Pokémon Essentials Save Editor

Nearly every RPG Maker XP save uploaded here comes from a Pokémon fan game built on Pokémon Essentials, the framework that runs on top of XP. The editor recognises these saves: money, bag counts and each party Pokémon's nature, IVs and EVs come up as quick edits, and everything else the game stores is in the tree. Saves from the GBA games themselves are a different format, on the Pokémon Gen 3 page.

How to edit a Pokémon Essentials save

1. Close the game, then find its save: usually Game.rxdata, though many games number or rename it (see below).
2. Upload the save here. The editor works on a copy, so the file on disk stays as it was.
3. Change money, bag counts or your party in the quick edits, or search the tree for anything else.
4. Download the edited save and put it back under the same name before starting the game again.

What you can change

• Money, Game Corner coins and Battle Points
• How many of each item the bag holds, pocket by pocket
• Nature, shiny flag, IVs and EVs of each party Pokémon
• Story switches and variables by number

Where the saves are stored

On Windows, Essentials keeps saves in a folder named after the game under %APPDATA%: type %APPDATA% into the Explorer address bar and look for the game's name, which some games put inside a folder named after their creator. If the game could not use that folder, the save is next to its executable. The file is often Game.rxdata or a numbered Game1.rxdata, but translations and some fan games name it differently (File A.rxdata, Partida 1.rxdata, 세이브 A.rxdata). The .rxdata files in the game's Data folder are the game itself, not your progress, so leave them alone.

What the format actually is

Since Essentials v19 the save is a Ruby Marshal hash of named parts: the player with money and party, the bag, the PC storage, global metadata, the game's switches and variables, and two strings recording the Essentials version and the game's own version. Older saves hold the same kind of objects as a plain list without names, so the editor finds the trainer and the bag by their class rather than by position. Some Chinese builds deflate the file and base64-encode it; that wrapper comes off on upload and goes back on when you download.

Questions

Where is my Pokémon Essentials save?

Most games call it Game.rxdata or number it, as in Game1.rxdata or Game_1.rxdata. Translations and some fan games use names of their own, such as File A.rxdata, Partida 1.rxdata or 세이브 A.rxdata, so look for any .rxdata file outside the game's Data folder. On Windows the save is usually in a folder named after the game under %APPDATA% (C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming), sometimes inside a folder named after the game's creator. If the game cannot use that folder, the save sits next to its executable.

Will it open the save from my fan game?

Saves from games built on Essentials open whether they use the layout Essentials has written since v19 or the older one, and so do the Chinese builds that compress the file and encode it as text. Party quick edits read the newer layout only; on an older save the same values are still in the tree. A game that adds its own encryption on top will not open.

Will the game still load an edited save?

Yes, as long as the new values are ones the game accepts. The editor writes the same Ruby Marshal back, and the save keeps the Essentials and game versions it recorded, so a later release of the same game treats it like any older save of its own. What no save can do is point at an item or a nature the game's data does not define.