How to Make a Test Save for Mod Testing in GTA Games 2026

To make a test save for mod testing, you copy your GTA V Story Mode save file, rename the copy, and load that copy from the Story Mode menu. Your real playthrough sits in a different save slot and is never touched while you install scripts, vehicles or graphics mods. The whole job takes about five minutes with File Explorer.

The reason people bother is dull but real: a mod that crashes on load can take a save with it, and every Rockstar game update rewrites game files underneath whatever you have installed. Both things have ended long playthroughs for people on the GTA V boards. A duplicate save turns that from a disaster into a five-second rollback.

There are three ways to do it, and all three are covered below. The quick method is the duplicate-and-rename approach. The thorough method copies your whole profile set to a folder outside the game directory so cloud sync cannot reach it. The clean-baseline method starts a fresh Story Mode save for testing mods that break badly on an old campaign.

What You Need

Three things: a save worth protecting, somewhere safe to put a copy, and the mod files you want to test. That is genuinely the whole list. You do not need a second copy of the game, and you do not need to back up the entire game folder, which is the advice that shows up in most of the older backup threads and puts people off.

Where Are GTA 5 Save Files Located?

GTA V Story Mode saves live in the Saves folder inside your Documents library, usually at C:UsersYourNameDocumentsRockstar GamesGTA VSaves. Manual saves appear there as numbered files, while automatic saves use the SGDRF naming inside system and pc subfolders. Settings and graphics profiles sit separately under Profilescommonfiles.

Fastest way in: press Win + R, paste the line below, and press Enter. File Explorer opens the GTA V folder directly.

%USERPROFILE%DocumentsRockstar GamesGTA V

If that shows an empty or missing folder, your game is installed somewhere non-standard. Search your drive for Saves inside any folder called Rockstar Games. One player on the Steam discussion board spent a whole thread convinced his save was gone before someone pointed out he had moved his Documents folder to a second drive during a tidy-up.

What Each Folder Holds

Folder	What it contains	Do you copy it?
Saves	Manual save files plus SGDRF automatic saves in system and pc subfolders	Yes, always
Profilescommonfiles	Graphics, controls and audio settings, profile data	Yes, for a clean restore
Game foldermodbackup	Original files OpenIV moves aside when you switch on Edit mode	Yes, before any OpenIV work
Game folder (scripts, x64)	Where ASI files, Script Hook V and other mod files are installed	No, reinstall mods instead

The last row is the one people misread. The game folder is roughly 60GB and you do not need to duplicate it. Mod files are cheap to reinstall, saves are not.

Checklist Before You Start

• Your game is not running. Never copy save files while GTA V is open.
• You know which save file is your main campaign.
• You have a folder ready for backups that sits outside the Rockstar Games directory.
• Your mod download is unpacked and you have read its install notes.
• You know whether cloud saves are switched on in Social Club.

Step-by-Step: How to Make a Test Save for Mod Testing

Follow the quick method first. It creates a working test save in about five minutes. The longer methods that follow explain how to keep several in parallel and how to keep cloud sync away from them.

The Quick Method: Seven Steps to a Test Save

1. Close GTA V completely, including the launcher window, and confirm no GTA5.exe process is running in Task Manager.
2. Open the Saves folder with the Win + R path above and sort by date modified so you can see your most recent file.
3. Select the save file you want to test from. Copy it with Ctrl + C.
4. Paste it back into the same folder with Ctrl + V. You now have an identical copy with a bracket suffix such as SGDRF2 (1).
5. Rename the pasted copy to something plain such as SGDRF9. Avoid spaces and long names; use letters and numbers only.
6. Launch GTA V, open Story Mode, and load the new slot. Wait until you are free-roaming, then save in-game with the pause menu option.
7. Confirm the copy reads as the same character, same money and same story position. If it does, you have a working test save.

Step 7 matters more than it looks. An uncopied file can appear in the load menu but carry stale data from a previous slot. Open the loaded game once and save from inside it, and the file becomes a genuine second save.

