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11 Windrose stores save data locally on the PC and also syncs it through Steam Cloud when the game is run through the Steam client. Local save files live under the user's AppData folder, and all character and world data is organized into subfolders per account. The tables and notes below describe where the files live, how cloud saves behave, and how multiple characters and worlds are handled.
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33 Save File Location
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55 On PC, save data is stored beneath the Windows user profile. The exact path depends on the Steam user ID.
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77 ClientSave File LocationSteamC:\Users\[Windows Username]\AppData\Local\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles\[Steam Numeric ID]
88 The same folder can be opened from Windows Run or Explorer by typing %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/R5/Saved/SaveProfiles. The R5 folder is the root container for all Windrose save data.
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1010 What is Stored
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1212 Character data: appearance, stats, talents, inventory, and progression for each created character.World data: procedurally-generated map seed, built structures, placed items, and persistent NPC state for each world.Settings: key bindings, graphics options, and input preferences tied to the Steam account.
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1414 Character and world data are kept in separate subfolders under each character slot. Manually editing or moving individual subfolders is not recommended because the structure is used internally by the game's save loader.
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1616 Steam Cloud Saves
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1818 Windrose has full Steam Cloud support. When the game is closed, local save data is automatically uploaded to Steam's cloud servers. Signing into Steam on another PC and installing Windrose pulls the same save data down, so progress carries across devices without any manual copying.
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2020 Since the May 4, 2026 save-system update (Hotfix 0.10.0.5.120), save files use a structure built for Steam Cloud sync, which sharply reduced the multi-PC save conflicts that were the most common complaint during the launch month. Cloud upload still runs when the game closes, so the safest workflow when moving between machines is still to fully quit the game on one device before starting a session on another and to let the Steam launch dialog finish syncing first.
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2222 Multiple Characters and Worlds
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2424 Windrose is not limited to a single character or a single world. Multiple characters and multiple worlds can be created and managed from the main menu, and each one has its own save folder under the Steam ID directory. Community reports describe creating roughly a dozen characters on the same account without issue, and no hard upper limit has been confirmed.
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2626 From the main menu, each character can have its appearance edited or be deleted. Deleting a character only removes that character's slot; shared world saves and other characters are preserved.
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2828 Automatic Save Backups
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3030 Windrose creates automatic save backups on a timer. The system was introduced in Hotfix 0.10.0.3.104 (April 19, 2026) and then reworked by the save-system overhaul in Hotfix 0.10.0.5.120 (May 4, 2026). Under the current system, the game writes an automatic backup every ten minutes of active gameplay and again when you quit to desktop, keeping up to thirty backups as a rolling window. Older backups roll off as newer ones are added. Backups live under the same user AppData directory as the primary saves and are restored through the in-game recovery flow rather than by manual file copy. This runs alongside Steam Cloud rather than replacing it: Steam Cloud uploads on exit and syncs across devices, while the rolling backups give you local rollback points between those uploads, so the two systems cover different failure modes.
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3232 Manual backups (described below) are still useful for long-term archival and for preserving a specific known-good state beyond the thirty rolling automatic backups. The automatic system is the first-line safety net; the manual system is the long-term insurance policy.
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3434 If the most recent save fails an integrity check at startup, the game now shows a Data Recovery interface instead of silently failing to load. It offers two choices: quit to desktop and let Steam Cloud resync a working copy from another machine, or restore from the most recent valid automatic backup. A Save Migration System also upgrades any save written before Hotfix 0.10.0.5.120 to the current format, usually invisibly; if a pre-update save is corrupted beyond automatic recovery, a Migration Conflict notice appears with an explicit delete prompt.
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3636 Backup Advice
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3838 For players who want a local backup beyond Steam Cloud, the safest approach is to copy the entire R5 folder to a second location while the game is closed. Copying individual character or world subfolders is not reliable because the loader depends on the surrounding directory structure.
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4040 Close Windrose completely before copying save data.Copy the full R5 folder (at %USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/R5) to preserve all characters, all worlds, and settings in one backup.Keep backups on a separate drive or cloud-synced folder if the goal is to guard against drive failure rather than just experimental changes.
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4242 Other Steam Features
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4444 Steam Cloud: automatically backs up save data when the game is closed and syncs it across devices on the same Steam account.Steam Family Share: members of the same Steam Family group can download and play a copy of Windrose owned by a family member from their own library, within Valve's Family Share rules.Steam Input: supported controller bindings are applied through Steam Input, and community-made controller presets can be loaded for unsupported or custom layouts.
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4646 Tips
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4848 If save data appears to be missing after reinstalling the game, check that Steam Cloud has finished syncing before starting a new session. Cloud sync status is shown on the Steam launch dialog.When experimenting with different talent builds or world seeds, creating a new character or world is cheap because Talents and stat allocations can also be reset in-game without deleting the save.Do not delete the R5 folder while the game is running. Quit to the desktop first.
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5050 See Also
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5252 Early AccessMultiplayerControls