Save file and progress
Evolution keeps its own save file, STORM4E.S, separate from the base game's save, so installing the mod does not overwrite your STORM 4 progress. If the Evo save ever fails to load, the mod falls back to the base game save and converts it forward.
Save questions come up constantly, and the answer is reassuring: the mod does not take over the game's save.
Two saves, not one
1.11 formalised something that has been true for a while: Evolution keeps its own save file, named STORM4E.S, instead of writing into the base game's file. The base game's save stays where it was.
The practical consequences:
- Installing the mod does not reset story or adventure progress.
- Removing the mod leaves you with the base save, ready to load.
- Unlock work you did in Evolution lives in the Evo save, not the base one.
When the Evo save will not load
The 1.11 notes describe the fallback: if the Evo save fails to load, the base game's save is loaded and converted into an Evo save. That is deliberate — it means a corrupt or missing Evo save degrades into "start from your last base progress" rather than "lose everything".
If you see a conversion happen, the base save was the older of the two. Nothing is deleted in the process.
Backing up
Both saves live under your Windows user profile in the game's save directory. Copy the whole folder before a big update, before you uninstall, and before you experiment with a second mod set. It is a few megabytes and it takes seconds.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Before installing a new Evolution build | Copy the save folder out |
| Before uninstalling the mod | Copy both saves |
| After a crash | Let the game start once, then check both saves exist |
Steam Cloud
STORM 4 supports Steam Cloud. If you play across two machines, be deliberate about which save is newer — a local save and a cloud save that disagree can overwrite the wrong one. When in doubt, back up locally before launching on the second machine.
Adventure and story modes
The mod is built around the versus game, but story and adventure modes remain playable with Evolution installed — that is the answer players give each other in the community thread for this exact question. New content from the mod shows up in versus and in the character select; the campaign's own structure is unchanged.
Progress that looks missing
If characters or stages you unlocked are gone, that is usually not the save: it is the build. Check missing characters before you go looking for a corrupt save file.
