Game will create save folders, but not save files

[supersteve]

I've spent way too many hours over the past few days trying to figure out why Anno 1800 won't create save files. The game runs fine. When I hit save, a folder is created in my C:\Users<username>\Documents\Anno 1800\accounts\random string of numbers and letters\ folder with the name of the profile, but that folder is always EMPTY.

I've done my research and gone through the usual list of fixes. I looked at ransomware protection and made sure it was off. I looked at Windows Firewall and made sure Anno 1800 had the same two boxes checked as all the other games. I've tried running both Ubisoft connect and steam in admin mode. There's no issue with space on this drive. None of the other games have this issue. I don't understand what would allow the creation of the folders, but not the actual save file.

Is there anything in windows defender that I'm missing? Screenshots would be wonderful if anyone knows what to look for.

Any ideas?