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Steam Deck & SteamOS • Updated September 2026

How to Recover Palworld Save Overwritten by Steam Cloud on Steam Deck

Did Steam Cloud sync an older cloud save over your latest Steam Deck progress after switching devices or waking from sleep mode? Because Steam Cloud ignores Palworld's internal rolling snapshots, your lost hours of gameplay are usually intact inside the Proton sandbox. Here is how to restore them.

🛡️ Inspect Restored Save in Steam Deck Browser

Open CheckMySave directly in Chrome or Firefox on your Steam Deck to verify backup snapshot day count and player levels before overwriting files.

Open Scanner →

# Why Steam Cloud Conflicts Occur on Steam Deck

On SteamOS, Palworld runs inside Valve's Proton Windows compatibility layer. Unlike native Linux games, the save filesystem is nested inside a virtual Windows environment known as a Proton prefix: 

~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1623730/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Pal/Saved/SaveGames/<SteamID64>/<WorldGUID>/

When you put your Steam Deck into sleep mode or experience a Wi-Fi dropout right after closing Palworld, the local file timestamps fail to upload to Steam Cloud. When you subsequently play on your desktop PC or re-wake the Deck, Valve's cloud daemon detects a mismatch and overwrites the newer local world data with the older cloud image.

💡 The Silver Lining:

Steam Cloud only synchronizes top-level files (Level.sav, LevelMeta.sav, and Players/). Palworld's rolling snapshot subfolder (backup/) is excluded from cloud sync, leaving your uncorrupted save points intact on your SSD.

01

Step 1: Switch to Desktop Mode

  1. Press the physical STEAM button on your Steam Deck.
  2. Select Power from the sidebar menu.
  3. Select Switch to Desktop and wait for the KDE Plasma desktop to initialize.
02

Step 2: Locate the Proton Save Directory in Dolphin

  1. Click the blue folder icon in the taskbar to launch Dolphin File Manager.
  2. Click the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner of Dolphin and check Show Hidden Files (or press Ctrl + H).
  3. Navigate along this path: 
    /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1623730/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Pal/Saved/SaveGames/
  4. Open the folder with your 17-digit Steam ID, then open your 32-character hexadecimal world folder.
03

Step 3: Retrieve Clean Snapshots from backup/

Inside your world directory, open the backup/ folder. You will see two subfolders:

backup/world/
Contains timestamped world snapshots (Level.sav and LevelMeta.sav).
backup/local/
Contains timestamped player character profile data (<GUID>.sav).
  1. Open backup/world/, sort folders by date, and identify the latest snapshot created before the cloud sync rollback.
  2. Copy Level.sav and LevelMeta.sav from that timestamp folder.
  3. Paste and overwrite them into the parent world directory.
  4. Open backup/local/, copy the player .sav file from the matching timestamp, and paste it into Players/.
04

Step 4: Verify with CheckMySave & Return to Gaming Mode

  1. Open your browser on the Steam Deck and navigate to CheckMySave.com.
  2. Drag your restored world directory into the scanner to confirm container validity and verify that day count, base count, and player level match your expectations.
  3. Double-click the Return to Gaming Mode shortcut on your desktop.
  4. Launch Palworld. Your recovered progress will be restored!

? Frequently Asked Questions

Where does Steam Deck store Palworld save files?

Palworld runs under Proton compatibility, so its save files are in: ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1623730/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Pal/Saved/SaveGames/<SteamID64>/<WorldGUID>/.

Does Steam Cloud wipe the backup/ subfolder?

No! Steam Cloud only synchronizes the top-level Level.sav, LevelMeta.sav, and Players/ files. The internal backup/ folder created by Palworld's rolling snapshot engine is excluded from cloud sync, preserving your historical save points even after a cloud rollback.

How can I avoid Steam Cloud conflicts between PC and Steam Deck?

Always wait for the Steam Cloud icon next to Palworld to say "Up to date" before suspending the Steam Deck or switching to your desktop PC.