Save File Modifications

Save files can be edited to modify unlocks. These unlocks include characters, their B-skins and C-Skins, crowns and gold starter weapons.

Method 1: Lost your save file entirely?
This method currently only works with update 99.
The first step will be to get NTT v9940 which is compatible with u99, and is able to run mods. Once installed get Saniblue's editor mod. This has a straightforward UI which will generate a new save file for base NT. Be sure to follow the readme file included for full instructions.

Method 2: Want to transfer save data between NT and NTT?
This method currently only works with update 99.
While not the best option for save editing, commands in NTT can be used to apply the save file data from NT to NTT and vise versa.
'/savegame nuclearthrone.sav' will apply your NTT save to your base NT.
'/loadgame nuclearthrone.sav' will apply your base NT save to NTT.

Method 3: Want to edit an existing save?
The traditional way of file editing is directly accessing your save file and manually editing the values.

1. Disable Steam Cloud saving for Nuclear Throne (Right click game -> Properties in Steam library)
2. Hit Win+R and open '%localappdata%/nuclearthrone', locating your nuclearthrone.sav file. Make a backup of this before any edits
3. Open the nuclearthrone.sav file with any text editor
• While Notepad does work, all text will be in an entire block
• A tool like saveeditonline will auto-format the save file values, making it easy to read and still works
4. Make any desired edits (see next section), and save the .sav file
5. The game can be launched with any save edits now in place
6. Only after launching the game can Steam cloud be re-enabled

Save File Values

The save file will be overwhelming to look at for the first time with a bunch of data that does not make sense, but is actually fairly simple. Most data here is character stats and in-game options, with some other misc. things under 'data'. This guide will focus on the most practical things worth editing, and is not fully comprehensive.

Anything related to unlocks will have a '0.0' if it is locked and a '1.0' if it is locked, such as 'hardgot' to indicate whether Hardmode is unlocked or not. Any decimal places can be ignored.

Update 99: Save editing any update 100 data will simply not load, such as C-Skins or enabling Cuz.

Below is a table of each of the mutant's respective IDs. These will each be followed by curly brackets which will include all their unlock data and character stats. Ctrl+F can be used in the text editor to quickly jump to the specific mutant as they are not in numerical order.

Each character will have a 'cgot' value with '0.0' for locked and '1.0' for unlocked.
'cbgt' will refer to their skin unlocks, being:
- '0.0' for no skins unlocked
- '1.0' for just their B-skin unlocked
- '2.0' for just their C-skin unlocked
- '3.0' for both their B-skin and C-skin unlocked

Secret Character data can largely be ignored here. However for those interested;

• Secret characters cannot directly be unlocked, so most unlocks for them do not matter in base NT.
• Big Dog can only be played on April 1st on update 100. Crown unlocks work for him, while other unlocks do not.
• Runs cannot be started as Skeleton in base NT.
• Frog can be accessed by setting the Golden Frog Pistol as the starter on any normal character's gold starter (see next section).
• charData_17 is used for character modding and can be ignored for file editing.

The number value for 'cgld' will dictate the golden weapon starter, which technically can be used to start with any weapon. Someone has uploaded a list of weapon IDs here. (The value 'cwep' is the default weapon but changing it will not work. Sometimes the cgld and cwep values will be swapped when viewing the .sav, just ignore this and edit cgld regardless.)

Similarly the list of weapons can be used for the value 'protowep' found near the end of the .sav which dictates what weapon is found in the proto chest.

Here are all 16 golden weapon IDs for quick reference:

*Golden Frog Pistol used to be listed as ID 201 in older versions as a hidden weapon. This was moved down to ID 127 in a later update so all weapons are grouped together. Using either value seems to work.

Crowns are more complicated to edit, they are found under the range of 'crowns' with 14 values within brackets for each character but are not titled. To unlock one of the specific crowns, you will need to manually count the values in order using the table below. As unlocks the value of '0.0' will be locked while '1.0' will be unlocked. The first two values (Random and Bare Head) can be ignored here.

Random Crown was re-added in update 100, but as a removed feature it can still be accessed in update 99, while buggy.
To access random crown in update 99 change the first value in the crown bracket to '1.0', and then the 3rd-14th values to a 1.0 as well. Keep the second value to a '0.0', as Bare Head can be randomly selected and cause a crash.
Next locate 'startcrown' option for the same character and change its value to '0.0'.
Once the game is launched it will display the Bare Head sprite over the character but is actually random, pulling from the pool of 12 crowns when starting or resetting a run.