Saves and profiles
Where each player's progress is saved, how to find and back it up, how to use your own save as player 1, and how profiles bring back a whole setup in one press.
On this page
Where the saves go
It depends on the handler, because every game saves differently. There are three common cases:
| Case | Where | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Per player, in the Nucleus environment | C:\Users\<you>\NucleusCoop\... | Each player has their own folder, separate from your normal saves |
| Per player, in their own Documents | A Documents folder per player, under the Nucleus environment | The same, for games that save in Documents |
| The game's usual place | Wherever the game normally saves | All copies share it: progress mixes with your solo game, so back it up first |
Games that use a Steam or Epic emulator (most handlers) also keep emulator saves per player, tied to that player's Steam ID or nickname.
Open or back up a player's save
In the library, open Game options on the game. When the handler declares its save and config folders, the menu has entries such as Open UserProfile Save Path, Open Document Save Path or Open Backup Folder, with one entry per player. Copy those folders somewhere safe before deleting anything.
Delete UserProfile Config Path (and its siblings) resets a player's settings for that game, which fixes many "file not found" and wrong-resolution problems. It doesn't touch the other players.
PCGamingWiki lists where most games keep their saves, which helps when a handler uses the game's usual place.
Play with your own save
Some games tie a save to the Steam ID of the player. Nucleus gives each player slot a default Steam ID, so player 1 doesn't load your own progress. To use it, set player 1's Steam ID to yours in Settings › Players (nicknames and Steam IDs are edited per slot: player 1 always gets the first slot). Your Steam ID is the 17-digit number in your Steam profile URL, or in Account details in Steam.
The same setting matters when you connect two PCs: copies on different PCs need different Steam IDs to see each other.
Documents in OneDrive
For games that save in Documents, Nucleus points the Documents folder of each player elsewhere during the session, and puts it back when you close Nucleus Co-op (or the next time you start it, after a crash). If your Documents folder is synced by OneDrive, this can fail. See A handler does not work.
Profiles
A profile keeps a whole setup for one game: the layouts, the handler options, who plays where and with which controller, and per-player settings such as nicknames, Steam IDs and audio outputs.
- Save one. In the lobby, turn on Save a profile when the session starts, then launch.
- Use one. Pick it from the profiles menu in the lobby header. Players drop into their places as they press a button. With Start by itself on, the session launches as soon as everyone has joined.
- Change one. Manage profiles shows the saved profiles of a game, with their players and settings, and lets you delete them. Profile settings also cover processor priority and affinity per player, and the delays between copies, for the few games that need them.
Profiles are saved in the game profiles folder of Nucleus Co-op. To turn them off and always use the global
settings, use Settings › General › Disable game profiles.