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FEVER 3FIELD GUIDERELEASE NOTES
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SAVE FILES / BACKUP

Find and back up TF3 saves

TF3 release manual checked September 30, 2026. Manual local backup steps; Steam Cloud availability is not established here.

Open the user data folder, then copy its save folder

TF3 stores your local saves under the user data folder's save directory. Use Settings → Advanced → Open User Data Folder if your build offers it, or follow the platform path below. Quit the game, copy the save folder elsewhere, then check a copied save in Load Game before relying on the backup.

Transport Fever 3 railway network over a green landscape
Official TF3 scene for orientation, not a screenshot of a save-file dialog. Urban Games press materials ↗

Where is the user data folder?

The official TF3 manual lists these defaults. Replace placeholders with your account name or numeric Steam user ID; a custom Steam installation may use a different drive.

  • Steam on Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\<user-number>\3493540\local\save
  • Steam on Linux: ~/.local/share/Steam/userdata/<user-number>/3493540/local/save or ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-number>/3493540/local/save
  • Steam on macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/userdata/<user-number>/3493540/local/save
  • GOG or Epic on Windows: %APPDATA%\Transport Fever 3\save
  • GOG or Epic on macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Transport Fever 3/save
  • GOG on Linux: ~/.local/share/Transport Fever 3/save

save_maps is a separate map-save location; copy that too if the map files matter to you. settings.lua and mods are also in user data, outside save.

Make a backup you can check

  1. Locate the active user data folder. Save a new game with a distinctive name, then check that it appears in the folder you found. This guards against copying an old Steam account or installation.
  2. Exit TF3. Wait until its save operation finishes; copying while the game writes a save risks an incomplete backup.
  3. Copy, do not move, the whole save folder. Put the copy in a clearly dated location outside the active game folder. Keep related save entries together; the manual describes .sav state files and .jpg thumbnails.
  4. Verify before relying on it. Check that the copied folder contains the distinctive save and has nonempty files. If you later restore it, quit TF3, preserve the current folder first, copy the backup into the matching user data location, then open Load Game and load the expected save.
WATCH THE GAME

Tycoon Gameplay Overview

General gameplay footage; file locations come from the written manual.

Watch on YouTube ↗

How to tell the restore worked

The expected save name appears in Load Game and opens the expected map and company state. Seeing files in a backup directory alone does not verify that they can be restored.

If the save is missing

  • Steam folder is empty: check the numeric user ID, Steam library drive and active account. Use a newly named in-game save to identify the correct folder.
  • Only map files appear: you may be viewing save_maps rather than save.
  • Restored save is not listed: verify the platform-specific user data root, folder nesting and the files copied; keep the original current folder until the restore succeeds.
  • You expected cloud sync: this page establishes local manual paths only. Check your store client's current cloud status separately; do not delete the local copy on an unverified assumption.