Moon Sweepers save location and won't-load fixes

What should you do if your save won’t load?

Update to the latest version so the save fixes and repair features apply, then load the world again. Before 1.0.3, some large, heavily cleaned bases looked corrupted and would not load properly even though their save files were fine; patch 1.0.3 made them load normally.

For the full update history, see the patch overview.

Which save problem are you seeing?

Symptom	Where to start
The world will not load or appears corrupted	Check the automatic repair and backup sections below
The world loads, then the game becomes “Not Responding” about half a minute later	Install 1.0.5 or later for the post-load freeze fix
Save Unavailable appears during play, with saving, building or deposits blocked	Use the Save Unavailable section below
Steam shows 0x10B before the game opens	Follow the DirectX launch-error steps

What does “Save Unavailable” mean during play?

Save Unavailable can appear in an active world alongside an inability to save, place buildings or deposit dust. Note the exact message and which actions stop working, then include those details when contacting the developers through their official Discord. Keep a copy of your existing backups before attempting manual recovery.

What if the game freezes shortly after loading?

Patch 1.0.5 fixes a freeze that made some worlds become “Not Responding” about half a minute after loading, on both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12. Update the game if that timing matches your problem. If freezing continues, include the time between loading and freezing in your bug report.

How does automatic repair work?

In 1.0.3, a damaged save is repaired as it loads using its backup or a recent snapshot. Every save is checked before it replaces the previous one, and the game displays a message if a repair was needed.

Since 1.0.4, if a save or part of it is damaged, the game restores it from your backups when the world loads and lets you know. After a crash, it also checks save files on the next start and repairs damaged files. The folder those files live in is covered under where saves and backups are stored.

Where are Moon Sweepers saves and backups?

Saves are per world, per save slot. Since 1.0.4, each slot keeps up to 5 full backups, and those copies are stored outside Steam Cloud in:

C:\Users\[user-name]\AppData\LocalLow\DragDropGames\MoonSweepers\Backups

Paste that path into the File Explorer address bar with your own Windows user name in place of [user-name]. AppData is a hidden folder, so typing the path is faster than browsing for it. Because the backups sit outside Steam Cloud, they stay on that PC instead of travelling with the save.

How often are backups created?

In 1.0.4 and later, the game takes one backup about a minute into each session, then every 30 minutes, keeping up to 5 per slot.

Before you copy, move or delete anything in Backups, duplicate the whole folder somewhere else first: automatic repair reads these files when a world fails to load.

Should saving and quitting still take a long time?

Since 1.0.4, saving large, heavily cleaned bases takes a fraction of a second instead of up to half a minute. Quitting the game or returning to the main menu also no longer leaves players waiting on “Saving your progress…”.

Can you open the save in an older version or with a co-op crew?

Saves made in 1.0.4 cannot be opened in older versions. In co-op, keep the whole crew on the same version; patch 1.0.3 required all crewmates to be on 1.0.3 to play together. See multiplayer rules for the co-op overview.

What if the problem continues?

Report the bug in the developers’ official Discord so they can fix it.

For the wider setup overview, see the beginner guide.

Game imagery © DragDrop Games.