Never trust the cloud alone. Steam Cloud Saves are excellent, but they also sync corruption. If you save a bugged file, Steam will happily upload that bugged file to the cloud.
In the world of PC gaming, "save scumming" (reloading to get a better outcome) is common, but basic file preservation is often overlooked. Stardew Valley is generally stable, but issues can arise during major updates (such as the transition to version 1.6), when installing new mods, or when switching between Steam and the GOG versions of the game. save data stardew valley pc updated
By manually managing your save files, you gain three key benefits: Never trust the cloud alone
Once you are in the Saves folder, you will see folders named after your characters. Inside each folder, there are two files. It is important to understand the difference. The Backup File: You will also see Name_123456789_old
Name_123456789_old.
If your game crashed or corrupted, you can sometimes recover your progress by deleting the main save file and removing _old from the backup file's name.