Far Cry 4

Far Cry 4

155 ratings
Multiple saves backup tutorial
By Akunamatata
Step by step tutorial how to backup Far Cry 4 saves and create your own multiple save slots.
2
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Intro
It's a common knowledge that in Far Cry 4 the developers left us with only ONE save slot. So the only way to have more than one slot is to backup your saves manually along the game. That way you could replay the game from any point - it's like a home-made multiple save slots. It also creates a sort of a safety net to avoid losing ALL progress if the save becomes corrupt or affected by some game-breaking bug.
How to locate your saves and back them up?
  • The saves are located here:
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegames\58bbd877-836e-4d00-afd6-ff9705fc4e2c\856
    If you have a different system folder instead of C:, it will be on D:, F: or whatever your system folder is. Also, the general Ubisoft saves folder (one with the long name with many numbers and letters) is named differently for everyone, you will have your own unique string of characters.
  • If you have more then one Ubi game, you will have several 2/3/4-digit folders inside Ubisoft saves folder (one with the long name with letters and numbers). You can locate FC4 folder according to the date and time at which the files inside it were created. As far as I know, in Steam version it's '856', in Ubisoft version it's '420', but there can be more variants according to your specific DRM/regional version.
  • Copy the 3-digit folder and paste it in a different place. For example, I created one general backup folder (on a different drive, so I can drag and drop instead of copy and paste) and inside it a set of numbered sub-folders, you can also put a short description in a sub-folder name after the number, like "A16-before_L1". It looks like this.
  • When you want to replay some save, just copy backup-ed 3-digit folder from one of the numbered sub-folders and paste it back to Ubisoft saves folder, overwriting existing 3-digit saves folder.
  • To make things easier, you can also create 2 shortcuts on your desktop - one to your general backup folder and one to the actual Ubisoft savegames folder.
  • Just remember that with cloud sync turned on (the option "Enable Cloud Save Synchronization.." in Uplay general settings), at the start of the game it will overwrite manually restored saves with later ones stored on the cloud.
    So if you wanna replay some manually stored saves, you should turn cloud sync off before entering the game. I would turn it off permanently (just uncheck the box near that option in Uplay settings).

Here's the VIDEO that will help you find the location of FC4 saves folder (it has a slightly different method of creating backup saves folders from the one I describe here).
Script for automation batch file
Also, I wrote a simple script to make the saves backup routine even easier:

@echo off start "" "D:\FarCry\FarCry4_My_Saved_Games" set /p name=Enter sub-folder name: md "" "D:\FarCry\FarCry4_My_Saved_Games\%name%" xcopy "C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegames\58bbd877-836e-4d00-afd6-ff9705fc4e2c\856" "D:\FarCry\FarCry4_My_Saved_Games\%name%\856" /i exit
  • Open Notepad, then copy and paste the script into it.
  • Then change ONLY the paths to your backup saves folder (underlined italic) and actual FC4 saves folder (underlined bold).
    Just remember not to touch anything else! If you accidentally delete some space or quote, it will not work!
    It is also a good idea to avoid spaces in your own folder names.
  • Finally save the document as a batch file (the extension must be *.bat instead of *.txt)
  • Now, when you click on the batch file, it will open your backup saves folder and black command prompt window.
    You will only have to type a new sub-folder name for your new backup-ed save (into that window) and press enter.
    That's it. The batch file will create the new sub-folder and will copy and paste the last saves folder into it.
    Here's the VIDEO that can help you understand better about batch files:
    How To: Create a Batch File that will Create and Open Folders

    Update:

    If you would like to create a backup and then load your older save right away, here's modified script[pastebin.com] that opens actual Ubisoft saves folder in addition to your backup saves folder.
    So after you entered a name for your new backup subfolder and hit enter, you
    a) go to actual Ubisoft saves folder, drag&drop "856" folder to your Recycle Bin,
    b) then choose and open a subfolder in your backup saves folder
    c) and drag&drop "856" folder from there to actual Ubisoft saves folder.

    If you want to just load your older save in separate action here's the simple script[pastebin.com] that you can use instead of two shortcuts to actual Ubisoft saves folder and your backup saves folder.

    Of course, you will have to edit the scripts the same way as the first script.
    Last word
    Thank you all for reading my guide, I'd really appreciate your comments and any constructive criticism (and of course, likes and subscriptions :)).



    Please, visit my other guides:
    AKUNAMATATA's GUIDES

    29 Comments
    电妹の充电宝 10 Jul, 2024 @ 5:52pm 
    Thank you so much for your instructions, I'm trying to follow your steps to backup the saving from my Steam Deck then transfer them to my Legion Go manually. But when I opened the files from UbisoftLauncher→Save Gmaes→My ID, then I found three folders but I only have two ubisoft games installed so I tried to open the folders to check the date of created.

    Two of them were updated several months ago and the last one was updated 4 years ago! So I have no idea to find which should be the correct folder for Far Cry4 especially I was just saved the game manually in the game interface and I had played this game these days so it was ridiculous that the date of these saving data are not updated recently.

    Hope I can find a solution here, TIA.
    Akunamatata  [author] 27 May, 2023 @ 6:11am 
    Saves are located in a different place which is not connected with the location of the game itself.
    By default its here:
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegames\*your unique ID*\856
    Try to locate Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher directory ang go from there. I suppose it could be in D:\Program Files (x86) folder if your system disk is D instead of C.
    CROW¡BEARSHARK 27 May, 2023 @ 3:02am 
    i cant find my saves folder my game is ubicated in D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Far Cry 4
    Akunamatata  [author] 12 Jul, 2019 @ 11:29am 
    No, multiple saves applies to the normal game play. Far cry games have 2 modes - regular free roaming when you can save at any point, and mission mode, like at the start of the game. You can also backup saves from missions, but only if you want to replay them from the start later in the game.
    xchrisjd 12 Jul, 2019 @ 1:44am 
    Thank you for your reply. That is what I suspected. Just got confused with the Save & Quit box on the Main menu. I assume that multiple saves only applies to the end of each mission?
    My problem is that I can really only play about 30 mins chunks so saving when I want to would be perfect. So far I have only got to checkpoint 2 before I have to quit. Must try harder! Thanks again.ChrisD
    Akunamatata  [author] 12 Jul, 2019 @ 12:55am 
    The game doesn't save in the middle of a mission. That mission at the beginning of the game starts from the jeep cut scene and ends only after you get all the way to the tower and the fight finishes. If you exit the game anywhere in between, you will start near the crushed jeep again regardless of how much you advanced before. You have to complete the whole mission for the new save to be recorded.
    xchrisjd 11 Jul, 2019 @ 3:13pm 
    Hi My Win 7 has the path as stated, but the '856' is not included in this first folder, rather you open this folder to find another folder called '856' Open this folder to find save1 save2. I started the game & after the jeep accident cut scene I got rid of 1 soldier, moved away & then Esc, Save & Quit. Then go to desktop. However this part was not saved & re-starting goes back to the jeep cut scene again. The main folder had the correct time & date, but '856' had the date & time from the end of the cut scene which was actually yesterday. Any help gratefully received!! ChrisD
    Akunamatata  [author] 25 Nov, 2018 @ 5:11pm 
    You're welcome, I'm really glad to hear that. :)
    And please, don't forget to rate the guide to place it in top 10, so it will be visible to everyone and help someone else... Thank you! :)
    Intrepid 25 Nov, 2018 @ 2:29pm 
    Thank you! Helped me personally a lot.
    午夜小马达 9 Jan, 2017 @ 9:02pm 
    的哇安慰打我