How to Back Up No Man's Sky Saves (Every Big Update Is a Risk Window)

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No Man's Sky ships large updates that change what saves contain, and the game's own per-slot rotation is only a couple of saves deep. Checkpoint64 backs up the NMS folder automatically and keeps every version, so a bad update or an overwritten slot is a Restore rather than a loss.

Where No Man's Sky saves live

%APPDATA%\HelloGames\NMS

Inside it there's a per-account subfolder holding the .hg files. Each save slot is a pair — the save and its metadata — and they have to stay consistent with each other, which is why the folder is the unit worth backing up rather than a single file. No Man's Sky writes only to Windows in the app's game catalog, so this one folder is the whole picture.

Updates are the risk window

Large updates change what the game stores and how. Most of the time that's invisible and fine. It matters on the day it isn't: a save written by a newer build isn't guaranteed to work with the older one, so "just roll back the game" is not by itself a way out. Having a copy of the save from before the update is what makes rolling back an actual option.

That's less about expecting any given update to break something and more about what a save is exposed to over a long life — a base you've had for years has sat through a lot of them.

The game's own rotation is shallow

No Man's Sky keeps a current and a previous save per slot and overwrites as you go. That's a real safety net for the last few minutes of play, and useless for a problem you notice next session. A dated history doesn't rotate on the game's schedule.

Expedition slots

Expeditions get their own slots, and clearing or reusing one you meant to keep is easy to do without noticing. A version history keeps that save available after the game has moved on from it.

How Checkpoint64 backs up No Man's Sky

  1. Pick No Man's Sky. The HelloGames path is already known.
  2. Turn on auto-backup. Every 60 seconds it checks for a changed save and uploads a new version, sending only what changed.
  3. Restore in one click. Open Versions, pick a version from before the update or the overwrite, and Restore.

Common questions

Where are No Man's Sky saves stored?

On Windows they're under %APPDATA%\HelloGames\NMS, in a per-account subfolder holding .hg save files. Each save slot is a pair of files — the save itself and its metadata — so the folder is what has to be restored together, not one file out of it.

Can an update break a No Man's Sky save?

Updates can change how saves are written, and a save opened by a newer version isn't guaranteed to work with the older one. That mostly matters when something goes wrong and you want to go back. A version taken before the update is a save that still matches the build that wrote it.

Does No Man's Sky keep old saves itself?

It keeps a small rotation per slot — the current save and a previous one — and overwrites as you play. That covers the last few minutes. It doesn't cover a problem you notice after a session or two, because the older copy is long overwritten by then.

Can I keep an expedition save from being overwritten?

Expeditions use their own slots, and it's easy to reuse or clear one you meant to keep. Checkpoint64 keeps every version it uploaded, so a slot you overwrote is recoverable from the version history even though the game no longer has it.