If you prefer a method that needs no renaming tricks, jump to the profile copy method below.

Choose the Best Starting Point

Which save you copy changes what your test actually proves. A finished 100% campaign has every mission, property, upgrade and vehicle unlocked, so anything a mod touches is already present and you will notice missing things instantly. An early campaign save loads faster and closer to the ground, which suits menu mods and teleport tests.

Method	What you copy	Best for
Duplicate and rename (Method 1)	One save file, copied in place	Quick tests of a single script or vehicle mod
Full profile copy (Method 2)	Whole Saves folder plus Profiles, to a folder outside the game directory	Parallel test saves, rollback insurance, anything long-running
New Story Mode save (Method 3)	Nothing, you start fresh inside the game	Mods that break badly on an old campaign, or testing from a clean baseline

A new save sounds like a replay, and for story missions it is. Console commands shorten it: warp to a location, skip a mission, or drop into a vehicle, so you are not sitting through the opening hour before testing.

Be aware that mods written for a completed playthrough often expect unlocked systems. A vehicle add-on may spawn but the garage, insurance or the correct model list can behave oddly on an early save. Testing both a finished copy and an early copy is the honest way to know whether a problem is the mod or your save.

Back Up and Separate Your Original Save

This is the method that gives you real rollback. Instead of working inside the live folder, you keep an offline master copy somewhere the game never touches, and every test save is generated from it.

1. Create a folder outside Documents, for example D:GTA-backupMaster. Keeping it on a different drive or partition is safer still.
2. Copy the entire Saves folder into it, so you get the manual file plus every SGDRF autosave in the system and pc subfolders.
3. Copy Profilescommonfiles into the same master folder. Settings corruption is a common symptom after a bad graphics or ENB test, and this makes it a five-second fix.
4. Duplicate the master folder once per test set and name them plainly, such as Master, Test-VehicleMod, Test-Scripts. Dates help too: Test-ENB-2026-09-14 tells you at a glance which one is which.
5. Never work directly in the master folder. It is the copy you fall back to.

To make a test save from the master, copy its contents back into Saves under a fresh name, load it once in-game, and save. Your live folder now holds the test set while the master stays clean and dated.

On file management, the rule that saves the most grief is simple: one change per test save. If you change a mod setting and the save still loads, you have learned something. If you change three things at once and the game crashes, you have to start over.

Install the Mod and Load the Test Save

Install the mod as its own instructions say, then load the test save. The order matters less than people think, because most Story Mode mods read from the game folder rather than from the save.

Script mods with .asi files, Script Hook V and the ASI loader all install into the game folder. OpenIV mods install through the OpenIV interface, which moves the original file into a modbackup folder the first time you switch on Edit mode. Keep that modbackup folder; it is your fastest route back to vanilla when a test goes wrong.

Menu mods such as the Kiddions Mod Menu follow the same pattern, dropping files next to the game executable. Graphics and ENB mods change rendering rather than save data, so they rarely touch the save file at all, which is why they are the safest thing to try first.

After installing, launch the game and pick the test slot in the Story Mode load menu. Two checks confirm you are where you think you are:

• The character name, cash balance and story position match the save you copied. If they do not, you loaded the wrong slot.
• The mod’s effect is visible immediately: a new menu, a spawned vehicle, a changed sky. If nothing happens, the file probably is not in the folder you think it is.

One thing worth knowing: which mods actually write to your save. Script mods that alter money, garages or inventories can leave a trace behind, so treat the test save as expendable. A vehicle add-on or a visual mod does not, so it is safe to load your main campaign once it works.

Mod type	Touches the save?	Test save worth making?
Menu or trainer mod	Often, via money and inventory	Yes
Script mod with .asi	Depends on the script	Yes
Vehicle or addon mod	Rarely	Optional
ENB or graphics preset	No, but can crash on load	Optional, keep a backup anyway

Test the Mod Without Overwriting Your Main Progress

The accepted loop on r/GrandTheftAutoV for testing script mods is fast and worth copying: drop the .asi into the game folder, launch, test, quit, swap the file, repeat. No replays, no long sessions. Your test save means a crash costs you seconds rather than a playthrough.

