Computer Crashed and My Save is Lost (Backup Corrupted)

[Allusion]

Hey guys, I know there's like a million of these in this support discussion area, but I've done everything I can to recover my save to no avail. The backup itself is completely corrupted (the save data inside the file is just blank spaces instead of actual text), and there's no way to revert any changes to the files.

The best I can imagine doing is just manually inputting all of the discoveries I'd made already into the save data to re-create what I've lost, but I have no idea how to manipulate the save data in that way. Does anyone have a list of the save data's flags and what they're referring to?

For reference, restarting is kind of a bummer, considering i have about 18 hours in the game at this point, and have beaten the main storyline (and was just starting to work on getting 100% advancements and the DLC)

[Perseus]

Originally posted by Allusion:

but I've done everything I can to recover my save to no avail. The backup itself is completely corrupted (the save data inside the file is just blank spaces instead of actual text), and there's no way to revert any changes to the files.

I have no idea how you'd edit the save file;
I just want to make sure that you did in fact try everything :
Have you tried your Cloud saves?
There's a small chance they might still be valid. (Unless the filesize of the .owsave file is 0, in which case it's definitely not valid.)

Steam Cloud storage :
https://store.steampowered.com/account/remotestorage/
Outer Wilds specifically :
https://store.steampowered.com/account/remotestorageapp/?appid=753640
(When "downloading" a file from Steam Cloud, you'll be asked to choose a file to replace, you might want to make some dummy file for this.)

[Allusion]

Originally posted by Perseus:

I have no idea how you'd edit the save file;
I just want to make sure that you did in fact try everything :
Have you tried your Cloud saves?
There's a small chance they might still be valid. (Unless the filesize of the .owsave file is 0, in which case it's definitely not valid.)

Hey, I just want to open with a thank you for lending your support in these trying times. As for the Steam Cloud, I went ahead and downloaded the data from there and placing it into the saves folder. Unfortunately, the file was still corrupted from there as well. Strangely enough, there is still 39KB of data in those data files, just that its all blank.

As for the editing of the save file, i noticed when looking through the fresh, uncorrupted data file that opening it with a text document viewer showed a list of frequencies discovered, alongside other discoveries that could be made throughout the game
[{"loopCount":1,"knownFrequencies":[true,true,false,false,false,false,false],"knownSignals":{"31":false,"30":false... etc.]

My thinking is that there's a way to manually input information through it, which could potentially help recover my record of discoveries (which is really the real reason I want my save back. The knowledge on the computer isn't technically NECESSARY to progress in the game, but I liked having a record of places I've been and things I've seen)