01 / Confirm scope

Record the branch before touching the factory

Coffee Stain moved Update 1.2 from Experimental to the public branch and later shipped the same patch contents across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series consoles. The file paths below are the official Windows PC backup paths published during the Experimental rollout. Console cloud storage is a different workflow and is not covered here.

RecordStorefront, branch, visible build, last successful load, and whether mods or save editing are involved.

02 / Copy

Back up both the world saves and blueprint library

  1. Exit Satisfactory and the storefront client. Do not copy while the game is saving.
  2. Open %LOCALAPPDATA%\FactoryGame\Saved\SaveGames\. Copy the relevant account folder to a new dated folder outside the live game directory.
  3. Copy the blueprints folder too. Coffee Stain called it out separately in the 1.2 update instructions.
  4. Do not move the originals. A backup is a copy; moving files changes the live state before the update is tested.

03 / Verify

A folder name is not a verified backup

Open the dated destination, confirm that save and blueprint files are present, and record its location. If possible, keep the copy on a different drive or in an existing backup system. This is practical backup hygiene inferred from the official paths; Coffee Stain does not promise that every copied save can be restored after every future build.

04 / Update

Change one variable, then test one load

  1. Apply the storefront update or select the intended branch.
  2. Launch once and load a known factory without adding a second change.
  3. If it loads, save to a new slot before overwriting a trusted slot.
  4. If it fails, stop repeated writes and capture the exact error, branch, build, and last working version.

05 / Recovery boundary

Do not treat an older copy as a universal one-click repair

Official 1.2 notes document multiple historical crash-on-load and save-related fixes. That proves the update history contains distinct defects; it does not prove which one affects an individual factory. Preserve the failed live state, keep the dated copy untouched, and use Coffee Stain's QA site for a current, reproducible report before replacing files.

UnknownWhether a save written by a newer build can safely move backward to an older branch without game-specific confirmation.