When something does break and you do not know which file caused it, one experienced user on r/GrandTheftAutoV_PC keeps one copy of the game folder completely vanilla while a second copy stays modded, and alternates between them to bisect the problem. Same principle as your two saves, applied to the mods themselves.

Then protect the result from cloud sync. Social Club can push a cloud save over your local files, and a test save created moments earlier can be replaced without warning. Three habits prevent it:

• Keep your master copy outside DocumentsRockstar Games, where sync cannot see it.
• Use a different Social Club account for modded play if you play online at all, so the two sets of save data never meet.
• Date your folders. When something looks wrong later, a dated copy tells you exactly which version was running.

If cloud saves are already on and you want the old file back, Social Club can restore a save you uploaded previously. That is a genuine recovery route, but it only holds what Rockstar stored, which may be days old.

Removing a mod is the same motion in reverse: delete the mod files, or point OpenIV back at the modbackup folder to put the original file back. Leave the game folder vanilla and launch it once before loading your main save, so you are not surprised by a crash mid-mission.

Common Mistakes

Almost every lost save in this hobby traces back to one of a handful of mistakes. Each has a symptom you can recognise and a fix you can apply in minutes.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Main save missing or reset after a session	Cloud sync replaced the local file	Restore from your offline master copy; turn off cloud saves or move to a separate Social Club account
Crash on load after a game update	Update rewrote game files while mods were installed	Restore the vanilla files from modbackup or reinstall clean, then reinstall mods one at a time
Test save loads old data or wrong character	File was copied but never re-saved in-game	Load the slot, then save from the pause menu so it becomes a real save
Mod has no visible effect	File is in the wrong folder, or the wrong game version	Check the mod’s supported GTA V build and reinstall into the game root folder
Mods folder looks empty in OpenIV	Edit mode off, or the game folder is the wrong one	Switch on Edit mode, choose Tools then OpenIV, and confirm you are pointed at the GTA V installation
Kicked or asked to go offline in GTA Online	Mods active in an online session	Remove mods and loaders before launching, and test in Story Mode instead

Most Common Mistakes to Avoid

Testing on your only save. This is the big one. Make the duplicate first, then install anything.

Backing up the game folder instead of the saves. Copying 60GB every time you want to try something is why people stop backing up. The Saves folder is a few megabytes.

Leaving the game running while copying. Files copied from a running game can be half written. Close the launcher too, not just the window.

Assuming a successful load means a stable mod. Play for twenty minutes, save, and quit cleanly at least twice. Crashes that only appear on a specific mission or a fast travel are common.

Installing everything at once. Ten mods, one crash, no clue which one. Add one, test, repeat.

Forgetting that an update changes everything. When a new build lands, expect your mods to break until you reinstall. This is normal, not a corrupted install.

To restore your main save after a bad mod, close the game, delete the damaged files from the live Saves folder, copy the contents of your master backup folder back in, and relaunch. Story Mode will show the restored slot with your original progress. If the save itself is unreadable, restore the newest dated copy you kept rather than trying to repair it.

One last note on going online. Mods in Story Mode are a local activity, but GTA Online is not. Players on r/GTA are consistent on the rule: remove mods and their loaders before an online session, or keep a separate, untouched game folder for online play. One mod that behaves perfectly offline can still be a problem with anti-cheat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Start with the seven-step quick method: close the game, copy your save file, paste it back, rename the copy, and save once in-game so it becomes a real slot. Once that works, copy the whole Saves folder to a dated folder outside DocumentsRockstar Games and keep it as your master. Every mod test after that starts from the master, so a bad mod or a surprise game update costs you a minute instead of a playthrough.