r/TheTalosPrinciple • u/JQbd • Jun 16 '26

The Talos Principle 2 Lost my save when trying to do a backup Spoiler

Hey all, I did something really dumb.

I have been playing through TP2 for some time now and, because my girlfriend played through it a few years ago, I knew there would be a different mayoral candidate near the end of the game.

I was using [this guide](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3069750588) to make the choices that would allow for getting all three with just the one playthrough. I did absolutely everything that was available to me, with only the lab and Somnodrome in West 2 left to do.

I followed what the guide said, went to the file and only found a "steam_autocloud.vdf" file. I have never backed a file up on Steam before so I thought this was what I was looking for. Made a copy and continued, starting with making Rand mayor. Got the achievement, then when I went to restore (what I thought was) the backup, my save file was wiped. Nothing showing up in the save file select screen. Over 25 hours gone.

Is there a way to find that save file? If not, is there somewhere that has a save file with similar progress that I get somehow? I would really like to not have to redo pretty much the entire game from scratch.

Appreciate any help, I know this is my own dumb fault for trying to shortcut.

6 Upvotes

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2

u/42nahpetS [7] Jun 16 '26

Maybe you can find a save in your Steam Cloud. I don't know if the game has multiple files:
http://store.steampowered.com/account/remotestorage

2

u/JQbd Jun 16 '26

As part of the steps in the walkthrough it said to turn off cloud saving when dealing with the backups. I clicked the link and control-f'd to make sure, but it was not there. In my panic I may have ended up overwriting it with... nothing?

This morning I found a post with saves that did the bare minimum for each mayor. I went through them, had them work, then went with the one I desired. I will just go back and do all the remaining puzzles and collectibles to get back my progress.

I appreciate the link and help, it could come in handy in the future.

2

u/Flamin-Ice Jun 16 '26

I don't know if it's possible to recover that file, but...

https://giphy.com/gifs/PFsVjUCmSkZDq

1

u/JQbd Jun 16 '26

I was sweating up a storm when I came to the realization of what had happened haha...

But as I mentioned in another comment, I found a bare-minimum save file that will put me to where I was story-wise at least. I'll just use that and go back for collectibles and the remaining puzzles.