Need to rename my horse

[Riven]

When I got my horse I named him Sebastian. I always liked that name, and I didn't realize it was subconiously on my mind because there's a character in town with it. Flash forward a few seasons to picking out someone to marry, and I choose...surprise, Sebastian. I didn't even connect the names until I was already whooing him. Figured it didn't matter, just a bit funny. Now that we're married the game's glitching all over the place with the dual names. Either my husband or my horse is missing, I get 2 husbands walking around. It's weird. Researching shows it's an issue in the game. How do I rename the horse so I can play again?

[Mackenzie]

Step 1) Backup both your save files somewhere safe.

They can be found here: C:\Users\[User]\AppData\Roaming\StardewValley\Saves

2) For both save files for the game save you want to rename the horse in, open with a text editor. I recommend notepad++

3) Search for <characters><NPC xsi:type="Horse"><name>

4) You should see "Sebastian" without quotes just after <name>, rename it how you see fit.

5) Save the file and enjoy your renamed horse! Don't forget to do this in both save files or you could corrupt your save. Also Steam cloud sync might interfere, disabling it might be necessary.

[Cannibal Johnson]

Does editing this disbale the ability to get certain achiecements?

[Riven]

I edited the first save file, but I couldn't locate the word "horse" in the second, smaller, one.

[Mackenzie]

Let me check the second file, one minute.

[Mackenzie]

Nope, you're right. It's not in the second file. Should work then. Most things are in both files so I suggested both.

[Riven]

It renamed my horse correctly, but didn't get rid of the bugs the orignal problem caused. My horse's name now shows up as Spencer, but on the day I loaded he was still missing, and under my social tab it shows 3 entries with Sebastian. My married heart up in the corner is also gone.

[Mackenzie]

Hmm, here's an idea then. Make sure your backups are still in a safe spot in case this leads to something bad.

In-game ride the horse off of the farm screen. Then go back to your house and sleep so the game saves. Then before you exit your house, close the game and re-open it, load your save.. with a little luck it may have respawned with the correct parameters again.

[Riven]

I tried it. I don't know if it helped. I currently have Sebastian twice on my social tab, my married heart is still gone, and now my husband Sebastian is walking around the house in super-horse-speed.

[Mackenzie]

Geez, that really is a messy bug. Didn't mean to waste your time anyway, thought it could possibly fix it for you. Best of luck in sorting it, but you may have to start over in a new save and watch not to name your horse after villagers.

[Riven]

I reverted back to my save file before I edited anything. I demolished the stable while the horse was missing. I've played a few days in game and the horse hasn't reshown back up, but under my inventory tab it still lists him. If I rebuild the stable will I get a new horse (thus being able to choose a new name properly) or will "Sebastian the horse" just spawn back in place? I miss the speed of riding him.

[Mackenzie]

I am not entirely sure but I don't think that would allow you to rename it. Hmm. There might be another way... Backup before attempting of course.

1) Destroy your stable via Robin's. Make sure the horse is on your farm screen.

2) Save your game by sleeping.

3) Close the game and open the save file.

4) Delete this entire block of code:

      <characters>
        <NPC xsi:type="Horse">
          <name>YourHorsesName</name>
          <isEmoting>false</isEmoting>
          <isCharging>false</isCharging>
          <willDestroyObjectsUnderfoot>false</willDestroyObjectsUnderfoot>
          <isGlowing>false</isGlowing>
          <coloredBorder>false</coloredBorder>
          <flip>false</flip>
          <drawOnTop>false</drawOnTop>
          <faceTowardFarmer>false</faceTowardFarmer>
          <faceAwayFromFarmer>false</faceAwayFromFarmer>
          <scale>1</scale>
          <timeBeforeAIMovementAgain>0</timeBeforeAIMovementAgain>
          <glowingTransparency>0</glowingTransparency>
          <glowRate>0</glowRate>
          <Position>
            <X>4800</X>
            <Y>896</Y>
          </Position>
          <Speed>2</Speed>
          <IsEmoting>false</IsEmoting>
          <CurrentEmote>0</CurrentEmote>
          <age>0</age>
          <manners>0</manners>
          <socialAnxiety>0</socialAnxiety>
          <optimism>0</optimism>
          <gender>0</gender>
          <id>-1</id>
          <homeRegion>0</homeRegion>
          <daysUntilBirthing>-1</daysUntilBirthing>
          <daysAfterLastBirth>-1</daysAfterLastBirth>
          <birthday_Day>0</birthday_Day>
          <moveTowardPlayerThreshold>0</moveTowardPlayerThreshold>
          <isInvisible>false</isInvisible>
          <followSchedule>true</followSchedule>
          <datable>false</datable>
          <datingFarmer>false</datingFarmer>
          <daysMarried>0</daysMarried>
          <DefaultFacingDirection>0</DefaultFacingDirection>
          <DefaultPosition>
            <X>0</X>
            <Y>0</Y>
          </DefaultPosition>
          <IsWalkingInSquare>false</IsWalkingInSquare>
          <IsWalkingTowardPlayer>false</IsWalkingTowardPlayer>
        </NPC>
      </characters>

5) Type <characters/> just after <GameLocation xsi:type="Farm"> (Make sure it is just the closing characters tag, this is how it looks with no horse ever obtained yet). Verify it looks like this now:

<GameLocation xsi:type="Farm">
      <characters/>
      <objects>

6) Save the file, build a stable and test it out... hopefully that doesn't destroy the save but if it lets you rename your horse maybe that will have preserved the life of you game save.

[Riven]

This seemed to have worked, thank you. Have a new stable and horse, and things have settled down with the glitches.

[Mackenzie]

Happy to help, you're welcome. ^^; That's one less save file gone to waste!

[LuxuFate]

Do you know how to rename your horse on a mac? I tried opening the save files but I could not find anything

[Seraphita]

Um... You don't need to destroy your save file to rename your hose. Just find the horse name and change it then save the file and start game. Bam, new name. I did it for my own horse so yeah.

If done properly, I'm not sure how the game can bug out since name is only written once... o.O