короче давайте пробовать, может получится порешать проблему

[Set-115689]

The free software Recuva from the people who make ccleaner work? It recovers deleted files.

[F*CK PUTIN]

Originally posted by TaskMister:

not work for me

I’m so sorry. I can give you my personal saves if it’s ok. Sure it’s not solution but it is better than start new game.

Or I can try to find some way from other topics. I saw few ideas from guys with other languages and I need to check that ways.

[Agronom son of the Agronom]

Here is Technical Support's response on this issue (I didn't test it):
1. Check for cloud saves conflict
2. To verify the integrity of a game's files on Steam, you can:
Restart your computer and launch Steam
Right-click the game in your Library or click the gear icon on the game's Library page
Select Properties
Select the Local Files tab
Click Verify integrity of game files
3. Check Permissions for Save Folder

Do not hesitate to make a issue request on the official website

[LieToMe]

Originally posted by Agronom son of the Agronom:

Here is Technical Support's response on this issue (I didn't test it):
1. Check for cloud saves conflict
2. To verify the integrity of a game's files on Steam, you can:
Restart your computer and launch Steam
Right-click the game in your Library or click the gear icon on the game's Library page
Select Properties
Select the Local Files tab
Click Verify integrity of game files
3. Check Permissions for Save Folder

Do not hesitate to make a issue request on the official website

Which doesn't do crap, same response. But the process described here helped me (Steam, not GamePass).

[Xion3899]

THIS WORKS! saved my 14 hour play through, u da man!

[starszy flexx]

Thank you very much, you helped me a lot !
The method is completely working !

I don't have much time to play because of work and I was really upset that I lost my progress due to the power outage.

Also, if you encounter this problem, carefully reread the instructions, translate into your language if it necessary and follow manual.

I didn't succeed the first time because of missing small points.
Just do as in the manual and everything will work out.

Big respect to the author!
You are my savior, all the best to you

[Consural]

Originally posted by TaskMister:

not work for me

Did you make sure to follow the steps?

Also, one thing the OP missed is this:
Even if the hexes aren't all zeroes & corrupted, save file can still not work & show up as "corrupted".

The first 2 saves I tried looked fine on the editor, but didn't load. The 3rd one finally worked.

So, order your saves in the windows folder by "time modified", & keep trying ALL saves you have with the method provided. And don't skip any steps. Make sure to save the name of the original file, make sure to move all the saves to another folder and back them up.

And thanks OP, you saved my day, already been having a terrible week, at least I get to continue STALKER 2