What to do
- Identify the affected item. If you still have the weapon or tool and it became cooked, continue below. If it is missing, use the dropped-weapons guide instead; cleaning cannot locate an absent item.
- Remove the gear from the heat and take it to water. As a precaution, choose a reachable shoreline where you can retrieve it; avoid throwing upgraded equipment into deep water.
- Dip the item itself in the water, then bring it back and inspect it. The official patch specifies weapons and tools. For a cooked fishing rod, use this tool-cleaning check before deciding to buy another one.
- Inspect the result before making another change. If you were trying to use an unlocked skin, follow the linked skin guide on that same item. Cleaning a cooking state and recovering an unlock are different checks; this patch does not guarantee recovery of missing skin data.
- If nothing changes, confirm that Steam has updated the game and record the item name, visible symptom and installed version. Include those details when reporting the problem through the developer's Steam community. Back up your save before experimenting with any separate save repair.
Before you leave this page
This is an equipment recovery guide, not a way to restore burnt fish or a cooked quest body. The patch does not specify restored sale values or attachment behavior. The newer 1.1.0 announcement adds content but does not describe a replacement for the water-cleaning rule. These steps are source-checked, not an in-game playtest.
Use the live tools and records
- Find gear that is missing rather than cooked
- Check the skin on the cleaned item
- Cook catches without risking your gear
- Check protected quest items before cooking
- Back up before further troubleshooting
Evidence and limits
Game facts are drawn from the sources below and are not presented as first-party telemetry. Patch-sensitive routes should be checked against the current game build.