Elden Ring Save File Explained: How to Keep Your 200-Hour Progress From Vanishing

You've spent months stalking through the Land of Shadow. You finally took down Messmer after forty tries. Your build is perfect, your fashion is peak, and you’re sitting on a mountain of runes. Then, it happens. You boot up the game and see those dreaded words: "Failed to load save data."

It’s a gut-punch. Honestly, for a game this massive, the way it handles your progress is kinda archaic. If you're on PC, you're basically one bad Steam Cloud sync away from losing everything. Consoles aren't much safer either, especially with the weird way the DLC interacts with base game data.

The elden ring save file is more than just a bit of code; it's hundreds of hours of your life. Understanding where it lives and how to actually protect it—manually, because the official tools are flaky—is the only way to play without that low-level anxiety.

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Where Your Elden Ring Save File Is Actually Hiding

Windows likes to bury things. If you're looking for your save, don't bother checking the game's installation folder in SteamApps. It's not there. FromSoftware decided to tuck it away in your user profile's hidden folders.

To find it, you've gotta hit Windows + R and type %appdata%.
Inside that "Roaming" folder, you'll see a folder named EldenRing.
Click that, and you'll find a folder with a long string of random numbers. That's your unique Steam ID.

Inside that folder, you'll see:

• ER0000.sl2 (This is your actual save)
• ER0000.sl2.bak (The game's internal backup)
• steam_autocloud.vdf (Steam's sync file)

Basically, if you want to back up your game, you just copy that whole folder with the numbers and stick it on a thumb drive or Dropbox. Do it often.

The Xbox and PlayStation Situation

Consoles make it harder to touch the raw files. On PS5, you're mostly tethered to the PlayStation Plus cloud. You can't just copy a PS5 save to a USB stick like we did in the old days—Sony locked that down. You have to manually "Upload/Download Saved Data" by hitting the Options button on the game icon.

Xbox is even more "set it and forget it," which is great until it isn't. It syncs to the Microsoft cloud automatically, but if you play offline and then jump online on a different console, you run a real risk of the cloud overwriting your newer local save. Always let the sync finish. Don't rush it.

Why Saves Keep Getting Corrupted in 2026

We're years into the game's life, and save corruption is still a thing. Usually, it's not the game's fault. It’s the Steam Cloud.

Imagine this: your PC crashes while the game is saving. Steam sees the local file is "newer" but broken. It syncs that broken file to the cloud. Now your backup is also broken.

Another weird issue popped up with the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. If you play the DLC on one machine, then try to load that same elden ring save file on a PC that doesn't have the DLC installed, the game will often just refuse to boot the character. It’ll tell you the "required DLC is missing." You’re not "corrupted" in that case; you're just locked out until the licenses match up.

The "Failed to Load" Fix

If you get a load error on PC, try the .bak trick first.

1. Go to that Roaming folder we talked about.
2. Move your ER0000.sl2 to the desktop (don't delete it yet).
3. Rename ER0000.sl2.bak to just ER0000.sl2.
4. Launch the game.

Sometimes the game's own backup is just a few minutes behind and hasn't been ruined by the crash yet. It's saved my skin more than once.

Can You Move Saves Between Platforms?

The short answer: No.
The long answer: Sorta, but it's a headache.

There is no official cross-save for Elden Ring. You can't play on PS5 and then pick up where you left off on PC. However, the community has built some wild tools. There are scripts on GitHub and editors on Nexus Mods that can convert a PS4 save (if you can get it off the console via a PS4 backup) into a PC-readable format.

But moving a PC save back to a console? That’s almost impossible without a jailbroken system. If you're moving from PS4 to PS5, there’s a built-in "Convert Save Data" option in the game menu, but it’s a one-way street. Once that character goes to the PS5 version, it's never going back to the PS4 version.

Pro-Tips for Save Management

If you're a "save scummer" (no judgment, getting all endings in one go is smart), you need to be careful. Constant copying and pasting can confuse the Steam Cloud.

• Disable Steam Cloud: If you’re manually managing backups, just turn it off. Right-click the game in Steam > Properties > General > Toggle off Cloud Saves.
• The 10-Character Limit: Each elden ring save file holds 10 characters. If you want more, you have to move your current save folder out and let the game generate a "fresh" one. You can swap these folders like cartridges.
• Checksum Errors: If you're using a save from the internet (like a "Mule" save for PvP), you'll get a "Save Data Corrupted" error. This is because the save is tied to a different Steam ID. You'll need a tool like the "Elden Ring Save Manager" to "patch" the Steam ID so the game thinks it's yours.

The most important thing? Don't rely on the game to keep your progress safe. FromSoftware makes masterpieces, but their file handling is as brutal as a Caelid Crow.

Your Protective Action Plan

• Find your folder at %appdata%/EldenRing.
• Create a shortcut to that folder on your desktop so you don't have to hunt for it.
• Copy the folder to a different drive after every major session.
• Verify your Steam files if things act wonky before you start messing with the save itself.

Keep that data safe, and you'll never have to worry about losing your status as Elden Lord.