Where Are No Man's Sky Save Files Located?
No Man's Sky save folder on Windows, macOS and Linux, and why Steam uses st_ IDs while GOG uses DefaultUser instead.
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No Man's Sky keeps saves under a HelloGames/NMS folder. Inside is one subfolder per account: st_ plus your Steam ID on Steam, DefaultUser on GOG. That subfolder holds the .hg save files and a cache folder for expeditions.
Copy the whole NMS folder for backups, never single .hg files. Slots depend on each other for rollback. Close the game first and pause Steam Cloud during restores, or the cloud copy will win. Game Pass uses an encrypted store path instead.
Where No Man's Sky stores this, by platform
%appdata%\HelloGames\NMS
Inside is st_[SteamID] on Steam or DefaultUser on GOG. Game Pass uses Local\Packages\HelloGames.NoMansSky_...\SystemAppData\wgs instead, which is encrypted.
~/Library/Application Support/HelloGames/NMS
Same st_ layout as Windows for the native Mac release. Use Go > Go to Folder in Finder since Library is hidden.
~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/275850/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/HelloGames/NMS
Proton path for AppID 275850. The Steam root varies by install, so search for HelloGames/NMS under compatdata if your library moved.
Frequently asked questions
How do I back up No Man's Sky saves safely?
Close the game, open %appdata%\HelloGames, and copy the entire NMS folder elsewhere with a date in the name. Partial copies of single .hg files often produce broken restores.
Why did my restored save load as a fresh game?
The folder names did not match exactly. The outer folder must be NMS and the inner one must keep its original st_ or DefaultUser name, or the game ignores it and starts over.
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