How saves are stored

For the curious. You don't need any of this to use the editor.

Where

Version	Folder
Xbox app / PC Game Pass	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftDungeons2_8wekyb3d8bbwe\SystemAppData\wgs\
Steam, on Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Dungeons2\Saved\SaveGames
Steam, on Linux or a Mac	The same SaveGames folder inside the game's Wine prefix. See Linux and Mac

The Steam version

Each save is its own file: Character<id>.sav for a hero. The content is plain JSON.

The editor replaces a file in one step (it writes a temporary file, then swaps it in), so the game never sees a half-written save.

The Xbox app version

The game uses the Xbox app's standard layout. A file called containers.index lists named containers. Each container has a folder with a container.<N> file that names its data blob, and the blob holds the data.

When the editor saves, it does what the game does: the new data gets a new file name, the revision goes up (container.<N+1>), and the container is marked as changed, so that Gaming Services uploads it to the Xbox cloud. Only then is the old revision deleted.

What is inside

• A hero (Character<id>) is compact JSON. Stats are under Ability.Attributes and items under Inventory.Entries.

• The settings (GlobalSaveDataDefault) are JSON with every byte stored minus one, so {"blobs" is saved as z!aknar!.

• An item's effects are saved in batches, one for each kind, in this order:

  Batch	What it holds
  SW.Item.Effect.Static	The effect a Unique comes with
  SW.Item.Effect.Rerollable	The effects the game rolled for the item
  SW.Item.Effect.Enchantment	Its enchantment
  SW.Item.Effect.Upgradable	A talisman's own effect, in place of the others

  Each effect holds what it is (SW.Effect.CriticalEdge), its strength, and the template it was made from, which says the tier (SW.EffectTemplate.CriticalEdge.II).

• An enchantment book is an item like any other (SW.Item.EnchantmentBook.Dynamo), with no rarity (SW.Rarity.None), power -1, no effects and no levels. A hero has one of each, and the Enchantsmith offers the enchantments of the books in the inventory. When the game hands you a book it also files it in its collections and counts it towards an achievement; the editor leaves both alone, so a book it adds counts for neither.

What the editor promises

• An unedited save comes out byte for byte identical. Numbers the game writes in an unusual form are written back exactly as they were.
• A backup before every save.
• Sign-in, entitlement and device-ID files are never read or changed.
• It only writes what it has seen in a real save, which is why some effects and tiers aren't offered yet. See Teach the editor.

The README has the same in more detail.