Anyone who’s spent 20+ hours grinding a perfect ARK Souls 2 character, taming rare mythical creatures, and clearing brutal boss fights knows the gut punch of losing all that progress to a random game crash or corrupted file. That’s why learning how to copy ARK Souls 2 saves is one of the most underrated, high-impact skills every player should pick up within their first few hours of play. I learned this lesson the hard way back when I first started playing the mod: I lost a fully kitted melee build with three maxed tames right before a planned PVP raid, all because I didn’t bother to back up my save. After that fiasco, I tested every possible save copying method across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation to find the safest, most reliable options that work for every type of player. This guide skips the complicated technical jargon and walks you through exactly what you need to do, no fancy software required.
Why You Need to Learn How to Copy ARK Souls 2 Saves Regularly
You might be thinking you don’t need to bother with save backups if you play carefully, but random issues pop up all the time that are out of your control. Mod updates can break compatibility with old saves, unexpected power outages can corrupt files mid-save, or you might decide you want to reset your world but keep your current character build. Many players skip this step until it’s too late, and I’ve seen dozens of people post in community groups begging for fixes after losing 50+ hours of progress.
It only takes 60 to 90 seconds to make a full save copy, so there’s really no excuse to skip it. I now set a quick phone reminder to copy my save every Sunday night after I finish my play session, and it’s saved me three separate times in the last six months alone, once when a mod update corrupted my main save file. You can also make extra copies before you attempt a hard boss fight or test a new unvetted mod, so you can roll back if things don’t go as planned.
Step-by-Step Method to Copy ARK Souls 2 Saves on PC
If you’re playing the Steam version of ARK Souls 2, the process is straightforward, even if you’re not super tech-savvy. First, a critical pre-step: make sure ARK is fully closed, not just minimized to the taskbar. If the game is running, it will lock the save files so you can’t copy them correctly, and you’ll end up with a broken backup that won’t load when you need it. The step-by-step process is as follows:
- Close ARK completely first, never try to copy save files while the game is running as this will almost always result in a corrupted copy that won’t load.
- Navigate to your ARK save folder: the default path is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\ARK\ShooterGame\Saved\SavedArks\Souls2, unless you changed your install location during setup.
- Locate the save file matching your current playthrough: it will usually have the name of your map or character followed by a .ark extension, plus associated .arktribe and .arkprofile files if you’re playing on a multiplayer server.
- Select all relevant files, right click and select Copy, then paste them to a separate folder on a different drive, cloud storage service, or external USB stick for safekeeping.
- To load the copied save later, just paste the files back into the same SavedArks folder, overwriting the existing files when prompted, and launch the game as normal.
If you’re playing a heavily modded version of the mod, I recommend also copying the entire Mods folder from your ARK directory alongside your save files. That way, if a mod gets taken down or updated to a broken version, you can roll back to the exact mod setup you were using when you made the save. Always keep at least two separate save backups in different locations, like one on your main hard drive and one on a USB stick or cloud storage service. If your main hard drive fails, you’ll still have a copy of your save safe somewhere else.
How to Copy and Transfer Saves Across Devices
Lots of players want to copy ARK Souls 2 saves to a new PC when they upgrade, or share their world with a friend so you can play co-op without starting from scratch. The process is simple as long as you follow a few key rules. First, make sure the device you’re transferring the save to has the exact same version of ARK installed, plus all the same mods with matching version numbers. Even a small difference in mod version can cause your save to crash on load, or make your tames and items disappear entirely.
If you’re transferring between two PCs, the easiest way is to upload your save files to a free cloud storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox, then download them on the new device. You can also use a USB stick if you don’t have internet access. For console players on Xbox or PlayStation, you can copy saves to external storage via your console’s built-in save management menu, then plug the storage into your new console to transfer the files. Cross-platform save transfer is not supported right now, so you can’t move a PC save to console or vice versa, even if you own the game on both platforms. I tried this last year when I switched from PC to Xbox for a few months, and I ended up having to start my playthrough over entirely, so don’t waste your time trying to find a workaround for cross-platform transfer, it doesn’t exist yet.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Copying Saves
Even if you follow the steps perfectly, there are a few common mistakes that can ruin your copied save, so it’s important to know what to avoid. First, don’t rename your save files unless you know exactly what you’re doing. ARK uses very specific naming conventions to identify save files, character profiles, and tribe data, so even changing one character in the file name will make the game unable to find it when you launch.
Second, don’t only copy the main .ark save file and leave out the .arkprofile and .arktribe files. Those files contain all your character’s stats, inventory, engram unlocks, and tribe ownership data, so without them, your save will load, but you’ll spawn as a brand new level 1 character with nothing to your name. I made this mistake once when I was first learning how to copy saves, and I lost all my character’s progress even though the world save was intact.
Third, never use third-party save editing tools unless they come from a trusted, verified source in the ARK modding community. Many random save editors you find online come with malware, or they’ll modify your save file in a way that corrupts it permanently, leaving you with no way to recover your progress. I’ve had friends try to use these tools to give themselves extra engram points or level up faster, only to lose 40+ hours of progress entirely. Finally, don’t overwrite your only good save when you’re testing something risky. If you want to try fighting a new boss you’ve never beaten, or test a new mod that’s still in early access, make a separate copy of your save first so you can roll back if things go wrong.
At the end of the day, taking a few minutes to copy ARK Souls 2 saves is a tiny investment that pays off huge when things go wrong. You don’t need any special technical skills or paid software to do it, and it’s far easier than re-grinding all your tames, gear, and levels after a save crash or file corruption. I still get messages every few weeks from players who followed this guide and saved their playthrough after a hard drive failure or mod update breakage, so don’t wait until you lose your progress to start backing up your saves. Next time you finish a long play session, take 60 seconds to make a quick copy of your save file. You’ll thank yourself later when something goes wrong and you don’t have to start all over from scratch.