First Identify Which Save Problem You Have
A missing save can mean two very different things in this demo. For Nomad Drive demo save not working, first check whether you are trying to load progress from the old demo into its October replacement: the developer explicitly says those old saves are incompatible. A separate July report describes a broken save list after a crash, where even newly created saves stopped appearing.
The distinction protects you from treating an intentional version incompatibility as a corrupted menu—or expecting a folder reset to recover progress that the new build cannot load.
Old Demo Saves Do Not Transfer to the Replacement
In the announcement before Early Access, the developer describes replacing the older demo with a reduced-content version of the latest build. Major technical changes mean saves from the earlier demo will not work in that replacement.
If the problem began when you moved from the old demo to the updated one, that official compatibility notice is the first explanation to check. The announcement does not provide a conversion tool or promise that reinstalling will make old progress compatible.
Read the official Nomad Drive demo update announcement alongside the version you are running. Keep a backup of old progress if you want to preserve the files, but do not confuse preserving them with making them playable in a different build.
A Different Demo Bug Hid New Saves Too
In the July Steam thread “save games dissapeared,” the original poster says a crash was followed by an empty save list. Starting and saving another game did not solve it; the loading screen continued showing “Loading....” with no entries.
The player later found an empty meta.json in one save slot, while other slots had metadata. They did not establish that this one empty file caused the entire problem. Another participant's explanation about a crash interrupting a write was speculation, not a confirmed diagnosis.
Reinstalling the demo had not restored the player's old saves or made new ones appear. That matters because it rules out presenting reinstallation as the proven fix for this particular report.
The Reported Folder Reset Restored New Saving, Not Old Progress
The poster reports renaming the game's Nomad Drive Demo folder in AppData, then restarting so the demo created a fresh folder. New save slots then appeared, allowing saving and loading again.
If you choose to investigate that older-demo workaround, preserve your files first:
- Close the demo before changing its data folder.
- Locate the game's own folder identified in the report and make a separate backup.
- Rename only that game-specific folder, keeping the original contents intact. Do not rename your entire Windows AppData directory.
- Start the demo so it can create fresh game data.
- Make a new test save and check whether it appears in the loading screen.
The confirmed result in the post is the return of new saving and loading. It does not show recovery of the missing original progress. The exact AppData subdirectory and behavior should be checked against your installation rather than guessed from an incomplete path.
For a problem in the replacement demo, record its version and symptoms before assuming this July workaround applies. The official update changed the underlying demo substantially.
FAQ
Why will my old demo save not load after the October update?
The developer explicitly states that old demo saves are incompatible with the replacement demo because of major changes and technical improvements.
Did the folder-reset workaround recover the player's old save?
The report proves only that newly created save slots became visible and saving and loading worked again. It does not demonstrate restored old progress.
Should I delete my save folder?
The reported approach was to rename the game-specific folder. Back it up first and keep the old contents; this guide does not recommend deleting your progress.
Is an empty meta.json always the cause?
No. The player observed one empty metadata file but did not establish a universal cause or a supported manual metadata repair.