Horses of Hoofprint Bay demo saves: transfer, backups and achievement limits

First identify which demo made the save

Compatibility depends on the demo version, not simply whether you played before launch.

Save comes from	Compatible with the full game?	What to do
February 2026 demo	No	Keep it for the old demo; begin a new full-game yard
Updated October 2026 demo	Yes	Preserve the files and continue in the full game
Full game	Already a full-game save	Continue without the demo’s day limit

Both demo versions stop after 25 in-game days. The full game has no equivalent day cap. Buying the game therefore removes the play-length limit, but it does not convert an incompatible February save into an October save.

The October demo also changed the starting balance and added newer systems. If you are unsure which version you played, compare it with the October announcement: lower starter-horse stats, Caprilli tests, desensitization, walks with foals, new trail environments and additional markings were part of that update.

Back up before removing or changing demo data

Close the game before copying files. The full game’s Steam Cloud configuration lists these locations:

Windows — paste this into File Explorer’s address bar:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\ThogliStudios\Horses of Hoofprint Bay\Saves~

Native Linux / SteamOS:

~/.config/unity3d/ThogliStudios/Horses of Hoofprint Bay/Saves~

Copy the entire Saves~ folder to a separate, clearly dated location. Keep backup and validation files together, rather than selecting only the file that looks like the current save. This is a backup step, not an instruction to edit or overwrite the game’s files.

The Linux location above is for the native build; it is not a verified path for running the Windows build through Proton. If your installation uses a different environment, locate its existing files before attempting recovery.

Continue an October yard carefully

1. Update the full game to v1.0.2 or later before troubleshooting a release-week save problem.
2. Keep the backup copy outside the game’s active save location.
3. Launch the full game and look for the compatible October yard in its save selection.
4. After loading, check the yard name, current day and horses against the progress you expect.
5. If the wrong progress appears or the yard is missing, stop before deleting demo data or overwriting another yard. Preserve the files and record the version, save name and symptom for a bug report on the official Steam discussion board.

There is no need to rename a February save to make it look newer: its format is not compatible. Avoid manual save edits as a transfer method.

What v1.0.2 fixes—and what it cannot repair

The November 8 patch addressed a problem in which crashes could invalidate save files. It also creates validation files for backups, allowing valid backup rollbacks without losing achievement eligibility.

That improvement is preventative. The developers explicitly say the patch does not repair saves that were already invalidated. They cannot reliably distinguish a save incorrectly flagged after a crash from one actually edited outside the game.

If your existing save has already lost achievement eligibility, the official options are to continue that yard without achievements or start a new save. Do not overwrite a valued yard expecting the update alone to restore its eligibility.

For a future incident, preserve the complete backup set and ask for help with the actual files and error. The announcement does not provide a universal manual file-renaming recipe, so use instructions appropriate to your save rather than applying one from another game.

Keep the old February demo if you want to revisit it

The developers said the older demo remains available on its own Steam branch:

1. Right-click the demo in your Steam library.
2. Open Properties.
3. Select Game Versions and Betas.
4. Choose February Demo.

Use that branch to revisit the old experience, while keeping its incompatible progress separate from the full-game yard. To adapt to the current game, continue with the daily stable plan and the rebalanced training route.