After a rocky release No Man’s Sky has gone from strength to strength but saving your progress can still be a little confusing – here’s how to do it. The space sandbox survival game was released by indie developers Hello Games in 2016 but unfortunately didn’t quite live up to the hype generated before its launch. What was supposed to be the biggest MMO the gaming world had ever seen turned out to be a rather repetitive single-player game missing several features promised during the marketing of No Man’s Sky.

To their credit, Hello Games have worked hard to improve No Man’s Sky in the years since its release with a series of updates introducing missing features. Multiplayer gameplay finally arrived with the No Man’s Sky Next update – albeit two years after launch – and players felt it made the game worth playing. A later update, The Abyss, allowed players to explore the aquatic environments of alien planets and encounter the terrifying creatures that inhabit them. The most recent update – No Man’s Sky Beyond – includes a new VR experience and enhanced online capabilities.

The game still has its issues, however, and one problem frequently raised by players is it’s somewhat complicated save system. In a title as big as No Man’s Sky knowing how to save progress is important. Luckily, there are now three different options in No Man’s Sky that make saving the game relatively simple.

The first and easiest way to save progress is by using the starship. Every time players exit the starship, the game is saved automatically and a restore point is created. Obviously, players need to be far enough into the game to have actually located the ship to save this way but that usually doesn’t take long. Players can also manually save by locating and activating a beacon. Beacons look like antennas and can be found in random locations on every planet, usually next to structures. Simply walking over to a beacon and activating will save progress at any point in the game.

Finally, a third option is to create a portable save point. The blueprint for the portable save point is available in the early stages of the game and the save point can be carried in the player’s inventory and accessed wherever they are in the No Man’s Sky universe. This means the game can be manually saved without being near a starship or beacon.

Next: No Man’s Sky Beyond Update: Everything You Need To Know