Guide for those who left their game running (PC mostly)

[Giant Octopodes]

Introduction
Why this guide?
Stardew Valley autosaves at the end of each day, so if you walk away with the game unpaused you can lose the whole day. Worse, there's no confirmation before starting the new day if you didn't ship anything, so you can lose a month or more depending on how long the game runs before you catch it. I've fixed such situations myself and folks have reached out regarding them, so here is the guide.

Disclaimer
This guide assumes you play on PC with steam. Some of the info may apply otherwise, but it might involve transferring your saves to PC in order to edit them or other additional steps. Such steps won't be covered in this guide. Theoretically some of the info here can also be used for general time travel or save manipulation. I don't condone such usage or save manipulation in general outside emergency scenarios like this one. Any consequences of following this guide improperly or manipulating your saves in general, which may include totally breaking your game and/or ruining the game experience, are totally on you.

Locating Your Save Files and Creating a Backup
Where are my saves?
Your Stardew Valley save files are stored (by default) in:
%appdata%\StardewValley\Saves

• To access this folder, open File Explorer (or Windows Explorer), type %appdata% in the address bar, and press Enter.
• Then navigate to the StardewValley folder, and finally into the Saves folder.
• You can also manually navigate here by going to C:\Users\{your username}\appdata\roaming\StardewValley\Saves but the appdata folder is hidden so you need to change your view settings with the view tab on top of Windows Explorer to check the box for "hidden items" in order to do so.

Within Saves, you’ll see folders named like: {Your Farm Name}_{A String of Numbers}. Each such folder corresponds to a save for a specific farm.

Making a Backup
Before doing anything else, copy your entire save folder (e.g., <YourFarmName>_<StringOfNumbers>) and paste it into a new folder outside the Saves directory. I use the folder %appdata%\StardewValley\SaveBackups so it's easy to navigate back and forth since you just need to go up one level. The only really important part is that it is outside your Saves folder, as otherwise you can and will cause Steam to lose its mind and end up with cloud data sync issues.

Paste the copy of your save folder in there. By having this backup, if anything goes wrong with your recovery attempt, you can replace your current save folder with the backup to revert to your previous state. This guarantees that in your attempts to fix things, you're at a minimum not going to make them worse.


Section 1: Recovering the Original Save
This section details different scenarios and the steps you can take to revert to your original save data. They may not apply but if they do, try these methods first, even before closing the game, if possible. They result in a clean and pristine copy of the game as it originally was, and are greatly preferred to the messy and manual editing required otherwise. At a minimum they're good to know for dealing with future circumstances with less aggravation and greater ease.


Scenario 1: If It Was Only 1 Day Lost
Scenario: You shipped something, came back to the new day confirmation screen, clicked “OK,” and only then realized you’d wasted an in-game day that you didn’t want to lose.

Why this might still be easy to fix:
Stardew Valley automatically keeps a backup of the previous day, appending "_old" to the file name. You can revert to that _old file if you only missed one day.

Steps:

1. Open your save folder (the one within Saves).
2. Identify the files without "_old" and the ones with "_old".
3. Delete the files without "_old".
4. Rename the remaining "_old" files by right clicking on the file and choosing "rename", removing "_old" from the file names, keeping the rest of the name unchanged.
5. Relaunch Stardew Valley. You should now be one day back in time, effectively undoing that day’s progress.

Note: To ensure Steam doesn't mess you up, disconnect from the internet (pull the ethernet cable or disconnect from wifi) before launching Stardew Valley, then reconnect only after you've loaded the save. Make sure you play out a full day before closing so you create a new, updated save for Steam to sync to the cloud. Then reconnect to the internet before closing out the game so Steam syncs the updated save, ensuring your fix is never reverted.


Scenario 2: If the Game Is Still Running
Scenario: You stepped away for hours, without shipping something and with the game unpaused. You realized a significant amount of time had passed, and are currently looking for a solution without exiting the game yet.

