Paralives Field GuideParalives Field Guide

Save-safe fix

Fix a Paralives save that won't load

Save hangs at the loading screen, refuses to load from the main menu, or shows a corrupted thumbnail. Recover without losing the household.

Platform:
PC / Mac / Steam Deck
Last verified:
2026-05-27

Symptoms

  • Loading bar stops at 60% and never completes
  • Save thumbnail shows a question mark
  • Game returns to main menu silently after clicking Load

Try in order

  1. 1Close Paralives. Open C:/Users/[you]/AppData/LocalLow/Paralives/Paralives/ and locate the save — each one is a folder named like 'Save File 12.saved', not a single file.
  2. 2Duplicate the save from the Load Game menu first — that's the official in-game backup. For a manual copy, quit the game and copy the whole 'Save File 12.saved' folder (plus its .saved.meta sidecar) somewhere safe. Don't delete the original yet.
  3. 3Since patch 0.1.5, the Load Game menu keeps the 3 last autosave versions of each save — load an earlier one from there instead of renaming any files.
  4. 4If an earlier version loads, you've recovered the household at a slightly earlier state. Re-save only once you're sure it's stable.
  5. 5Disable Workshop mods that touch save data (especially household editors) before re-saving.

If it still happens

Zip the whole '.saved' folder along with Player.log and post it in the Paralives Discord with a description of the last action before the freeze. The studio also publishes a manual repair guide for JSON parse errors and broken .meta files at paralives.com/news/fix-save-files.

Report on the Paralives Discord →