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Skyrim Special Edition save filenames clearly have useful information in them in a specific format. This information can be handy e.g. when going back through the save game history to decide which saves to keep and which to dump, since a directory full of multi-megabyte saved games can get very large.

Here are some example filenames:

Autosave3_74DD6D56_1_42617469737465_KnifepointRidge01_000521_20171125110855_3_1.ess
Quicksave0_74DD6D56_1_42617469737465_KnifepointRidge01_000527_20171125111521_4_1.ess
Save1_AC6950AD_1_507269736F6E6572_Tamriel_000006_20171125005247_1_1.ess

What do the various components mean?

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Save filenames have nine components separated by underscores. Examples:

Autosave3_74DD6D56_1_42617469737465_KnifepointRidge01_000521_20171125110855_3_1.ess

The components are:

[0] Save Slot

One of Quicksave0, Autosave{1,2,3} or Save{1,2,3,...}.

[1] Racemenu hash

Unique hash used to identify your save profile. Regenerated on closing racemenu.

[2] Flag for modded game

0 for unmodded, 1 for modded.

[3] Character name in hex

Use a site like this one to convert. Examples:

  • 42617469737465 is Batiste
  • 507269736F6E6572 is Prisoner

[4] Location

A textual location name (with CamelCase words, no spaces) sometimes followed by a two digit number.

Examples: Tamriel, HelgenKeep01, HalfMoonMill, KnifepointRidge01.

[5] Days, Hours, Minutes played

Format is DDHHMM.

[6] Timestamp

Format is YYMMDDHHMMSS.

[7] Level

Current level of character. Variable digits, not padded.

[8] Unknown Number

Examples: 1.

Credit to NQS NamedQuicksaves for some of the above information.

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  • Nitpick: it's PascalCase, not camelCase for textual location. Unfortunately camelCase is more likely to be recognized in the vernacular.
    – Roddy of the Frozen Peas
    Commented Apr 23, 2021 at 15:35
  • @RoddyoftheFrozenPeas Many people and organizations refer to use of both initial capital and initial lower-case letters as "camel case"; only some consider camel case to be separate from "PascalCase." The original usage covers both; see the Wikipedia Article.
    – cjs
    Commented Apr 25, 2021 at 3:02
  • That's not what that article says. Though it does say that for simplicity it's going to talk about both forms in the same article.
    – Roddy of the Frozen Peas
    Commented Apr 25, 2021 at 3:07
  • @RoddyoftheFrozenPeas See the "Variations and Synonyms" section; the author of the first Usenet citation from 1995 says, "I had been calling it CamelCase for years," which seems to indicate he used it for inital upper case as well. Also see the second paragraph of the intro: "Some programming styles prefer camel case with the first letter capitalised, others not," with three references for that.
    – cjs
    Commented Apr 25, 2021 at 3:22

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