Stardew Valley is one of the most beloved farming simulators ever made, and its save files are remarkably accessible. Unlike many modern games that use binary or encrypted formats, Stardew Valley stores everything in plain XML — making it one of the most beginner-friendly games to edit. Whether you want to give yourself a head start with some extra gold, max out your friendships, or recover from a mistake, this guide covers everything you need to know.

Where Are Stardew Valley Save Files?

Stardew Valley stores its saves in a platform-specific location. Each save is its own folder named after your farmer and a unique numeric ID.

Windows

%AppData%/StardewValley/Saves/

Typically expands to C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\StardewValley\Saves\

macOS

~/.config/StardewValley/Saves/

Linux

~/.config/StardewValley/Saves/

Inside the Savesdirectory, you'll find a folder for each character. For example, if your farmer is named "Alex" and has the ID 123456789, the folder will be called Alex_123456789.

Understanding the Save File Format

Each save folder contains two critical files:

Alex_123456789 (main save)

The full save file. This XML document contains your entire game state: farm layout, inventory, relationships, skills, quests, animals, buildings, and world data. It can be several megabytes in size for late-game saves.

SaveGameInfo

A smaller XML file that holds metadata shown on the load screen: your farmer's name, farm name, money, play time, and current season/day. Editing the main save without updating this file can cause mismatches on the load screen, though the game will still load fine.

Both files are uncompressed, unencrypted XML. You can open them in any text editor to inspect the structure, but using SaveEditor is far more efficient and less error-prone than manual editing.

What You Can Edit with SaveEditor

Gold (Money)

Gold is stored in the <Money> tag inside the <player> element. SaveEditor lets you set this to any value. Remember that the SaveGameInfo file also tracks your displayed money — SaveEditor updates both automatically so the load screen stays consistent.

Relationships & Friendship Points

Friendship in Stardew Valley is tracked as points (250 points per heart for most NPCs, 2500 for max). The <friendshipData>element contains entries for each NPC with their current points. You can set any NPC to max friendship, unlock gift-giving status, or even set dating/married flags. Be aware that setting a relationship to "married" without completing the in-game ceremony can cause minor visual glitches with events.

Items & Inventory

Your inventory is represented as a series of <Item> elements inside <items>. Each item has a parentSheetIndex (the item ID), a stack count, and a qualitylevel (0 = normal, 1 = silver, 2 = gold, 4 = iridium). SaveEditor provides a searchable item database so you don't need to memorize IDs. You can add any item in the game, including items not normally obtainable.

Skills & Experience

Stardew Valley has five skills: Farming, Mining, Foraging, Fishing, and Combat. Each is tracked by an experience value in the <experiencePoints> array. The values correspond in order to Farming (index 0), Fishing (1), Foraging (2), Mining (3), Combat (4), and Luck (5, unused). Level 10 requires 15,000 experience. You can also set profession flags directly to choose your level 5 and 10 specializations without re-leveling.

Tips for Safe Editing

Always back up first

Copy the entire save folder before making any changes. If something goes wrong, you can simply paste the original back. Stardew Valley also creates _oldbackup files automatically, but don't rely on these alone.

Edit while the game is closed

Stardew Valley writes to disk when you sleep. If you edit while the game is running and then sleep, your changes will be overwritten.

Test incrementally

Make one or two changes at a time, then load the game to verify everything works. This makes it much easier to isolate problems.

Be careful with multiplayer saves

In co-op, the host's save controls the world state. If you edit a farmhand save directly, changes to world data (like buildings or farm layout) may not sync properly.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Corrupted XML structure

Manually editing XML and accidentally deleting a closing tag or adding an extra character will prevent the game from loading. SaveEditor validates the structure before saving, so this is only a risk with manual text editing.

Invalid item IDs

Adding items with IDs that don't exist in your game version (especially after updates) can cause errors. Stick to SaveEditor's item database, which is kept up to date with the latest version.

SaveGameInfo mismatch

If you only edit the main save but not SaveGameInfo, the load screen will show stale data (wrong gold amount, wrong day, etc.). The game still loads correctly, but it can be confusing. SaveEditor handles both files together.

Unrealistic values causing side effects

Setting stats to extremely high values (like 999 speed) can break game mechanics or make the game unplayable. Stick to reasonable values — for example, skill experience caps at 15,000 per skill for level 10.

Ready to Edit Your Stardew Valley Save?

Upload your save file to SaveEditor and start making changes with a visual editor — no XML knowledge required.

Open SaveEditor

How to Edit Stardew Valley Saves: Complete Guide