Where Are Silent Hunter 5 Save Files Located?
Silent Hunter 5 keeps each captain's campaign in its Documents tree, with a famous load-crash workaround.
Last updated
Silent Hunter 5 stores campaigns in Documents\SH5\data\Users\<CaptainName>, one folder per captain holding every save and the campaign state. The folder regenerates itself, which doubles as the famous crash fix and as a trap for the careless.
Loading crashes are the game's signature bug. Deleting the Users folder before loading forces a clean rebuild that lets the save through; the folder returns on its own. Keep OneDrive away from this tree, since its Documents redirect moves the saves out from under the game.
Where Silent Hunter 5 stores this, by platform
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\SH5\data\Users
One folder per captain with saves and campaign state. Delete the Users folder to fix load crashes; it regenerates. Keep OneDrive off this tree or loads break silently.
Frequently asked questions
Silent Hunter 5 crashes loading my campaign. How do I fix it?
Delete the data\Users folder inside Documents\SH5 with the game running or closed, then load. The game regenerates it and the save loads. Repeat before each load if the crash returns.
OneDrive moved my Documents. Why do saves fail now?
Move Documents out of OneDrive or exclude the SH5 folder. OneDrive relocates the save tree and renames paths mid-campaign, which breaks loads that worked yesterday.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.