Why this might help:
Steam only syncs your local save files when the game is launched or closed. If you haven’t closed the game, the new state will not have synced to Steam Cloud yet.

Steps:

1. Disconnect from the internet (pull the network cable or disable Wi-Fi).
2. Close the game.
3. Copy the entire contents of the %appdata%\StardewValley\Saves folder, and back them up, not just the folder for the farm in question.
4. Delete the entire contents of %appdata%\StardewValley\Saves.
5. Reconnect to the internet and relaunch Stardew Valley.
6. Steam will pull the previous cloud save data (which should reflect the time before you left the game running).

Note: This method reverts you to the last synced version of your save that Steam stored in the cloud. It'll be before you last launched the game, so you'll revert to before the time warp, but also possibly undo days you actually played. Whether or not that's an acceptable tradeoff is, like all of this, up to you.

Scenario 3: If You Have a Second PC on Which You Play
Scenario: You frequently play on two different PCs, both synced with Steam Cloud. You left the game running on PC #1, realized the mishap, and already closed the game. But you haven’t opened Stardew Valley on PC #2 yet.

Why this might help:
Steam Cloud won’t update PC #2 until you launch the game on that machine (while connected to the internet).

Steps:

1. Disconnect PC #2 from the internet before launching the game.
2. Back up the existing saves on PC #2 (same method as in “Locating Your Save Files and Creating a Backup,” above).
3. Launch Stardew Valley on PC #2 (still offline). The save you see should be the older, pre–time-jump version.
4. Play out at least one day so that PC has an updated save.
5. Reconnect PC #2 to the internet, with the game still running.
6. Close the game. Steam Cloud will then upload the corrected save.
7. Back up the new save on PC#2 for extra safety.
8. The next time you open Stardew Valley on PC #1, you should see a save conflict. Choose the Steam save (the one you just uploaded from PC #2).

Note: This reverts you to the last state you were in when playing on the other PC. That might be before the current play session, a week, a month ago or more. It depends entirely on your usage and personal circumstances. As with all of this, it's up to you whether it's worth it to accept that state. Also, if Steam does not reflect a save conflict and simply rolls with the saves on PC#1 after you've successfully uploaded the save from PC#2, this can be combined with Scenario 2 - back up the entire save folder on PC#1, delete the contents, and let Steam sync across the stored version on the next launch.


Scenario 4: If You Have a Backup Setup
Scenario: You do PC backups in general (e.g., using Windows Backup, cloud backups, or version control) and want to see if an older version of your save folder exists.

Steps:

1. Locate your backup solution (e.g., external drive, cloud service, etc.).
2. Check if the Stardew Valley save folder or files are stored in version history by navigating to them.
3. Check to see if there is a "version history" for the file, and if so, if there is a version corresponding to the date and time you last played before the time skip.
4. If available, restore the version of the folder that corresponds to your last normal play session.
5. Copy that restored folder back into Saves.
6. Launch Stardew Valley and confirm you’ve successfully reverted to your earlier progress.

Conclusion for Section 1
When you realize your game has advanced beyond what you intended, your first line of defense should always be to check these straightforward, clean recovery methods. They’re relatively simple and can fully restore your game to a known good state with minimal fuss, potentially with no loss at all depending on the circumstances:

1. Use the “_old” files if you only missed one day.
2. Leverage Steam Cloud if the game is still running.
3. Use a second PC if you have one that hasn’t synced the missed progress yet.
4. Restore from a backup if you have a broader system backup solution.

Following the steps above can potentially save you from difficult and messy manual fixes. However, if these methods don’t work or aren’t applicable, don’t panic—the next sections in this guide (coming soon) will detail more hands-on methods to carefully revert parts of your save data.

