gen1recomp/tools/save-editor

Save Editor

Ships inside every build. Two ways in:

From the launcher. Every SAVE SLOT row that holds a save carries an Edit label next to Delete. Edit suspends the launcher and opens that slot's file; Close hands the process back with the slot list re-read. This is the path most people use, and it is wired in main.lua (openEditor / closeEditor).

Standalone, where Close quits instead:

# from repo root, game closed
love . --editor
# or
POKEPORT_EDITOR=1 love .
# open a specific save (any path)
love . --editor --save "/path/to/save.lua"

By default it loads the game's active save slot under the LÖVE save directory (same identity as the game, deliberately: the editor edits the game's saves and reads the game's ROM cache):

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/LOVE/pokemon-love2d/
• Linux: ~/.local/share/love/pokemon-love2d/
• Windows: %APPDATA%\love\pokemon-love2d\

If the file isn't there (or you want another copy), use Open..., drop a save.lua onto the window, or pass --save. Each write makes save.lua.bak-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS first.

Editing and mobile layout

Party, Boxes, Items, Events, Map, Pokédex, Trainer and Checks are separate pages. The Pokemon inspector has Main, Stats, Moves, Origin, Extras and Checks sections. Phones open the roster and inspector as separate sliding pages; wide windows show them side by side. Buttons share the launcher's painter and font scale, with a minimum 44px target. Pages and screen sections use dropdown popup choosers on both phones and desktop. The current page stays in place behind the scrim; choosing a destination closes the popup and slides to that section. Popups support finger/wheel scrolling, keyboard selection, Escape, a close icon and outside-tap dismissal. They shield the page underneath from clicks and scrolling. Short screens use compact storage actions and an item Tools menu. Map browsing splits into Maps, View and Spawn sections on phones; storage and inventory actions stay in their viewport. Safe-area margins protect controls around notches. Short landscape map views have an expand icon that gives the map the editor's full content area; the back icon restores the editor chrome. Sections use the launcher's directional slides and saved reduced-motion option. Selected controls keep the same dark face, corner shape and icon/text layout; an inset accent outline indicates selection. Every editor button is flat with a visible 14px corner radius, explicit curve segments and smooth opaque fill edges, including green and blue actions, hover, selection and disabled states. Scrollbars sit in the card padding rather than covering button edges. Lucide icons replace character arrows, dropdown carets and action glyphs. Buttons retain their complete labels, wrapping between words when needed; layouts measure the font and reflow controls rather than adding ellipses or hiding their text. Only explicitly icon-only controls, such as steppers and close icons, omit labels. Inventory and storage actions reserve space for the full confirmation label before they are armed. Pokédex cards put fully spelled out Seen and Owned controls below the species name. Bulk tools, sorting and the National Pokédex toggle use a labeled popup so they leave room for the species list on phones.

On phones, More opens Reload, Open and Close. Lists and forms scroll by wheel, right stick or finger drag. A drag does not activate the control under its release. Tapping outside a text field lowers the mobile keyboard. Set or Enter applies a form value; Escape cancels typing. Navigation also clears text focus.

Main edits species, nickname, level, exact experience, current HP, status, held item, friendship, nature, ability, gender and shininess where the generation supports them. Stats edits DVs/stat experience or IVs/EVs and shows calculated stats. Moves edits each move, PP and PP Ups. Origin exposes OT identity, PID/SID, language, met data, ball, markings, egg and fateful flags; Crystal also exposes caught data. Extras exposes Gen 3 contest conditions and ribbons. Trainer edits name, IDs, gender and wallet. Items separates Bag, PC, Wallet and Badges. Boxes supports storage, deposit, withdraw, clone, inspect and release.

Undo/Redo and Ctrl/Cmd+Z (Shift+Z to redo) retain up to eight session snapshots. Snapshots preserve unknown metadata. Saving establishes the clean history point; reload/open resets history. Each file write still makes a backup first.

Property checks

Checks audits party and storage; selecting a result opens that Pokemon's details. It checks numeric ranges, game catalogs and name glyphs, IV/DV/stat experience, total EVs, calculated stats/HP, level/experience, moves/PP/PP Ups, held items, PID-derived traits, OT/met fields, egg rules, Pokerus, markings and ribbon ranks. Input forms refuse malformed numbers and values outside their stated ranges.

This is not full PKHeX legality parity. Encounter matching, evolution and breeding move combinations, event distributions, transfer provenance and PID/IV RNG correlation are not fully verified. A record without property errors remains unchecked, never certified legal. Ribbon/event and unusual move origins are shown as warnings. Checks is read-only and does not rewrite provenance.

Modules

File	Role
Theme.lua, Kit.lua	Shared launcher faces with editor input and clipped scrolling
Chooser.lua, Motion.lua	Popup navigation and launcher transitions
Properties.lua, Legality.lua	Property schema and read-only reports
History.lua, Ops.lua	Session undo and save mutations
InspectorBody.lua	Generation-aware inspector forms
App.lua, panels/	Adaptive chrome, pages and modal pickers
PadInput.lua	Switch/gamepad pointer, actions and scrolling

Switch/gamepad controls: left stick/D-pad moves, A clicks, B closes with the unsaved confirmation, L/R cycles tabs, right stick scrolls. Mouse/touch takes control from the pad pointer. All modal pickers and moving pages shield controls underneath them. Destructive UI actions require a second tap within the arming window; Ops.armLabel shows Confirm? in between.

Verification

The save-editor suites run as tiers in scripts/test.sh, including save_editor_mobile_properties_tests.lua (phone/landscape/desktop control bounds, keyboard, touch and transitions), save_editor_property_legality_test.lua (Gen 3 properties and native persistence), Gen 2, Gen 3 IV/EV/PP and the existing party/storage/item/map/event/dex tests. Tests using imported data skip explicitly when the required ROM cache is unavailable. CI always runs mobile layout, keyboard/touch, Gen 3 IV/EV/PP, wheel and pad checks with committed fixtures; these do not depend on an imported Red ROM. Native property checks use an available FireRed cache independently of Red. The required luacheck gate includes all shipped editor modules.

For real LÖVE captures on a scratch save, use tests/drivers/save_editor_mobile_redesign.lua with tools/run_driver.sh. The driver captures all pages, inspector sections, desktop/landscape layouts and navigation popups and intermediate slide frames. It also checks pixels on an MSAA-disabled canvas for all four corners and smooth edges across 80 button variants (blue/green, selected, disabled, hovered and compact icon actions). Every painted label is checked against real font metrics for complete text and adequate width/height, including 320px screens and armed confirmations. Headless and desktop captures do not prove physical iOS/Android keyboard or device behavior.