Guide & examples

How to do the most common edits with the save editor. The same steps work in the desktop app — the two share one engine.

Finding your save folder

On Steam, saves are usually under …\steamapps\common\Age of Civilizations II\saves\games\<map>\<your save>\. If you have several saves and aren't sure which folder is the live one, save in-game, then look for the folder whose files changed most recently. Load all the files from that folder into the editor — different data (civilizations, provinces, diplomacy) lives in different files.

Search vs. Filter

• Search finds text within the tree you're already viewing — a field name, a value. It does not understand field=value syntax; it's for locating something inside an object you've opened.
• Filter scans the whole save and rebuilds the tree to show only matching objects. It accepts a civilization tag or name (ser2, por), a plain number, or the powerful field=value form (e.g. iTrueOwnerOfProvince=1 — every province owned by civilization 1).

Typical flow: Filter to narrow down, then Search or expand to pinpoint. After a field=value filter, Batch Edit can set one field to one value across every match at once.

Add money

Filter your civilization by tag (for example ser2), expand it, and find iMoney. Double-click it and enter the amount you want. Save, load in-game — done.

Rename a civilization

In your civilization's fields, edit sCivName (the displayed name) and/or sCivTag (the short tag). Longer names and non-Latin alphabets such as Cyrillic work fine.

Transfer provinces / annex a country

Say the target is civilization 1 and you are civilization 52:

1. Filter iTrueOwnerOfProvince=1 to select every province they own.
2. Click Batch Edit, set iTrueOwnerOfProvince to 52, confirm. Every one of their provinces is now yours.
3. Re-run the same filter — it should show 0 matches, confirming the transfer.
4. Save, copy the files back into your save folder, and load in-game.

Confirm the ids from your own save first — filter by tag to check who is civ 1 and who is civ 52.

End a stuck war

If the game won't let you make peace (the offer sits there and the AI never responds), the war is driven by the relationship value between the two civilizations:

1. Filter your civilization (ser2) and expand it.
2. Open the lRelation list — the entry at the other civ's id is your relation toward them. While at war it's often -100 (maximum hostility).
3. Change that value to 0. That ends the war.
4. Save and load in-game.

A leftover "you can sign peace" notification may linger for a turn or two after the war is already over — it's harmless and clears on its own.

Other things you can change

Because the editor exposes every field the game wrote, you can also adjust technology level, research progress, diplomacy points, province population, and much more — browse the tree and edit any value. If the game stores it, it's in there.

Is it safe?

Your files are never uploaded — in the web version everything runs inside your own browser. Neither version overwrites your originals; you get edited copies to download (web) or edited files with automatic backups (desktop). Always keep your own backup of the save folder before replacing anything.