MW4 Campaign Progress Lost After an Update? Check Your Steam Save First
TL;DR:
To recover lost Modern Warfare 4 campaign progress after an update, immediately exit the game to prevent new checkpoints and use the Windows Previous Versions feature within your %LOCALAPPDATA%\Activision\Call of Duty\players directory to restore an older local save.
● Locate the SteamCloud\sp26 folder and savegame_1 file, ensuring you copy current contents to a separate drive before applying any older snapshot via the Restore to... option.
● The Windows restore method strictly requires an existing system backup snapshot to function, as Steam Cloud synchronization may permanently overwrite the required file without guaranteed recovery.
● Recoverit Game Data Recovery can only retrieve completely deleted save files and may fail on SSDs cleared by TRIM, but it cannot reverse overwritten mission progress inside an existing save.
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If Modern Warfare 4 sends you back to the start of a campaign mission after an update, check for an earlier local save version before replaying. A reset checkpoint does not, by itself, prove that your save file was deleted. In this r/modernwarfare4 Stranded mission report, a Steam player lost cleared outposts and equipment after the October 19 update. The original poster later confirmed that a community-suggested Windows Previous Versions restore worked for them, although other players found no older version to restore.
Check the Steam Save Before Changing Anything
- Step 1
Exit MW4 and avoid starting more campaign checkpoints. In File Explorer, press Win + R, enter
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Activision\Call of Duty\players, and look through your account folder for aSteamCloud\sp26folder. This location and a file namedsavegame_1were reported by Steam users in the Reddit discussion; paths can differ by installation and account. Do not use another person's numerical folder ID. - Step 2
If you find the save folder, copy its current contents to a separate drive first. Right-click the relevant save file or folder, open Properties > Previous Versions, and look for an entry from before your progress reset. Windows shows older versions only when an applicable backup or snapshot already exists.
- Step 3
If an older version exists, use Restore to... to copy it to another location rather than overwriting your current save immediately. Compare the files, keep both copies, and only then test the older one. Microsoft explains this safer alternative in its File History restore instructions.
What If There Are No Previous Versions?
"No previous versions available" means this route cannot supply an older checkpoint. Check any independent backup you already made. If Steam presents a Cloud conflict, preserve your available local copy before choosing which version to keep; a newer timestamp is not proof that the newer save has the mission progress you need. Steam's Cloud guidance confirms that synchronization can replace one save with another and that lost versions are not guaranteed to be recoverable.
When Can Recoverit Help With the Missing MW4 Save?
Match the Recovery Method to the File State
- The local save file was actually deleted: If it was on a stable, readable Windows drive, Recoverit Game Data Recovery may be able to locate an earlier deleted file. Avoid installing software onto the affected drive and save anything recovered to a different healthy drive. Results are not guaranteed, particularly on SSDs where deleted blocks may have been cleared by TRIM.
- The save still exists but opens at an earlier checkpoint: File recovery software cannot recreate mission progress already overwritten inside the save. Try an actual earlier version or existing backup instead.
- Only online multiplayer ranks, unlocks, or access are affected: These are not ordinary local campaign-save recovery cases; a disk scan cannot repair a server-side account or unlock a playlist.
If no usable earlier copy exists or the same reset keeps occurring, record the platform, mission, date, and what happened, then report the MW4 campaign bug to Activision. A Reddit workaround helped one player, but it is not an officially verified fix for every system.