Where Are Old World Save Files Located?
Old World keeps saves as zip and XML in Documents under My Games, with macOS and Linux equivalents. Paths plus the userdata flag.
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Old World saves the straightforward way: a Saves folder holding .zip and .xml files, one per campaign, under Documents\My Games\OldWorld on Windows. Profiles, mods and world files sit in sibling folders. Steam Cloud syncs the tree, and nothing is encrypted or account-locked.
The Documents location fights OneDrive on slow connections, which Mohawk answers with a -userdata launch flag that relocates the whole tree anywhere you like. macOS and Linux get native clients with their own platform-standard equivalents of the same Saves folder, confirmed in Steam's own cloud config. Back up the folder before major patches; 4X saves are precious.
Where Old World stores this, by platform
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\OldWorld\Saves
Saves are .zip and .xml, one set per campaign, with profiles and mods in sibling folders. Relocate with -userdata <path> in Steam launch options to escape OneDrive or slow drives. Steam Cloud syncs this tree. Back up before major patches.
~/Library/Application Support/OldWorld/Saves
Same Saves contents under application support, per Steam's cloud config. The -userdata launch flag works identically for relocation. iCloud-synced Documents causes the same split-save problem as OneDrive on Windows; relocate if affected.
~/.local/share/OldWorld/Saves
Native Linux client uses this XDG data path with the identical Saves layout. Steam Cloud covers it like the other platforms. The -userdata flag works here too. Saves move across all three platforms freely since the format is identical.
Frequently asked questions
how do i move old world saves to a new pc
Copy the Saves folder to the matching platform path on the new machine. The .zip and .xml saves travel freely; mods come from Steam Workshop or the Mods folder and need reinstalling. Cloud saves cover Steam copies, but a manual copy is faster and version-proof.
how do i move old world saves out of documents
Add -userdata with your chosen path to the Steam launch options, e.g. -userdata C:\OWSaves. Old World relocates everything there. This is Mohawk's own documented answer for players whose Documents folder is synced to OneDrive or stuck on a slow drive.
does old world support cross platform saves
Yes, natively on all three desktop platforms with Steam Cloud bridging them. Windows uses Documents, macOS uses application support, Linux uses XDG data. Saves are plain .zip and .xml, so they move across freely. Keep game versions in sync or newer saves refuse to load on older builds.
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