RimWorld Save Editor — Edit Silver, Colonist Skills & Needs by Hand

Last verified: 2026-09-28

Save file to edit

%userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Ludeon Studios\RimWorld by Ludeon Studios\Saves

RimWorld saves are plain XML with a .rws extension, so you can edit silver, colonist skills, passions, needs and research by hand in any text editor — no mods needed. Open %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Ludeon Studios\RimWorld by Ludeon Studios\Saves, COPY the .rws file somewhere safe first, then open it in Notepad++ or VS Code (files are large — several MB — so Notepad may struggle). Use Ctrl+F to jump to the tag you want, change the value, keep the XML valid (matching < >/tags), save, and load the game. The most-searched edit — silver — is done by finding <def>Silver</def> and raising the <stackCount> right next to it.

RimWorld saves are plain XML (.rws), so you can change silver, colonist skills, passions, needs and health with any text editor — no mods required. The trick is editing the right tag and keeping the XML valid, because one broken bracket makes the colony unloadable.

What you can edit and which tag to change

What it changes	XML tag	Example value	Notes
Silver / money	`<def>Silver</def> + sibling <stackCount>`	`<stackCount>5000</stackCount>`	Search for <def>Silver</def>, then edit the <stackCount> in the SAME <li Class="Thing"> block. Silver sitting on the map or in storage is a Thing like any other. Keep it a whole number; absurd stacks can look odd in the UI but still load.
Colonist skill level	`<level> (inside a skill <li>)`	`<level>20</level>`	Under a pawn's <skills> block each skill is an <li> with a <def> (e.g. Shooting, Mining, Medicine) and a <level>. Valid range 0–20.
Skill passion	`<passion>`	`<passion>Major</passion>`	Same <li> as the skill. Accepted values are None, Minor or Major — spelling and capitalisation must match exactly or the save won't parse.
Need level (food, rest, mood)	`<curLevel>`	`<curLevel>1</curLevel>`	Inside a pawn's <needs> list, each need has a <curLevel> stored as a float from 0 to 1 (1 = full). Set food/rest to 1 to top a colonist up.
Colonist health / injuries	`<hediffs>`	`remove an <li> under <hediffs>`	Injuries and conditions live as <li> entries under a pawn's <hediffs>. Deleting a whole <li> heals that specific injury. Delete the ENTIRE element (opening to closing tag) or the XML breaks.
Research progress	`<progress>`	`<techprint... />/<li>Electricity</li> under <progress>`	Under <researchManager><progress> each researched project is listed. Adding a finished project instantly unlocks it — easier to just raise a scientist's Intellectual skill instead.
Save's game version	`<gameVersion>`	`<gameVersion>1.5.4409</gameVersion>`	In the <meta> header near the top. Do NOT lower it — a save tagged newer than your installed build may refuse to load, and lying about the version can desync mod data.

How to edit your RimWorld save by hand

Fully quit RimWorld (check Task Manager) so it isn't writing to the save while you edit.
Press Win+R, paste %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Ludeon Studios\RimWorld by Ludeon Studios\Saves and press Enter.
COPY the .rws file you want to edit to your Desktop as a backup — this is your undo button if anything goes wrong.
Open the .rws in Notepad++ or VS Code (not plain Notepad — the files are multi-MB and Notepad chokes). It's XML.
Ctrl+F the tag you want (e.g. <def>Silver</def> for money, a skill <def> for skills), change the number, and make sure every < has a matching >.
Save the file with the SAME name and .rws extension (in Notepad++ set encoding to UTF-8 without BOM if prompted).
Launch RimWorld and load the colony. If it fails to load, restore your backup copy and try a smaller change.

Prefer a save editor instead of raw XML?

RimWorld is single-player, so there is no anti-cheat or server check — editing your .rws only affects your local colony. Mods are the one catch: a save references the exact mod list it was made with, so don't add or remove mods and hand-edit in the same session, or the load can fail for reasons unrelated to your edit.

Mistakes that corrupt the save

One malformed tag (a stray < or an unclosed element) makes the whole save unloadable — always keep the backup copy.
Editing the wrong Silver stack: there can be several <def>Silver</def> blocks (map piles, caravans, pawn inventories). Use Find-Next to pick the stack you actually want.
Passion values are case-sensitive: Major/Minor/None only. 'major' or 'HIGH' will break parsing.
Needs are 0–1 floats, not percentages — writing <curLevel>100</curLevel> overflows and behaves oddly; use 1.
Don't hand-edit and change your mod list at the same time; isolate the two so you know which caused a bad load.

Not sure where the file is? See the full RimWorld save file location guide (every platform path), or the corrupted-save recovery guide if an edit broke your file.

FAQ

Where is the RimWorld save file on PC?

%userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Ludeon Studios\RimWorld by Ludeon Studios\Saves, with a .rws extension. On macOS it's ~/Library/Application Support/RimWorld/Saves and on Linux ~/.config/unity3d/Ludeon Studios/RimWorld by Ludeon Studios/Saves.

Can I edit RimWorld saves without a mod or tool?

Yes. .rws files are plain XML, so any text editor (Notepad++, VS Code) can change silver, skills, passions and needs. You only need an external tool if you want a GUI instead of hand-editing tags.

How do I add silver/money?

Search the .rws for <def>Silver</def> and raise the <stackCount> in that same Thing block. Back up first, edit one stack, save, and load to confirm.

My edited save won't load — what happened?

Almost always broken XML (an unclosed tag) or a passion/value typo. Restore your backup copy and redo the edit, changing one value at a time. If it still fails, your mod list may differ from when the save was made.

Other games

Need another game or a quick backup? Use the Save Location Finder — pick any game to get its exact save path plus a ready-to-run backup command.