When players again take on the mantle of Doom Slayer in Doom Eternal, they return to an Earth overrun by demons. Set 14 years after 2016’s Doom, the story of Doom Eternal takes place after Dr. Samuel Hayden betrays the Doom Slayer in the prequel’s events on Mars, this time returning to Earth with a satellite fortress programmed to help him purge the planet of the demonic horde.
Unfortunately, players and the Doom Slayer are caught in the crossfire between Earth’s two most significant factions: the now-corrupted Union Aerospace Corporation and the resisting Armored Response Coalition. However, players enjoying Doom Eternal across various consoles might want to look into how to transfer their save files should they transition to another console generation.
Not-So-Favorable Transfer Conditions
Despite the sheer gory fun of Doom Eternal earning the praise of both fans and newcomers to the franchise, devs from Id Software and publisher Bethesda Softworks became the target of frustration among players after an announcement detailing much harder save file transfer processes when transitioning to other devices.
The first half of this frustrating situation came during the release of the next console generation, wherein Bethesda had trouble migrating save files to the PS5 and the Xbox Series X/S. Meanwhile, PC troubles also came in 2021 when Bethesda announced the shutdown of its Bethesda PC Launcher that occurred on May 11, 2022.
Good News For Xbox Fans
Players of Doom Eternal on Xbox Live shouldn’t have any problems playing the game across any platform. Provided they’re using the same Xbox Live Account, their saves should be shared regardless of what platform they’re currently playing the game in.
For instance, creating a Doom Eternal save file on the Xbox One should be playable on the Xbox Series X and Series S as long as the player uses the same Xbox Live account. Unfortunately for players, the Xbox is the only convenient option for Doom Eternal regarding cross-progression, especially regarding the campaign.
No Transfers For The PlayStation
With Square Enix giving players a means of transferring their FF7 Remake save data from the PS4 to the PS5, fans of Doom Eternal expect a similar capability for their saves between the same platform. Unfortunately, this was not the case for the Sony platforms, as there seems to be no way of currently transferring Doom Eternal progress from the PS4 to the PS5.
As per the Bethesda forums, while online progression is transferred between the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game, this only works if users are playing under the same Bethesda.net account. Moreover, this cross-progression doesn’t include campaign save data, meaning players who just got the game for the PS5 will have to start a new campaign.
Cross-Progression In The PC
Players enjoying Doom Eternal on the PC can preserve online progression across their various platforms if they use the same Bethesda.net account. This means online progress between the Xbox App and Steam, for example, will be the same as long as players use the same user profile.
Unfortunately, this process will only make cross-progression of the multiplayer modes available and not the campaign itself. Players on the PC using multiple platforms must make different campaigns per platform. Part of the reasoning behind this is that Doom Eternal doesn’t belong under the banner of the “Play Anywhere” Xbox campaign that usually allows games to be cross-playable between the Xbox and the PC. Other games not part of the Play Anywhere initiative are The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Wolfenstein 2.
Bethesda PC Launcher To Steam
While Bethesda shut down the Bethesda PC Launcher in 2022, the publisher chose Steam as its dedicated launch platform. This announcement also included instructions on transferring the Bethesda PC Launcher’s save file into Steam.
Players need to remember that there are no ways of manually transferring saves to Steam except for this method. Here are the following steps:
- Players need to open Doom Eternal on Steam and enable Cloud Saves in the options
- Open the Doom Eternal Save Conversion Tool
- Open the save file location of Bethesda titles. The default path should be: Users\\Saved Games\\id Software\\DoomEternal\base\savegame
- Find the BUID (Bethesda User ID) folder of the player. This should show players a long string of numbers and letters that matches the Bethesda User ID that players are using.
- Right-click that particular folder. Select “Send To” and then “Compressed (zipped) folder.”
- Return to the Doom Eternal Save Conversion Tool and follow any other instructions.
- Click the “Select File” button and choose the newly-created zipped file.
- Upload the file.
Doom Eternal was released on March 20, 2020 and is currently playable on the PS4 and PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, the Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia, and the PC