Transport Fever 3 Save File Location (Steam, GOG, Epic)
Where Transport Fever 3 keeps your saves
Transport Fever 3 splits its files into three places, according to the Game File Locations page of the official wiki:
- Installation folder: the game itself plus the built-in mods from Urban Games. Updates can reset this folder, so do not edit anything here.
- Userdata folder: everything you create, including saves, settings, your campaign progress and manually installed mods. This is the folder you want.
- Mod Hub folder: mods you subscribed to in the in-game Mod Hub. The game manages it; the wiki advises against adding or deleting files there.
The fastest way to reach userdata on any PC or Mac is in the game: open Settings, go to the Advanced tab and press Open User Data Folder. Your saves are in the save subfolder.
Steam folder paths
These are the default paths. If you installed Steam on another drive, the start of the path changes. <user-number> is the numeric folder Steam creates for your account, and 3493540 is the game’s Steam app ID.
| What | Windows | Linux | macOS |
|---|---|---|---|
Userdata (saves are in save) | C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\<user-number>\3493540\local | ~/.local/share/Steam/userdata/<user-number>/3493540/local | /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Steam/userdata/<user-number>/3493540/local |
| Installation | C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Transport Fever 3 | ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Transport Fever 3 | /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Transport Fever 3 |
| Mod Hub downloads | C:\Users\Public\mod.io\10640\mods | ~/mod.io/common/10640/mods/ | /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/mod.io/common/ |
On Linux, the wiki also lists ~/.steam/steam/ as an alternative starting point for both the userdata and installation paths.
GOG and Epic Games Store paths
GOG and Epic do not use the Steam userdata tree. Both store your data in the same per-user folder:
| Store | Userdata on Windows | Userdata on macOS | Installation folder |
|---|---|---|---|
| GOG | C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Transport Fever 3 | /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Transport Fever 3 | Chosen during setup, or GOG Galaxy: Manage Installation, then Show folder |
| Epic | C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Transport Fever 3 | /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Transport Fever 3 | C:\Program Files\Epic Games\TransportFever3 (Windows), /Users/Shared/EpicGames/TransportFever3 (macOS) |
GOG on Linux uses ~/.local/share/Transport Fever 3. The wiki gives no Linux path for Epic.
On a Mac, the Library folder is hidden by default. The official page says to press Ctrl + Shift + . in Finder to show hidden folders. If that does nothing, try the same shortcut with the Command key, which is the usual Finder toggle. The Open User Data Folder button in the game skips this step entirely.
What is inside the userdata folder
| File or folder | What it holds |
|---|---|
save | Your savegames |
save_maps | Maps you built in the Map Editor |
settings.lua | Resolution, volume and other settings, including hidden experimental options |
settings_keys_v3.lua | Key bindings |
profile.lua | Campaign progress and your last saved game |
mods | Manually installed mods |
mod_presets | Saved lists of active mods |
crash_dump | Crash reports and the stdout.txt log |
shader_cache | Cached shaders (internal) |
heightmaps, biomes, towns_industries | Import files for the Map Editor |
A savegame is a .sav file that holds the data, paired with a .jpg thumbnail of the camera view at the moment you saved. The wiki’s intro line says saves “consist of three files” but then only lists those two, so copy every file that shares the save’s name.
settings.lua is the file you edit to unlock larger maps; see our bigger maps guide. For the mods folder, see how to install mods.
No Steam Cloud at launch
The Steam store page does not list Steam Cloud, and developer UG-Sam confirmed in a Steam forum thread (opened September 20) that cloud saving would not be available at launch. He added that the team is looking into it but has no plans or timeline yet.
His suggested workaround: upload your save to the in-game Mod Hub and leave it unlisted. You can then pull it down on another computer or keep it as a backup. The wiki does not yet document the savegame upload screen. For comparison, its Map Editor sharing dialog has a Make Public option, and leaving it off keeps the item hidden from other players.
There is one catch. The official known issues page (checked October 1, 2026) says PC savegames uploaded to the Mod Hub cannot yet be downloaded on PlayStation or Xbox. Urban Games says compatibility will be added after launch. See our console page for other console limits.
How to back up your saves safely
The official troubleshooting page points out that Steam’s own backup and restore tool only covers game files. It does not include the userdata folder, so your saves and settings are not in it. The same applies to copying the GOG or Epic installation folder. To protect your saves:
- Close the game.
- Open the userdata folder using the paths above.
- Copy the whole folder, or at least
save,save_mapsandprofile.lua, to another drive or a cloud storage folder.
The wiki also notes that uninstalling or reinstalling does not reset your settings, because they live in userdata and not in the installation folder.
If your campaign progress disappears
Campaign unlocks and medals are stored in profile.lua. The troubleshooting page admits this profile can be reset in some situations and cannot be restored automatically. The fix is to replace profile.lua with one of the replacement profiles linked on that page, or to edit it by hand in a text editor. A backup of profile.lua saves you that trouble. Our campaign page covers the eight missions themselves.
Logs for crash reports
If you need help after a crash, the log files are in crash_dump. stdout.txt is overwritten on every launch, but the game writes a timestamped copy whenever it crashes. Send the newest set of files with the same name. For crashes and slowdowns in general, see our performance fix guide.
Thanks. Back to the timetable.