Vampire Crawlers Save Transfer: Moving Between Game Pass and Steam
Losing dozens of hours of meta-progression just because you switched digital storefronts is a miserable experience, but I have the exact workaround you need.
You probably downloaded the game on PC Game Pass to test the waters. A week later, you realize you are completely addicted to the combo engine, you have unlocked half the roster, and you want to actually own the game on Steam. You buy it, boot it up, and stare at a completely empty save slot. Antonio is sitting there alone, and your massive pile of gold is gone.
Corporate walled gardens are infuriating. Xbox and Steam do not natively sync your cloud saves for this title. If you want to keep your hard-earned characters and Relics, you have to manually rip the data out of the Microsoft folder structure and reconstruct it for Valve.
It sounds like a nightmare, but the process is actually just a simple text edit. I have done the tedious folder diving for you. Here is exactly how you migrate your Vampire Crawlers save file in both directions.
Locating the Hidden Save Directories
Before you start messing with code, you have to find where these massive corporations are hiding your data. Steam keeps things relatively clean, but the Xbox app buries your files under a mountain of cryptic alphanumeric folders.
If you have not done so already, you must boot up the Steam version of the game at least once. You do not need to finish the tutorial. Just reaching the main menu forces the game to generate the necessary local folders on your hard drive.
Converting Game Pass Progress to Steam
Navigate to that chaotic Game Pass directory I listed above. Inside the wgs folder, you will see another folder with a ridiculously long string of numbers (something starting with "00090000"). Open that, and open the single folder inside it.
You will now be staring at a handful of files with completely random names and no file extensions. You need to identify your actual save file. Look for the large file with the newest timestamp.
If you see an even larger file sitting next to it, ignore it. The game creates bloated temporary files if you quit in the middle of a dungeon run. You want the most recent, standard-sized save file. Once you identify it, right-click the file and open it with Notepad.
Injecting the Steam Code
The Game Pass file contains all your raw data, but Steam will reject it because it lacks the proper formatting headers. We are going to manually type them in.
Look at the very top of your Notepad document. Place your cursor right before the opening { bracket. Copy the following text exactly as it appears and paste it at the very top:
{
"Version": 1,
"Checksum": "",
"Data": If you did it correctly, the top of your document should now look exactly like this:
{
"Version": 1,
"Checksum": "",
"Data": {
"ProfileId": "SaveProfile0",Now, scroll to the absolute bottom of the document. Because we opened a new bracket at the top, we have to close it at the bottom. Simply type a second closing } bracket on a new line at the very end of the file.
Saving the New File
Do not just hit the save button. You need to generate a completely new file for Steam.
Click File, then select "Save As" from the drop-down menu. Navigate directly to your Steam save directory.
This next step is critical. Change the "Save as type" dropdown box from "Text Documents (*.txt)" to "All files". If you miss this step, Windows will save it as a text file and the game will ignore it.
Name the file exactly: SaveProfile0.save
Boot up the Steam version of Vampire Crawlers. If you followed my formatting rules perfectly, all your gold and meta-progression will be sitting there waiting for you. If the game throws a "Corrupted Save" error, you accidentally deleted a comma or missed a bracket during the Notepad editing phase. Go back and check your work.
Transferring Steam Saves Back to Game Pass
I know some of you are going to ask why you would ever move a Steam save back to the Xbox app. The answer is double-dipping for achievements. If you have been grinding out the late-game boss strategies from my Vampire Crawlers Red Death guide on Steam, you can port that progress back to Game Pass to instantly trigger a massive wave of Gamerscore.
If you uninstalled the Xbox version, reinstall it and launch the game once so Microsoft syncs your folders from the cloud.
Stripping the Steam Code
This process is the exact reverse of the previous method.
Open your Steam SaveProfile0.save file in Notepad. Highlight everything (Ctrl+A) and copy it. Now, navigate to your Game Pass wgs folder, find the newest file with the random alphanumeric name, and open it in Notepad. Highlight all the text in the Game Pass file and paste your Steam data over it.
Now you have to clean up the code. Microsoft hates the formatting headers we added earlier. Go to the top of the document and delete this exact chunk of text:
{
"Version": 1,
"Checksum": "",
"Data": Then scroll to the bottom and delete the extra } bracket you added. Save the file normally (you do not need to alter the file type this time).
Boot up the Game Pass version. You will not see the achievements pop on the main menu. You have to physically enter the world map for the Xbox app to register the progression flags. Once the map loads, your screen will light up with every achievement you earned during your Steam grind.