Remember: Always backup your save folder before making any edits or deletions, and proceed at your own risk.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Section 2: Manual Save Editing
Overview & Disclaimer

• Save Format: Stardew Valley saves are basically XML files, which means they’re just text files that you can edit manually with the right tools.
• Tools Needed: While you can use Notepad, a dedicated tool (like Visual Studio Code with the “XML Tools” extension installed) offers formatting that’s much easier to navigate.
• Backup First: Any time you edit your save file, you risk corrupting your game. Copy your save folder to a safe location (e.g., SavesBackup) before you start.

1. Opening & Formatting the Save Files

1. Locate the Save Files
   • Go to your save folder at %appdata%\StardewValley\Saves, after backing up your saves as described above.
   • You will see two main files inside:
     • <YourFarmName>_<StringOfNumbers>
     • SaveGameInfo
   • Plus the above files, with _old appended
2. Open with a Text Editor
   • Right-click on the file and choose “Open With…”
   • Select Notepad or Visual Studio Code (recommended).
   • If using VS Code, install the “XML Tools” extension from the Extensions panel for better formatting.
3. Format the XML(VS Code)
   • Once the file is open, press Shift + Alt + F (default shortcut) to automatically format and indent the XML.
   • Proper indentation helps you see which tags are nested inside others, reducing the chance of errors.

2. Understanding the XML Structure
Each piece of data in the save file is enclosed in tags like:

<dayOfMonth>14</dayOfMonth>

• The opening tag (<dayOfMonth>) names the attribute.
• The closing tag (</dayOfMonth>) ends it.
• The value (14 in this example) is what you can modify.

Proper hierarchy is indicated by indentation:

• A further indent usually means it’s a sub-attribute or detail of the parent tag above. Note that this is speaking strictly of Visual Studio Code with XML Tools installed after formatting. The data structure is identical even when viewing it in Notepad, but it's much harder to see it.

3. Changing the In-Game Date
Your primary goal when manually editing your save to “roll back” or fix a day is to modify the date fields. You’ll find them in both the main save file and the SaveGameInfo file.

3.1 Changing the Date Displayed on the Save File
In both SaveGameInfo and <YourFarmName>_<StringOfNumbers>, search for one of the following attributes (Press Ctrl + F and search for the tag names). They'll all be in a block together:

1. <dayOfMonthForSaveGame>
2. <seasonForSaveGame>
3. <yearForSaveGame>

Change the values for those attributes in both of the files to the same new values aligning with the date prior to the time skip occurring. Ensure they fall within these ranges of acceptable values:

1. <dayOfMonthForSaveGame>: A number 1 through 28, for the associated day of the month
2. <seasonForSaveGame>: 0 for Spring, 1 for Summer, 2 for Fall, or 3 for Winter
3. <yearForSaveGame>: A number greater than or equal to 1, for the year

Make sure you save after changing the values.

3.2 Changing the in game date
1. In the <YourFarmName>_<StringOfNumbers> file, search for the last instance of the following attributes (Press Ctrl + F and search for the tag names, searching up from the bottom).

• <dayOfMonth>
• <year>

Tip: It may be easier to search for <shuffledminechests>, as it's a unique attribute name immediately preceding them in the file.

2. Change the values for those attributes to the same new values used for <dayOfMonthForSaveGame> and <yearForSaveGame> above.

3. Search in the same file for <currentSeason>, which should appear right next to <samBandName>.

4, Change the value for that attribute to align with the <seasonForSaveGame> above, but with the actual text written out:

• 0 = spring
• 1 = summer
• 2 = fall
• 3 = winter

3.3 Save & Test

1. Double-Check you haven’t accidentally deleted any brackets (< >) or the slash in closing tags. If there are issues with the integrity of the save game file and it doesn't structurally match expectations, or if the values cause an error, the game can and will simply crash upon attempting to load the game.
2. Save the file.
3. Launch Stardew Valley to see if your file loads.
   • If the game crashes or won’t load, restore from your backup and try again—there’s likely a minor formatting or value mistake. It's easier and safer though to just replace the files with your backup, make sure the game loads normally albeit with the undesirable date, and then just try again, rather than attempting to fix it.

