If you are playing a Ren'Py game on Steam and moving between a PC and a Steam Deck, ensure that Steam Cloud Sync is fully completed before shutting down your PC. If you boot the game on your Steam Deck while the cloud sync is "Conflict" or "Out of Date," it will generate a corrupted cross-device file. Always force a cloud sync retry in the Steam game properties if you see this error pop up.
Use Ren'Py Sync , a built-in SDK feature that allows secure transfer of saves and persistent data via a 10-character code.
Load the game, open the file, create a fresh save slot, and delete the temporary text file. How to Fix the Error (As a Game Developer) renpy this save was created on a different device link
: Manual methods like this are not officially recommended. If you copy saves between very different Ren'Py engine versions or across major game updates, you may still encounter crashes or errors despite the method above.
Press Shift + O to open the console.
If you are transferring your own saves between devices, you can usually bypass this by simply selecting to trust the save when prompted. If the screen is blank or the prompt doesn't appear, you may need to update your game's confirm screen code to support these new security prompts. How to Fix or Bypass the Security Warning
Incompatible engine versions between devices can break the save state entirely. Step-by-Step Fixes for Players If you are playing a Ren'Py game on
The exact GameDirectoryName varies for each game. You can find it by making a new save on the target device and searching your file system for that file name.
For many users, this seems like a deliberate anti-piracy measure. In reality, it is a security and data integrity feature built into the Ren’Py engine. This article explains why this happens, and more importantly, provides the definitive guide to creating a —essentially, how to bridge the gap between two different installations so your saves work everywhere. Use Ren'Py Sync , a built-in SDK feature
Replace the signing_keys.txt on your Android device with this new file to trick the game into accepting the save, then make it read-only if necessary.
You can add a custom "Import Save" button to your game by bypassing the validate_save function in 00saveload.rpy , but this requires editing the engine source.