SavefileWML
The format for Wesnoth savegames
A Wesnoth savegame is a file stored in ~saves/ (See "user data directory", PreprocessorRef). In order to view or modify these files, the option Compressed Saves (Advanced Preferences) must be set to "No". Also, since they are not config(.cfg) files the normal coloring will not be generated. To generate coloring, simply save the file as .cfg, then open it again.
There are 3 types of savegames: start-of-scenario, replay and in-game (including autosave and out-of-sync save). The information included in a save depends on its type.
Start-of-scenario | Replay | In-game | |
General info and statistics | Yes | Yes | Yes |
[snapshot] | No | No | Yes |
[replay] | No | Yes | Yes |
[replay_start] | No | Yes | Yes |
[carryover_sides] | No | Yes | Yes |
[carryover_sides_start] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
(Version 1.13.0 and later only) There are 4 types of savegames: start-of-scenario, expanded start-of-scenario, replay and in-game (including autosave and out-of-sync save). The information included in a save depends on its type.
Start-of-scenario | Expanded Start-of-scenario | Replay | In-game | |
General info and statistics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
[snapshot] | No | No | No | Yes |
[replay] | No | No | Yes | Yes |
[replay_start] | No | No | Yes | Yes |
[carryover_sides] | No | No | Yes | Yes |
[carryover_sides_start] | Yes | Yes | No | No |
[scenario] | No | Yes | No | No |
(Version 1.13.0 and later only) There are also 2 types of Server generated replays
Fresh game | Start-of-scenario | Reloaded game | |
General info and statistics | Yes | Yes | Yes |
[snapshot] | No | No | Yes |
[replay] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
[replay_start] | No | No | Yes |
[carryover_sides] | No | No | Yes |
[carryover_sides_start] | Yes | Yes | No |
[scenario] | Yes | Yes | No |
General info and statistics
Contains general information about the scenario, campaign and version of Battle for Wesnoth the savegame is from. This information is included in all savegames. Not all tags of this section are explained here.
- version: The version of Wesnoth this game was saved by. If the savegame is from a different version of Wesnoth than the one currently running, the message "This save is from a different version of the game. Do you want to try to load it?" is displayed
- campaign_type: Whether the scenario is a scenario or multiplayer.
- campaign_define: When this replay is loaded, the symbol campaign_define will be stored. See also "#ifdef", PreprocessorRef
- difficulty: The difficulty level of the savegame. Normal values are "EASY", "NORMAL", and "HARD".
- label: heading of the save
- next_scenario: Name of the next scenario in a campaign
- scenario: Name of the current scenario
- [multiplayer]: If the game is a multiplayer game, multiplayer information is included here
- [statistics]: Describes previous scenarios
- mid_scenario: If "false", the scenario will be reloaded and any modifications will be played with.
- [scenario]: Describes basic statistics of a previous scenario. See StatisticalScenarioWML for a description of [scenario]
[snapshot]
The [snapshot] describes the current state of the game in an in-game save. It has the same format as the rest of the savefile and holds the map of the scenario. The snapshot is loaded when “Show replay” is not selected.
- playing_team: the number of the team whose turn it is, starting with 0
- turn_at: The number of the current turn
- map_data: The data for the map. The mini-map generated by this data is displayed to the right
[replay_start]
[replay_start] is a full snapshot of the start of the first turn of a scenario. It describes the position the player was in when the game started and is used as starting point for replays.
[replay]
The [replay] contains everything that happened in the scenario since it started.
- [command]: Describes one action. Syntax for [command] is described in ReplayWML
[carryover_sides_start]
[carryover_sides_start] contains the carryover data from the previous scenario, like retained gold and units. It is also used to store in-game data required in the next level, such as variables, the random seed and menu items. [carryover_sides_start] retains the data throughout the scenario.
- random_calls and random_seed: Used to determine and synchronize random events in the game
- [side]: Player information, retained gold, recruits and recalls for all sides in the game
- [end_level_data]: Contains the information how the carryover data should be used.
- [variables]: a list of the current values of all variables. The attribute variable_name=value means that the variable variable_name has the content value. The tag [array_name] describes an array stored in the array array_name (which could describe a unit see SingleUnitWML). See also VariablesWML
- [menu_item]: Custom WML menu items
[carryover_sides]
[carryover_sides] is a copy of the data in [carryover_sides_start]. Anything to be used in the new scenario is removed from [carryover_sides]. At the end of the scenario the carryover for the next scenario is added to what is left in [carryover_sides].
[scenario]
(Version 1.13.0 and later only) Expanded Start-of-scenario saves are almost the same as normal start-of-scenario saves, except that they also contain the start [scenario] so it doesn't need to be read from the game config. In most cases, this type of savegame is used internally, for example, at the beginning of a fresh networked mp game, where this host sends this type of savefile to the other clients, which is then loaded by them.
But in theory the game can also read an expanded start-of-scenario save from disk.