- For information about how the game saves progress on mobile devices, see Mobile Saves.
Mar 23, 2020 Giant Bomb 'Village life has never been so accessible and satisfying' - The Telegraph “Stardew Valley has been the most rich and heartwarming experience I’ve had in a game in years.” CG Magazine - Note: Features new 1.4 update story content, multiplayer functionality not supported. R/StardewValley: Stardew Valley is an open-ended country-life RPG with support for 1–4 players. (Multiplayer isn't supported on mobile).
The game saves progress when the in-game day ends, i.e., when the farmer goes to bed, collapses from exhaustion, or collapses at 2am. All progress during a day is lost if the player quits the game without ending the day. In multiplayer, the game saves after all players click through the prompts at end of day and wake up in the morning.
- 2Find your save files
- 3Transfer a save
- 4Troubleshooting
- 5Advanced
Save format
The saves are stored as XML files on your computer or mobile device. They're stored separately from your game, so you can safely reinstall or update the game without losing them. On PC, they're shared between different copies of the game (e.g. if you buy it from both GOG and Steam).
Each save has a folder like JonSnow_123456789, with two main files inside it: JonSnow_123456789 and SaveGameInfo. Both files are needed to load the save.
Find your save files
Note: in multiplayer, the save is only on the main player's computer.
Windows
- Press Windows+ to show a 'run' dialogue box.
- Paste this exact text:
- Click 'OK' to open the folder.
Linux
The root directory for save files is specified by the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable, which defaults to ~/.config/
- From Files, click Go » Enter Location.
- Enter this exact text:
- Submit to open the folder.
Mac
- From Finder, click Go » Go to Folder.
- Enter this exact text:
- Submit to open the folder.
Mobile (Android)
- Connect the device to your PC.
- Browse to internal shared storage > Stardew-Valley. (The folder won't appear if you haven't created a save yet.)
- Each subfolder inside is a save slot.
Mobile (iOS)
In iOS 13 or later:
- Open the Files app.
- Tap the Browse button on the bottom-right side of the screen.
- Under the Locations section, tap On My iPhone.
- Select the Stardew Valley folder.
- Each subfolder inside is a save slot.
In iOS 12 or earlier:
- Open iTunes on your computer.
- Attach your iOS device via USB.
- When iTunes opens, click on the device icon in the top toolbar (If the icon doesn't appear, try disconnecting and reconnecting the device USB cable). The device's page should appear.
- Click 'File Sharing' in the menu on the left.
- Click Stardew Valley in the 'apps' list that appears.
- The 'Stardew Valley Documents' panel shows which save files are already on your iOS device. (They appear as folders, but you can't navigate into the folders directly.)
Transfer a save
Back up or transfer between two PCs
- Find your save files.
- Zip the entire folder that looks like JonSnow_123456789.
- Share or back up that zip file.
Android
- Android to PC
- Find the saves on your device.
- Copy it into your computer's saves folder.
- PC to Android
- If you use mods, remove any custom content before transferring to mobile.
- Find the save folder on your computer.
- Find the Android saves on your device.
- Copy the entire save folder (the one that looks like JonSnow_123456789) into the saves folder on your device.
iOS
- iOS to PC
- Find the saves in iTunes.
- Choose the save folder in iTunes and click the 'save' button.
- That will save a folder containing two files (both required for the save to work).
- Copy the whole folder to your computer's save location.
- PC to iOS
- If you use mods, remove any custom content before transferring to mobile.
- Find the save folder on your computer.
- Find the iOS saves in iTunes.
- Copy the entire save folder (the one that looks like JonSnow_123456789) into the 'Stardew Valley Documents' panel in iTunes.
Note: there's one folder for each save. You need to drag each of these folders into iTunes, so that the individual save folders are all in the 'root' of the 'Stardew Valley Documents' panel. You can't drag the folder containing all your save games into iTunes. - Click the 'sync' button in iTunes to synchronize your iOS device with your computer. The save should now appear in the game's Load Game menu on your device.
Troubleshooting
Save disappeared or doesn't load
Here's how to recover your save in most cases. (Note that save issues are almost always caused by the game itself, not mods.)
- Find your save files.
