Windows saves are stored under %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Dazed Games\How to Fish\Saves. Patch 1.0.10 saves up to 64 prioritized ground items but cannot restore objects already lost. Close the game, copy the entire folder, and quarantine suspected corrupted .txt files instead of deleting them.
- Platform
- Windows
- Format
- Text save files
- Corruption symptom
- Generic Game Name entry
- First action
- Copy the whole folder
Find the save directory
Press Windows + R and paste %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Dazed Games\How to Fish\Saves. If you browse manually, AppData is hidden by default, so enable hidden items in File Explorer.
The files are readable text, but that does not make live editing safe. Close the game before viewing or copying them so an autosave cannot overwrite the same file midway through the operation.
Create a complete backup
Copy the entire Saves directory to a different location and add the current date and time to the folder name. Keeping every file together preserves relationships that may not be obvious from file names alone.
For a long multiplayer or achievement session, repeat this backup before launching. Steam Cloud is useful for synchronization but is not a versioned backup system; it can synchronize a damaged local file as easily as a good one.
- Close How to Fish and wait for Steam's sync indicator to finish.
- Copy the full folder to Documents or external storage.
- Do not edit the only copy.
- Keep at least one backup from before the problem appeared.
Fix generic Game Name entries
A reported corruption symptom is a load menu filled with generic Game Name entries that cannot be selected or deleted. The community workaround removes corrupted .txt saves from the live directory so the game can rebuild a usable list.
Use a safer variation: create a Quarantine folder outside the Saves directory and move suspected files there one at a time. Relaunch after each move. When the menu becomes usable, the last moved file is likely involved. This preserves the original for a future repair attempt.
Handle missing boats and ground items after 1.0.10
Patch 1.0.10 saves up to 64 ground items and prioritizes weapons, tools, quest items, and creatures. This applies after the update and does not guarantee recovery of an item that disappeared in an older save.
If the boat or important equipment is missing after loading, stop repeated saves and copy the current Saves folder first. Record the island, where the item was left, and whether the world was hosted. Preserve the affected file for a patch instead of replacing it with an unverified download.
Recover after a bad edit
Close the game and Steam, move the modified live folder aside, and copy the untouched backup back to the original LocalLow path. Start Steam, check which version it proposes during any cloud conflict, and choose the known-good local timestamp when available.
If both local and cloud copies are already damaged, keep them rather than repeatedly resaving. A later game update or community repair tool may recover fields that the current build cannot parse.
Report a reproducible save bug
Record the game version, whether the session was solo or hosted, the last island, and whether the game crashed or exited normally. Include file timestamps and the exact load-menu symptom, but never publish personal Windows paths or unrelated files.
Frequently asked questions
Where are How to Fish save files?
On Windows, the current location is %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Dazed Games\How to Fish\Saves.
How do I fix saves named Game Name?
Back up the folder, then move suspected corrupted .txt files out of the live directory one at a time. Relaunch between moves to identify the affected file.
Will deleting a corrupted file recover progress?
No. It may restore a usable save menu, but the removed file's progress can disappear. Move files to quarantine and keep backups instead of permanently deleting them.
Sources
Facts were normalized and independently rewritten from the references below. Community strategies can become outdated after patches.