Of Ash and Steel: How to Fix Lost Save Issue

An improper shutdown in Of Ash and Steel doesn't wipe your saves — it just blinds the game to them. The actual save files usually survive intact inside a corrupted or emptied SaveGameSlots.sav, which means recovery is possible if you follow the folder structure carefully instead of panicking and reinstalling first.

Goal / Problem

The culprit sits at C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\ofAshAndSteelGame\Saved\SaveGames, specifically the SaveGameSlots.sav file. This file works as an index — it tells the engine which save slots exist and where to find them. When it gets corrupted or cleared during a bad shutdown, the game simply can't see your progress anymore, even though the individual slot folders (with your actual level and player data) are often still sitting right there untouched.

That's the whole problem in one sentence: a broken index file, not deleted data. The fix below is about rebuilding that index so the game reconnects with saves that never actually left your hard drive.

Method 1 — Rebuild the Index Manually

1. Open any folder, click the address bar, paste %localappdata%, hit Enter.
2. Navigate to ofAshAndSteelGame\Saved (either by pasting the extra path or clicking through manually).
3. Copy the entire SaveGames folder somewhere safe. You'll now have two copies: the original in place, and a backup — rename them SaveGames - ORIGINAL and SaveGames - COPY so you don't mix them up.
4. In SaveGames - ORIGINAL, delete everything except GS_GameSettings_SaveSlot. Yes, everything — that's the point; you're forcing a clean rebuild.
5. In SaveGames - COPY, delete the SaveGameSlots file only.
6. Launch the game, start a new game, and skip (or watch) the intro cutscenes.
7. Once you have control of your character, fire off three quick saves back to back, about 5 seconds apart. Skip this if you never use quick saves.
8. Don't close the game yet. Check SaveGames - COPY for slot folders like Slot_03 through Slot_011. Remember the math: folder number minus 2 equals the actual slot number, so Slot_03 is your 1st slot, Slot_04 is your 2nd, and so on.
9. Back in-game, open the pause menu and manually save into the slots matching whatever numbers you found. If you had Slot_03, Slot_04, and Slot_05, you manually save into slots 1, 2, and 3.
10. Go to SaveGames - ORIGINAL and delete everything except SaveGameSlots and GS_GameSettings_SaveSlot.
11. From SaveGames - COPY, copy Slot_01, Slot_01b, Slot_01c, plus any of the Slot_03 through Slot_011 folders that exist for you.
12. Paste all of that into SaveGames - ORIGINAL.
13. Switch to the game and load a quick save or manual save to confirm your progress is back.

It's a fiddly process — mostly bookkeeping rather than difficulty — but it works because you're letting the game regenerate a fresh, valid index file while keeping your real save data intact underneath.

Method 2 — The Reinstall Route

Some players have had success with a more drastic approach:

1. Go to C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local and copy both the OfAshAndSteel and OfAshAndSteelGame folders to your desktop as a backup.
2. Delete both folders from the original AppData location.
3. Uninstall the game, then reinstall it fresh.
4. Start a new game and save into the very last slot available.
5. On your desktop backup, open OfAshAndSteelGame\Saved\SaveGames and find your original save's folder — same numbering logic as before (Slot_03 = slot 1, etc.).
6. Inside that folder, copy the three files: Level.sav, Player.sav, and Slot.sav.
7. Navigate to the live save path again: C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\ofAshAndSteelGame\Saved\SaveGames.
8. Open Slot_11 (the last slot folder) and overwrite its three files with the ones you just copied.
9. Boot the game and load the last slot. The save thumbnail might look wrong — ignore it, the actual progress underneath should be your old save.

Both methods rely on the same idea: your real progress lives in numbered slot folders, and the trick is convincing the game to reference them correctly again.

Tips & Troubleshooting

Knowing how the save system is organized makes both methods easier to trust.

Quick saves live in folder 01 across three rotating slots: Slot_01, Slot_01b, Slot_01c. They cycle in a fixed overwrite pattern — 1-2-3, then 4-2-3, then 4-5-3, then 4-5-6, and so on. Autosaves work identically but in folder 02 with Slot_02, Slot_02b, Slot_02c.

Regular manual saves occupy folders 03 through 11 — nine slots total, no letter suffixes, each one a straightforward one-to-one match with the in-game slot number (minus the offset of 2 mentioned above). The .png files sitting alongside these folders are just save preview thumbnails for the loading screen; they're cosmetic and won't affect recovery.

Your audio, sensitivity, and control settings live separately in GS_GameSettings_SaveSlot.sav, at the same SaveGames path. That's why Method 1 tells you to preserve that file throughout — losing it means redoing your entire settings menu, which is annoying but not save-breaking.

There's also a shortcut floating around: on step 3 of Method 1, some players swap the corrupted SaveGameSlots file directly with a pre-made working version from a shared drive link instead of rebuilding it manually. It can save time, but treat it as experimental — any small game patch can change the file structure and break compatibility, and there's no guarantee the shared file stays updated.

If neither method restores your progress, double-check two things: that you copied every relevant slot folder (not just some of them) and that the SaveGameSlots file in your final SaveGames - ORIGINAL folder isn't empty or zero-byte. Nine times out of ten, a failed recovery comes down to a missed folder rather than actual data loss.