Age of Empires IV save location (PC & Steam Deck)

Q: Where are Age of Empires IV saves on Steam Deck?

In ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1466860/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/My Games/Age of Empires IV/Users/(UserID)/Savegames . That folder sits inside the game's Proton prefix, so it only exists once the game has run at least once.

Age of Empires IV keeps its saves in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Age of Empires IV\Users\(UserID)\Savegames on Windows. It supports Steam Cloud, which keeps the latest save on your Steam account. Hoard finds that folder on its own, backs it up every time the game saves and keeps it in sync between your PCs and a Steam Deck.

Where Age of Empires IV keeps its saves

Windows

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Age of Empires IV\Users\(UserID)\Savegames

Steam Deck and Linux (Proton)

~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1466860/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/My Games/Age of Empires IV/Users/(UserID)/Savegames

These locations come from PCGamingWiki, through the community save database Hoard uses for detection. The Steam Deck paths are the Windows paths inside the game's Proton prefix, compatdata/1466860, which appears after the game's first launch.

Settings files

Age of Empires IV keeps settings such as graphics and controls apart from the saves, in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Age of Empires IV.

Keep it backed up and in sync with Hoard

Hoard is free and open source. It backs up your Age of Empires IV saves every time the game writes one and again when you quit, keeps a history you can go back to, and syncs the folder between your PCs and a Steam Deck. Only the files that changed travel, compressed, and every file is checked against its SHA-256 hash when it comes back.

Install Hoard and sign in to Hoard One, recommended for everyone, or point it at your own server.
Open the Library. Age of Empires IV is detected from your Steam library and the community save database.
Play. When you quit, the first version appears in the history.

Frequently asked questions

Does Age of Empires IV have cloud saves?

Yes, according to the save database: Steam Cloud. A store's cloud keeps only the latest save for that account, though, with no versions to go back to. Hoard keeps every version on top, on Hoard One or your own server.

Where are Age of Empires IV saves on Steam Deck?

In ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1466860/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/My Games/Age of Empires IV/Users/(UserID)/Savegames. That folder sits inside the game's Proton prefix, so it only exists once the game has run at least once.

Is Hoard free?

Yes. The app, the command line and the server are free and open source (AGPL-3.0), and running your own server costs nothing but the machine. Hoard One, the managed server we recommend for everyone, is free too with 2 GB and three devices; Pro adds room for €1.99 a month.

Does self-hosting send anything to Hoard?

No. On your own server there's no account with us and no telemetry to us: your saves, your users and your logs stay on your machine and never touch ours.