Sauvegardes de Scrap Mechanic : emplacement et copie de secours

The folder you are looking for

On Windows, open File Explorer and paste %AppData%\Axolot Games\Scrap Mechanic\User into the address bar. Inside is one folder named for your Steam user. Everything the game keeps for you lives under that folder.

Worlds are in Save. Survival worlds sit in Save\Survival and each one is a single .db file. Custom game worlds sit in Save\Custom. If you have ever loaded a world from the game’s own menu, it came from one of those two places.

What the other folders hold

The same user folder carries the rest of your account state, and knowing which is which saves you from copying the wrong thing.

Folder	What it holds
Save	Survival and Custom worlds, one .db file each
Worlds	World data kept beside the saves
Blueprints	Creations you saved yourself
Challenges	Challenge levels you built
Tiles	Tiles from the level editor
Progress	Progress data for the account
Mods	Present in every install; content you subscribe to on the Workshop does not land here
settings.json	Options: volumes, display, graphics, field of view, mouse speed, language

Every one of those folders is created empty and fills up as you play, so a fresh install with nothing in Blueprints is not a sign that something went wrong.

Blueprints are worth calling out separately. A blueprint is a copy of one creation, not a copy of a world, so it survives a save being lost or a branch being switched. Exporting a blueprint of a complicated vehicle is the cheapest insurance available in this game.

There is no manual save command

The published chat command list has no world-save command outside the challenge builder, where /save saves a challenge. Survival and Creative worlds are written by the game itself. That is exactly why a copy of the folder is the protection, rather than a habit of saving before something risky.

A backup routine that actually restores

Copying a single .db file usually works, and it fails in the cases you care about most, because a world can depend on mod metadata and account state stored beside it. Copy the whole user folder instead. It is small compared with the install, and it restores as one piece.

1. Close the game. A file copied while the game is running can be half-written.
2. Copy the folder named for your Steam user out of %AppData%\Axolot Games\Scrap Mechanic\User.
3. Paste it somewhere outside the game’s own directories, and name the copy for the date and the game version you were on.
4. Note which mods were subscribed if the world uses any.

Restoring is the same steps in reverse: close the game, put the folder back, then start the game and check that the world list shows what you expect before you play.

Cloud sync is not a backup

Synchronization protects you from losing a machine. It does not protect you from a save that gets overwritten, corrupted, or written by the wrong game branch, because the damaged version is what gets synchronized. A dated copy on your own disk is the only thing that undoes a mistake.

When a backup earns its keep

Three situations account for most of the “my world is gone” posts, and all three are things you do on purpose.

Switching Steam branches is the first. Old Survival saves are not compatible with the 1.0 release, and moving between branches to visit an old world is exactly when a copy matters. The returning player guide covers that decision in full.

Removing a mod is the second. The game warns you in plain words: “A previously used mod has been removed! This might cause the world to be unloadable.” Take the backup before you answer that dialog, not after.

Experimenting on a world you care about is the third. Open the copy, not the original, and keep the original untouched until the copy behaves.

Using your save file with the map tool

The interactive map can read a Survival world file to draw the terrain of that exact save. Point its file chooser at %AppData%\Axolot Games\Scrap Mechanic\User, open the folder named for your Steam user, then Save\Survival, and pick the .db file. You can also drag the file onto the upload panel from File Explorer.

Reading a save this way is safe for the file, but the habit of working from a copy is still the right one when you are poking at anything.

Save file questions

Where does Scrap Mechanic save games on Windows?

In %AppData%\Axolot Games\Scrap Mechanic\User, inside a folder named for your Steam user. Survival worlds are .db files in Save\Survival, and custom game worlds are in Save\Custom.

Can I move a save to another PC?

Copy the whole folder named for your Steam user and put it in the same location on the other machine. Mods a world depends on have to be subscribed on that machine as well, or the game opens its “MISSING MOD” warning when the world loads.

How do I back up just one world?

Copy the world’s .db file out of Save\Survival. That is enough for a plain unmodded world. For anything with modded parts, copy the whole user folder so the mod metadata travels with it.

What happens if I delete settings.json?

settings.json in the same user folder holds your options: the six volume sliders, display and graphics values, field of view, mouse speed and interface language. Removing it puts those back to defaults, which is a blunt way to undo a display setting you cannot find again. Copy it first, and see the keybinds and settings guide for what each option controls.