- If the files are still there, here are some common fixes (try one at a time):
- If some of the files have
_STARDEWVALLEYSAVETMP
in the name, remove that from their name and reload the game. - If you recently renamed or created the folder (e.g. to restore a backup), make sure the folder name exactly matches the file that looks like YourName_0123456789.
- Try undoing the last save.
- If some of the files have
- If the files are missing but you have SMAPI installed, here's how to recover a backup:
- Find your game folder.
- Open the save-backups subfolder.
- Unzip the latest backup which has your save, and copy the save folder back into Saves.
- If the files are still there, here are some common fixes (try one at a time):
- If the above fixes didn't help, see this guide or ask for help; we might be able to recover the save for you.
Note: don't keep backup folders in the saves folder, since the game will try to load them. Either move those into a different folder, or delete them.
Undo the last save
If something went wrong, you can undo the last save.
For a save from Linux/Mac/Windows/Android:
- Find your save files.
You should see two files with an _old suffix in the name; if not, ask for help instead! - Back up your save folder just in case.
- Delete SaveGameInfo and the file that looks like YourName_123456789.
- Remove the _old suffix from SaveGameInfo_old and the file that looks like YourName_123456789_old.
For a save from iOS:
- Find your save files.
You should see a file with an _SVBAK suffix in the name; if not, ask for help instead! - Back up your save folder just in case.
- Delete the files that look like YourName_123456789 and YourName_123456789_SVEMERG.
- Remove the _SVBAK suffix from the file that looks like YourName_123456789_SVBAK.
Advanced
Edit a save
You can edit your save to fix some common issues or change your choices. This can permanently break your save if you make a mistake; don't forget to create a backup first. You should also avoid automatic save editor tools, since they often break the save.
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- Install Sublime Text for Linux, Mac, or Windows. (If you already have another text editor which supports XML formatting, feel free to use that instead.)
- Install the Package Control extension for Sublime Text.
- Use the Package Control extension to install the Indent XML and XPath plugins (see how to add plugins).
- Open your save file (the file that looks like Name_0123456789) in Sublime Text.
- Click Selection > Format > Indent XML.
- Make any changes you want and save. (See the sections below, this guide for changing the host of a co-op save, and this guide for other changes.)
Tips:
- Click an element, and press CTRL + SHIFT + [ to collapse the whole section which contains it. This is useful when you want to ignore a large field. For example, given this text in the save file:
Click on one of the <int> fields and press those keys, and it will collapse into this:
- Click any element, and look in the status bar to see the path to where you are in the save format (like /SaveGame/player/friendships/item[32]).
Duplicate a save
You can duplicate a save for testing purposes, or to explore different options without starting over.
- Find your save files.
- Create the new save folder:
- Duplicate the target save folder.
- Rename the new folder:
- change the name so you can recognise it in-game;
- change the number at the end to any number that's not used by another save.
- Open the new folder for the next steps.
- Prepare the new files:
- Delete any file whose name ends with _old or .back.*.
- Rename the file that looks like Name_0123456789 to match your new folder name.
- Edit the save metadata:
- Open the SaveGameInfo file in a text editor like Notepad.
- Look for
<name>
on the first line. Your farmer's name should be right after that. Change it to your new name. - Search for the 2nd mention of your name (ctrl+f to 'find') and change it to your new name.
- Edit the save file:
- Open the file that looks like Name_0123456789 in a text editor like Notepad.
- Look for
<name>
on the first line. Your farmer's name should be right after that. Change it to your new name. - Search for the 2nd mention of your name (ctrl+f to 'find') and change it to your new name.
- Search for the old save ID (the number from the filename). Change it to your new number.
That's it! Launch the game and check the load menu; you'll see both saves now.
Change farm type
You can change farm type by editing your save file:
- Open your save file for editing.
- Search for <whichFarm>. The number after that open tag is the farm type.
- Change the number to the one you want:
code farm type 0 standard farm 1 riverland farm 2 forest farm 3 hilltop farm 4 wilderness farm 5 four corners farm
That will change the farm map, but everything placed on the farm will stay where it is. You may have things in an invalid position, like trees in a lake. Here are some ways to fix that:
- Take note of what's out of bounds, then switch back to the old farm type and move them.