4. Why Stop at the Date?
When the game auto-advances, many in-game elements “move forward” with the calendar, such as:

• Crop & Tree Growth
• Forage Spawns
• Mail & Quests
• Tool Upgrades
• Friendship and Animal Moods
• Machine Processing Times
• Weather
• and more!

You can edit all of these values (for example, each crop’s <currentPhase> and <dayOfCurrentPhase>), but you’d have to know exactly which fields to change and what their correct values should be, for the previous date you're restoring to. This is risky and time-consuming.

Recommended Approach:

• Only change the date attributes to revert the in-game calendar.
• Allow everything else to “catch up”naturally.
  • Don’t harvest crops until they “would” have been ready.
  • Don't give Robin new projects or collect upgraded tools until things would have been done normally.
  • Don't collect any aberrant forage, just let it reset during the next weekly cycle or at the end of month.
  • Accept that mood, friendship, etc. might be slightly off, but you can regain the losses over time.

5. Special Cases: Mail & Quests

1. Mail
   • The game tracks mail in a specific way that’s easy to break with manual edits, and tough to easily discern what should have been where without the original file to reference.
   • The recommended course is that you don't open your mailbox until the date you reverted from, at the end of the timeskip. Assuming you do so, nothing will be weird or duplicated, and it will all line up nicely.
   • However, as you would normally have received the mail during the course of that time period, there may be quests whose objectives are seasonal or timely contained in there.
   • As such you'll want to open the mailbox and see what's in there either before or after fixing the time skip, so you have a heads up on upcoming quests.
   • After making a note (mental or otherwise) as to what's coming up, quit out of the game without saving
   • On subsequent loads, leave the mailbox untouched until time has caught up.
2. Quests
   • If a quest is still active (<daysLeft> attribute present), you can search for the quest’s title under the attribute <questTitle> (e.g. <questTitle>A Dark Reagent</questTitle>) and edit <daysLeft> for that quest to align with the expected value.
   • If a quest has fully expired, the entire quest block is gone. Restoring it manually involves properly copying and pasting a complex XML structure from a prior save. This can be more trouble than it’s worth.
   • Remember, if it's a quest which can expire, it's a quest which can come around again. Even if you have another save file with the quest active, I'd recommend just letting it go.
   • Special Requests do not need their end date adjusted, they have end dates based on the calendar date they end and will automatically be correct, assuming the request has not expired.
   • If it has, as above, just let it go.

6. Key points to remember

• Minimal Edits: The less you change, the less chance you have of breaking something.
• Formatting Matters: One missing or misplaced bracket (< or >) can invalidate the entire file.
• Check Values Twice: Make sure “seasonForSaveGame” matches the numeric code, while “currentSeason” matches the spelled-out name.
• When in Doubt, Revert: If the game doesn’t load after your edits, revert to your backup.

Conclusion
Manual save editing can be a lifesaver when Section 1’s simpler solutions (e.g., _old file recovery or Steam Cloud re-sync) aren’t available. However, it’s easy to corrupt your save if you make a mistake. Stick to changing only the date attributes in both SaveGameInfo and the main save file to roll back time. Resist the temptation to micromanage every crop, quest, or friendship level unless you’re comfortable with XML editing and willing to troubleshoot any errors.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Reserved for Section 3 - Preventative Measures, and Summary / Closing thoughts

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Also possible on mobile, though there are a couple differences:

1. for scenario 1, mobile has a button in game in the settings tab of the menu labeled 'swap to previous save' which will do all of this without any need to edit file names. You can also go back to the future day by pressing it again when in the previous day.

2. Manual save editing also usable for mobile though you'll have a much better time porting the save over to PC then editing it, the process will be the exact same (nothing should be moved around and all the file names are the same, the additional save_backup, _SVE-MERG, _SVBAK files are irrelevant for this process)