Edit character appearance - DNA edit

How to use the portrait editor to change the appearance of characters.

Introduction

This is a guide on how to edit the characters in Crusader Kings 3 using the portrait editor. Debug mode is required. A text editor is required.

Let's go!

Finding DNA to work with.

You can skip this section if you are going to create a brand new character.

Go to your document folder.
Open folder named "Paradox Games"
Open folder named "Crusader Kings III"
Open folder named "save games"
Find the file with the extension .ck3 where the character you wish to edit is.
Copy the file somewhere safe.
Right click the file and unpack it. You can unpack the file using 7zip, Winrar or Winzip, whichever you prefer. Right click the file and select "Extract here" or "Extract files"
Open the gamestate file in a text editor.
CTRL+F the unique ID of your character or find the character by name.
Protip: to find the character by its ID search for <ID=>. For example, if the character id is 102583 search for 102583=
Copy the string in dna= and boot up the game to begin editing.

Working with the DNA

Go into Crusader Kings 3
Open the console
Select "Portrait editor", first row 3rd column
Click paste DNA string without quotation marks
Play around with the genes
Don't use genes' sliders too much or the game will crash
Protip: the portrait changes only when you touch sliders or buttons.
Alternatively, select 3D view and observe character from there. Left click rotates the camera, right click moves the camera.
Once done editing, add clothes to your character so that it is not naked in the main menu.
Once satisfied, click copy DNA string from the button on the right.
If you are editing your heir, spouse or your player character, also copy the persistent DNA.
Paste these temporarily in an empty text file so you don't lose your hours of work, you dummy.

Applying DNA

Save the game and exit it.
Navigate to your folder with the saved games.
Copy the save file to a safe place and unpack it.
Open the gamestate file with a text editor.
Find the character by ID whose DNA you wish to edit.
Replace the character's DNA with your own edited DNA. Remember to preserve the quotation marks.
If you are editing your heir, spouse or playable character you might need to paste the persistent DNA as well.
Go to the top of the gamestate file
Find the meta_ portrait you need.
Copy and replace the genes dictionary. Do not replace anything else unless you know what you're doing.

Save the gamestate file and add the extension .ck3. If you do not know how to change file extensions, Google it.
Rename the file so that you preserve the original in the save folder.
Place the edited .ck3 file back into your save folder.
Start the game
The portrait in the main menu may not be updated. Wait until you enter the game to check whether you've made a good edit.

Conclusion

Enjoy your new waifu.

If you have any questions or problems ask them politely and I will help you as much as I can. Unless you ask something that you can Google.

If you've enjoyed this guide or found it useful, gimme a nice 🌟 and/or share this with your friends who need a hot waifu.

[hamsterdoom360]

Greetings from 2025!
For anyone wondering why their save edits are being "rewritten" by the game when loading up the save file, make sure you're not pasting the "id=0" line from the chunk of text the 'Copy Persistent DNA' button gives you.
I hope this helps anyone who had the same problem I had. :P

[Armageddon Steel Legion]

Could I change a character's sex?

[jonwillwest]

I've tried following all of the steps; unfortunately, the game keeps resetting my character to her original form. I want to change her bodyshape from an apple to an hourglass/pear. I am not sure what I'm doing wrong.

[PigIA3]

It reverts back when the game starts

[Dirge]

Hello and thank you for the guide. I was getting really into editing a character and was just wondering what the "attributes" section is for? The changes I make in attributes don't seem to carry over to the game regardless of if I use the persistent DNA or just the string.

[Fogradh_Minstre1]

Every time I try to save the file, the meta data saves but the DNA string reverts back to what it was.

[BlackRondo9]

I was looking for how to copy DNA of my died character. Thanks for guide!

[Say pwease]

Hello. I've translated your guide. Can you add me so I can mark you as an author?

[Anubis]

I went through this, Auto Save files are not readable. It has to be a regular save you do yourself. No exit saves and no Auto Saves.

[Savant]

@Vertigo: "If it isn't all readable in Notepad++ my guess is: It is an Ironman file?"

I wouldn't know -- I reckon that Ironman save files should be obfuscated in some way but I haven't tested it. Therefore, I think that attempting to read and edit ironman save files shouldn't be done.