Where apps hide your files
No Man's Sky keeps your saves in a folder called HelloGames/NMS in your Library, inside a sub-folder starting st_. Here is the path, how to back it up before an update or an Experimental branch, and how to stop Steam Cloud undoing a restore.
For No Man's Sky on a Mac:
~/Library/Application Support/HelloGames/NMS/Hello Games gives this Mac path in its Experimental branch notices, which tell players to back up their saves first, and PCGamingWiki lists it as both the save and the settings location. Your saves sit in a sub-folder whose name is st_ followed by your 64-bit Steam ID (the long number that starts 7656119):
~/Library/Application Support/HelloGames/NMS/st_<your Steam ID>/The number is personal to your account, so match it with a wildcard rather than typing it. To open the folder in Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), paste the first path and press Return. From Terminal:
open ~/Library/Application\ Support/HelloGames/NMSTo see the names inside without opening any save:
ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/HelloGames/NMS/st_*The st_ prefix marks saves made through Steam. Steam's own cloud configuration for the game names the folder st_{64BitSteamID} and syncs every *.hg file in it, so the files that matter end in .hg. Hello Games' advice is to back up the whole st_ folder, so treat it as one unit.
Community save editors describe several numbered save slots plus manifest files and an account-wide data file. The exact names and slot numbering have changed across updates, so list your own folder instead of trusting a table. Do not open or edit .hg files in a text editor; a damaged file can cost you a save.
No Man's Sky arrived on the Mac on 1 June 2023 through Steam. Hello Games said at the time that it runs on any Apple silicon Mac and on Intel Macs from a Core i5 with a Radeon Pro 570X, and that cross-save works between the Mac and PC versions.
The same announcement said a Mac App Store release would follow. When this guide was checked, the App Store listing for No Man's Sky covered iPhone and iPad only, not the Mac, and GOG sells the game for Windows only. So on a Mac, the Steam build and the folder above are the one to look for.
Hello Games' notices for the Experimental branch are the template for any risky moment, including a new game version, a mod or a move to a new Mac: quit the game, then make a local copy of the st_ folder.
cp -R ~/Library/Application\ Support/HelloGames/NMS ~/Desktop/NMS-backupThat copies the whole NMS folder to your Desktop and changes nothing in the original. Copy it somewhere off the Mac as well if the saves matter to you, since a copy on the same disk does not protect against a failed disk.
The same notices add a rule worth keeping: when you leave the Experimental branch, go back to the backup you made on the main branch rather than carrying Experimental saves back, because that can cause unexpected behaviour.
To restore, quit the game, move the current NMS folder to the Trash in Finder, then copy your backup into Application Support/HelloGames with the name NMS.
Steam Cloud is the catch. It is configured for the Mac build (the rule above maps the Windows folder to Application Support on macOS), and when it is on, Steam can replace a restored file with its own copy the next time it syncs. If you want your restored save to win, right-click the game in Steam, choose Properties, and turn off Steam Cloud on the General page before launching. Check the save in game, then turn sync back on.
Install the game, sign in to Steam, and launch it once so the folder is created. If Steam Cloud is on, your saves may already be there, so look before you copy anything over them. Otherwise quit, then copy the st_ folder from your backup into ~/Library/Application Support/HelloGames/NMS/. With the same Steam account, the folder name will match.
The game's own install files are separate from your saves. In Steam, right-click the game, choose Manage, then Browse local files to open them. Verifying or reinstalling the game there does not touch the HelloGames folder in your Library. On Windows the saves are in %AppData%\HelloGames\NMS, which is why Windows guides describe the same HelloGames\NMS structure.
~/Library is hidden in Finder, and Finder and Spotlight searches leave out Application Support. A search for "No Man's Sky" finds the game in Steam's folder but not the saves, which carry the studio's name and your Steam ID rather than the game's title.
Searching for the game's name will not find the saves, so search for the studio instead: type HelloGames into Everywhere to see the saves folder, any backup copy you made, and anything else the studio's software has left on the Mac. Press ⌘↵ to reveal a result in Finder. Application Support is covered without Full Disk Access. Everywhere searches names only, so it lists the .hg files but cannot tell you which planet is in which one.
In ~/Library/Application Support/HelloGames/NMS/. Your saves are in a sub-folder whose name is st_ followed by your 64-bit Steam ID, and the save files end in .hg.
It is the folder for saves made through Steam; the number after st_ is your Steam ID. Hello Games advises backing up that whole folder before risky changes such as the Experimental branch.
Quit the game, then copy the NMS folder (or at least the st_ folder inside it) from ~/Library/Application Support/HelloGames to a safe place. Pause Steam Cloud for the game before you restore a copy.
Not when this guide was checked. Hello Games announced a Mac App Store release in 2023, but the App Store listing covers iPhone and iPad only, so on a Mac the game comes from Steam.
Everywhere keeps track of every file on your Mac — including the folders Spotlight hides and drives you have unplugged. Free for a day, then $19 once.
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