Dressmaker save file location, backups and Steam Cloud

Open your save folder

Close the game before you open your save folder.

What's in a save slot

• There are three save slots, and each one is a single file: player.json, player1.json and player2.json.
• Each save slot is its own file and keeps its own unlocks. A new game starts with only the starting unlocks.
• All slots share options.json, which holds your settings, and the thumbnails folder, where the pictures of your dresses are kept. Your settings are the volume sliders, Frame Limit, Resolution, Window Mode, Bloom, Sewing Assist, the Accessory Rotation Gizmo, Fast Trim Placement, Less Animation, Outlines and your language.

The game's spare copies

Next to each slot file, the game keeps a few spares. They can help when a slot goes wrong.

• Each time a slot loads fine, the game copies its file to a .lastgood file next to it, like player.json.lastgood. The next good load replaces that copy.
• If a slot's file is missing, the slot starts a new game. If the file is there but can't be read, the game keeps it as a .corrupt file and loads the .lastgood copy instead: the file as it was the last time the slot loaded fine. A note on screen tells you. Only if that copy can't be read either does the slot start a new game.
• Reset in the pause menu copies your slot's file to a .bak file first, then starts the slot over.
• Erase in the save slot menu deletes the slot's file, all the spare copies next to it and its dress pictures.

If a slot ever loads wrong, close the game straight away and back up the whole folder before you load anything again.

When the game saves

• The game saves by itself when you accept a commission or hand over a dress, at a few other big moments, and when you go to another room (at most once every 60 seconds). Save and Quit in the pause menu saves, then takes you to the title screen. Closing the window doesn't save.

So use Save and Quit before you close the game or copy your saves.

Back up your saves

A copy of your save folder is the surest way back if something goes wrong. Make one now and then, and always before you try a mod.

Steam Cloud between Mac, Windows and Steam Deck

Is your save not syncing through Steam Cloud? Steam Cloud doesn't move Dressmaker saves between a Mac and a Windows PC. Steam says the cloud is up to date, but the other computer starts a new game. It's on the known issues list, and there's no official fix.

• On a Mac, the game names its save folder after the app's ID, and this build still has the ID of Unity's blank template. Steam Cloud on a Mac copies a Dressmaker folder in Documents instead, and the game never writes there, so the cloud never gets your Mac saves.

The folder Steam Cloud copies on a Mac is ~/Documents/Cozy Lives/Dressmaker. That's why you won't find any saves there.

Players who switch between a Mac and a Steam Deck report the same thing: each one keeps its own save.

Move a save from Windows to a Mac

These steps come from a player on the Steam forum. They aren't an official fix, so back up both folders first.

• On the PC, use Save and Quit, close the game and copy your slot's file from the Windows folder (the first slot's file is player.json).
• On the Mac, close the game and put that file into the Mac folder. Copy the file itself, not the folder around it.
• Start the game on the Mac and pick the same slot.

Nobody has shared tested steps for copying files the other way, from a Mac to Windows. The game's debug mode, in the next section, can move a save either way.

Move a save with debug mode

The game has its own way to move a save, hidden in debug mode. Back up both save folders before you start.

Hold the left Ctrl and left Shift keys and press C to turn on the game's debug mode. It works on the title screen and while you play, and it stays on until you close the game. On a Mac, use Control, not Command.

If your save resets or goes back

Did your save reset, or jump back to an older point in the story? Some players load their slot and find the tutorial again, or a game from a few clients back. Players report it on Windows and on a Mac (see known issues), and there's no official fix. Here's what you can do:

• Close the game before you load that slot again, and back up the whole folder. The spare copies may still hold your older game.
• A player suggests checking your antivirus: it may have put the save files in quarantine. If so, let the game through.
• Report it with your save folder and the game's log. The troubleshooting guide shows how.

Try a spare copy

When a slot's file is damaged, the game already loads its .lastgood copy by itself and tells you so with a note. These steps are for when that copy isn't the game you hoped for either.

One of the spares might still hold the game you lost. The game's spare copies, above, says when each one is made.

• Close the game, then copy the whole save folder somewhere safe.
• Next to your slot's file, look for a .bak or a .lastgood file, like player.json.bak.
• Rename your slot's file, for example to player.json.old. Then rename the spare to your slot's file name, like player.json.
• Start the game and load that slot. Not the game you hoped for? Close the game and put your backup back.

Common mistakes

• Copying files while the game is open. It keeps saving as you play, so close it first.
• Copying only the first slot's file when you play in another slot.
• Pressing Erase to tidy up. It deletes the spare copies too.
• Closing the window instead of using Save and Quit.
• Importing a save while the first slot holds a game you want to keep. Import Save always writes over the first slot.