How to retrieve a corrupted or missing character in Valheim
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Key notes
- When you get a Valheim character missing after a crash, it must have gotten corrupted.
- Players complained that their character disappeared also after they tried to resume gameplay after a pause.
- The only solution reported so far is to replace the faulty character file.
- However, this only worked as expected in some cases, while in others player got a new character.
Although there’s a lot of hype around Valheim presently, the game has a lot of unaddressed bugs. Among others, players say that after prolonged gameplay, their character goes missing.
Here’s what gamers say about their character disappearing:
After a crash, when I started the game up again my main character was gone after over 60 hours of gameplay on it.
And another report:
I logged back in after I got home to play this game and my character was replaced with a default character named STRANGER
While still in early access, game developers are gathering feedback and are promptly responding to such issues, though not with prompt solutions but with a there’s no solution for this right now reply.
Game developers also mention that this could also be related to how the game is closed. Namely, using ALT+F4 + shutting down the computer without properly closing the game will likely affect file integrity.
So it’s basically up to the players to find some workarounds until a final patch. And here’s what they’ve done.
How can I recover a missing character after a crash?
- Press the Windows key and type %appdata% to get to AppData. (Normally, this can also be opened via File Explorer, provided that you can see hidden files.)
- Go to LocalLow > IronGate > Valheim.
- You should see 2 files named CharacterName.fch and CharacterName.fch.old. The former is the corrupted one, while the latter is an older version of your character.
- Back up both files.
- Then, delete the one ending in just .fch.
- Rename the remaining file by deleting the .old. It should say only CharacterName.fch.
- What should happen is that the game replaces your character with its slightly older version, but functioning one.
Those who have tried this approach experienced two outcomes:
- They got their character back, only a version dating some tens of minutes before the game crash, but at least with most of the acquired features.
- They only saw a stranger.
The latter situation might happen because some players continue to play with a corrupted character for longer and the game automatically backs up a glitchy version.
The same method should work in case you experience a corrupted world. In case you notice that you’ve got also some items missing (like chests, weapons, food), the steps are different.
Additionally, it’s recommended to have a separate folder with backups on your desktop, and store in it good character and world files.
Should you ever need to have a fresh, full-featured copy of your game, download it from this source below.
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