Saving

Saving a game of NetHack is very simple. You have to just press shift + s and the game is saved.

To load the game, you just have to type the same name as in the saved file. If you use different names, then you can play multiple characters simultaneously.

Example

You start the game and put "John Doe" as your name. After selecting your race, class, gender and alignment, the game starts. You can now save the game at any time you want by pressing the shift + s keys simultaneously. The game will ask if you are sure you want to save ("Really save? [yn]"). If you press the "n" key, the game will continue. If you press "y", the game will save and quit.

When loading the game again, type in the name you used for the saved game to load the save. In the "Who are you?" screen, type "John Doe" without the quotation marks, and you will load the game you saved with that name.

Keeping a save file

Normally, NetHack deletes a save file once it is loaded, then creates a new one when you save the game at a later point. This is done to discourage save scumming, the act of restoring an older save file whenever something goes wrong in order to avoid the consequences.

For beginning players who want to learn the game's basics with less risk, NetHack also provides a sort of "practice mode" called explore mode. One of the mode's features is allowing you to keep your save file, preventing the usual deletion.

Unix

On Unix systems, your NetHack player's name is your username by default. To use a different name, use the -u switch to nethack like thus:

$ nethack -u Jack

This will either start Jack's game or load Jack's saved game.

Public servers

On nethack.alt.org, hardfought, and other dgamelaunch-style servers, your player's name is the name of your account.

As of June 2024, nethack.alt.org has 1 server instance: United States; and Hardfought has three server instances: United States, European Union, and Australia. You may have one saved game per server instance. So you may have 1 game in progress on nethack.alt.org and up to 3 games in progress on Hardfought.

See also

• Hangup your NetHack process if you must save but cannot use the S command.
• Save scumming