How to avoid the nasty glitch that's corrupting Cyberpunk 2077 save files

Cyberpunk 2077 has more than its fair share of outlandish bugs, but some of the game's many technical problems are more pernicious than others. Players have discovered a frustrating new problem that’s corrupting save files and making it impossible to progress through the game.

The issue is tied to save file sizes and can essentially lock players out of the game if their save data becomes too large. CD Projekt Red says it's considering a fix, but in the meantime, players will need to be a little conservative in their approach to the game to avoid bumping into this frustrating problem.

Here’s what causes the error, how to fix it, and how to avoid it.

What causes it — The error happens when a player’s save file size exceeds 8MB. At that point, the file becomes corrupted and players will no longer be able to load the file at all. Some players reported that save loading begins to slow down significantly once a file reaches the 6MB mark, which is a warning sign that the file is close to its cap.

There’s a lot that goes into ballooning a file’s size, especially in an open-world game like this. Since the game contains tons of loot, every item a player picks up adds more data. In particular, crafting appears to be the primary factor in file size. Players who craft a lot of weapons and gear are at high risk for bumping into the cap. Some players reported that their file size permanently increased after crafting an item, even after removing it from their inventory. Bugs like the item duplication glitch also lead to larger file sizes, so players should avoid exploits like that for the time being.

It’s not clear when — or even if — this issue will be resolved. CD Projekt Red has acknowledged the issue, but have only said “the save file size limit might be increased in one of the future patches,” meaning that players might have to live with this for a while.

How to fix it — There’s bad news for players who have already hit the cap. A CD Projekt Red support page confirms that once data is lost, it can’t be recovered. The best that affected players can do is reload an older save file and start from there. For those who have exploited the item duplication glitch, the studio recommends reloading a save that’s not affected by the issue.

Those who want to avoid the issue will need to be more conservative in how much they collect and craft. Hoarding tons of items unfortunately isn’t an option, so players will need to sell often and not pick up every single thing they see. Keeping crafting down to a minimum and not stockpiling materials helps as well. Players should try to only craft weapons and armor that they plan on using for now.

For those unsure if their file is in danger, they can check the saved games folder on their PC to locate their save and check in on the size. Just keeping track of how long it's taking to load files can be a huge help too. If it starts getting significantly longer to open a file, players might want to consider trashing some junk inventory to be safe.

The issue is particularly frustrating for an open-world game that’s reliant on loot, so we can only hope that CDPR increases that save data cap soon.

How to avoid it — Before CDPR patches the issue with save file sizes, there are three main things players can do in order to avoid losing their progress:

1. Keep multiple save files
2. Avoid stockpiling — trash or sell unneeded items often
3. Keep a close eye on how long your file takes to load

Cyberpunk 2077 is out now on PC and Stadia, as well as PlayStation and Xbox consoles.