Digimon Story: Time Stranger Demo Save Not Working

This guide will show you how to manually transfer your Digimon Story: Time Stranger demo save file on PC if the game doesn’t automatically prompt you, ensuring you don’t lose any of your progress.

So you just spent hours grinding in the Digimon Story: Time Stranger demo. You’ve raised the perfect team, stacked up some decent items, and you’re totally ready to carry all that progress over to the full game. You boot it up for the first time, full of hype, and… nothing. The game starts fresh, and there’s no prompt to transfer your save file. Big yikes.

Don’t panic. Your progress isn’t lost. This is a common bug, but there’s a super easy, manual fix that will get your hard-earned demo data into the full game. This guide will walk you through the entire process, step-by-step.

Before You Start: The Prerequisites

Before you start digging around in your game files, there are a couple of things you need to make sure of.

• You Must Have Completed the Demo: This is the most important step. Just playing the demo isn’t enough. You have to have played through the entire demo content until you hit the “Thanks for playing!” screen. If you haven’t done that, the game won’t create the special save file that’s needed for the transfer.
• Find Your Steam Library Folder: This is the folder where Steam installs all your games. For most people, it’s in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam, but if you’ve installed your games on a different hard drive (like a D: or E: drive), you need to find your SteamLibrary folder there. Knowing where your games are actually installed is step one.

The Manual Transfer: A Step-by-Step Guide

This process is basically just a copy-and-paste job. We’re going to take the save file from the demo’s folder and manually put it into the full game’s folder.

Step 1: Locate Your Demo Save Folder

First, we need to find the save file that the demo created. Navigate to this folder on your PC:

[Your Steam Library Folder]\steamapps\common\Digimon Story Time Stranger Demo\gamedata\savedata\

Inside this savedata folder, you should see another folder with a super long string of numbers as its name. This is your unique user ID folder, and it contains all your demo progress.

Step 2: Copy the Save Folder

Right-click on that folder with the long number string and select “Copy.” Make sure you’re copying the entire folder, not just the files inside of it.

Step 3: Locate Your Full Game’s Save Location

Now, we need to find where the full game keeps its saves. The path is almost identical:

[Your Steam Library Folder]\steamapps\common\Digimon Story Time Stranger\gamedata\savedata\

When you open this folder for the first time, it might be empty or contain a new, fresh save file if you already started the game.

Step 4: Paste and Overwrite

Right-click inside the full game’s savedata folder and select “Paste.” Windows will ask you if you want to overwrite or replace any existing files. Say YES. You are replacing the new, empty save data with your completed demo data.

That’s it! Now, launch the full version of Digimon Story: Time Stranger. The game should now load your demo progress, and you can pick up right where you left off.

Troubleshooting: What if it Still Doesn’t Work?

If you’ve followed the steps and your save still isn’t showing up, here are a few other things to check.

• Did You Really Complete the Demo?: We gotta ask again. 99% of the time this doesn’t work, it’s because the demo wasn’t fully completed.
• Steam Cloud Sync Issues: Sometimes, Steam Cloud can get in the way. Try temporarily disabling Steam Cloud for both the demo and the full game. Right-click each game in your Steam library, go to “Properties,” and uncheck the Steam Cloud option. Then, try the manual file transfer again. If it works, you can re-enable the cloud sync after.
• Permissions Issues: In rare cases, your game folders might be set to “Read-only,” which prevents the game from properly accessing the new save file. Right-click on your Digimon Story Time Stranger folder, go to “Properties,” and make sure the “Read-only” box is unchecked.
• Verify Game Files: As a last resort, you can have Steam check to make sure both the demo and the full game are installed correctly. Right-click each game in your library, go to “Properties,” then “Local Files,” and click “Verify integrity of game files…”

What Transfers from the Demo?

So, what do you actually get for all that effort? While every game is different, here’s what typically carries over from a Digimon Story demo:

• Your Digimon Team: Any Digimon you raised, including their levels, stats, and skills, should transfer over.
• Items and Money: All your consumable items and the YEN you earned will be in your inventory.
• Digimon Field Guide Progress: Any Digimon you’ve scanned and added to your Field Guide should remain discovered.
• Story Progress: You’ll start the full game right at the point where the demo’s story concluded.
• Exclusive Demo Bonus?: A lot of games reward players with a small bonus item for transferring a demo save. Keep an eye out for a special accessory or consumable in your inventory as a thank you from the developers!

Now that your save file is safe, get out there and enjoy the full adventure!