- If you use SMAPI, install the Noclip Mode mod to reach things that are out of bounds, so you can remove or move them.
- If you use SMAPI, enter one of these commands in the SMAPI console:
command effect world_clear farm debris
remove stones, branches, weeds, and dead crops. world_clear farm trees
remove non-fruit trees. world_clear farm fruit-trees
remove fruit trees. world_clear farm grass
remove tall grass. world_clear farm everything
remove everything, including placed objects.
Remove an NPC
You can remove an NPC from your save file (e.g. to fix an NPC permanently stuck in an invalid place). If it still exists in the game data, the NPC will respawn when you reload the save file. This should be a last resort, and is unnecessary when using SMAPI versions 3.0 and up, as SMAPI will attempt to remove this data for you.
- Open your save file for editing. Make sure you format the file for readability per those instructions.
- Remove the NPC:
- Search for the NPC's default name between 'name' tags (e.g. to remove Penny: <name>Penny</name>).
- Remove the entire 'NPC' section containing the line you found, starting from the previous <NPC> line up to and including the next </NPC> line.
- (optional) Remove the NPC friendship data:
- Search for the NPC's default name between 'string' tags (e.g. to remove Penny: <string>Penny</string>).
- Remove the entire 'item' section containing the line you found, starting from the previous <item> line up to the next </item> line.
- For save file locations, methods of saving on PC and consoles, and save file editing documentation see Saves.
- To find mobile saves, see android saves or iOS saves.
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On mobile, Stardew Valley's save method is based upon the system used for computers, but with some additions to make it more suited to mobile devices.
The game creates a folder on the device for each saved game. In that folder, there are three different kinds of save files which can appear - Standard Saves, Emergency Saves and Backup saves.
Standard Saves
Standard Saves are the same format found on the PC version of the game. The PC version only allows saving when going to sleep, so standard saves retain this system. A standard save always starts at 6am in the morning when loaded. These saves are compatible with PC, and can be transferred back and forth.
When a standard save happens, the mobile version (like PC) keeps your previous standard save, using the suffix ‘_old’. Occasionally, save files might encounter problems. If this happens, players can swap between the most recent standard save and the previous backup by pressing the ‘Swap to previous save’ button on the Options page.
Emergency Saves
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Unlike a PC, a mobile device can sometimes interrupt the game - for example, if a phone call happens mid-game. Also, players may change to another app, and want to resume where they left off in the game later on. When the app is no longer shown on the screen, it is classed as being a ‘background’ app. If the phone or tablet is running low on resources, it might automatically unload any background apps, losing any unsaved progress.
If the game moves into the background, and then resumed, if the app hasn’t been unloaded by the phone/tablet, it will continue where it left off. If the game has been unloaded, however, the game will be reloaded, and will then need to load a save in order to carry on where it left off. To allow this, the game does an ‘emergency save’ when it goes into the background (for example, when you press the home button on an iPhone). Because of the complexity of Stardew Valley, this save takes a few seconds. If you ‘kill’ the app before this save is completed (by swiping it away from the list of background apps), the game will not complete its emergency save.
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Note: The game will not do an emergency save when quit, if the game time is less than 6:20am, as it's assumed that it has just done a standard save.
When the game loads up, it checks to see if there’s a file called EMERGENCY_SAVE present. If there is, it looks in that file to find the location of the most recent emergency save. If it finds one, it gives the player the opportunity to load that instead of going to the main menu. The game does not delete emergency saves once they've been loaded. Instead, the emergency saves will be deleted only when the game saves either a standard or backup save.
Backup Saves
At any time (other than during certain festivals, cutscenes and other events), players can manually save the game with the ‘Save Backup’ button on the options page. This saves progress as a backup file, similar to an emergency save, but players won’t be prompted to load this save when starting the game. Instead, when selecting a game to load, if there’s a backup save which is more recent than the last standard save, a prompt will ask whether it should be loaded instead. When players make a backup save, any emergency saves are deleted, since the backup save is more recent.
In order to maintain compatibility with the computer version, the game needs to keep the standard save to be the 6am morning save. But, the computer version isn’t compatible with the concept of loading/saving anywhere/any time, so that's why these multiple systems are supported.