How to Rename a D2R Character with D2CE

Your character’s name is a field in its save file, and D2CE edits it directly. Renaming takes a minute — but it comes with one file-handling caution that matters more than the edit itself: in the D2R save folder, the character’s .d2s file is named after the character. Change the name inside the file without thinking about the file name, and you have created a mismatch that confuses both players and tools. This guide covers the edit and the caution together.

Step by step: renaming a character

1. Close the game completely. Renaming a character the game currently has loaded is asking for the game to rewrite the file on exit.
2. Back up the save folder. A rename touches identity, not just numbers — you want the original file untouched somewhere safe.
3. Load the character in D2CE and find the Name field on the main screen. New to the editor? See the D2CE user guide, the save file location guide, and the download page.
4. Type the new name. D2CE supports UTF-8 character names (support the project specifically fixed and maintained in the 2.x releases, for PTR 2.4-era saves), so accented and non-Latin characters that the game itself accepts can be entered — keep the name to characters the game can display, and a length in line with names the game would let you create.
5. Confirm the field shows in bold and the title bar carries the asterisk for unsaved changes, then save with CTRL-S.
6. Now handle the file name (next section) before launching the game.

The file name caution

Each offline character lives in a file named <CharacterName>.d2s inside Saved Games\Diablo II Resurrected\. D2CE edits the name stored inside the file; whether the file on disk is renamed for you is not something to assume. Our advice:

• After saving the rename in D2CE, look at the save folder. If the .d2s file still carries the old name, rename the file itself to match the new character name exactly — same spelling, same characters — so the file name and the character name agree.
• Do not rename the file to something that matches no character, and do not leave two files claiming to be the same character. A file whose name and contents disagree is a classic ingredient in “my character disappeared” scares — see why an edited character can disappear.
• Keep the backup under the original name, stored outside the save folder, so restoring it can never be confused with the renamed character.
• Then launch the game and confirm the character appears in the list under the new name, loads, and plays normally.

What a rename does and does not change

• It changes the displayed character name — in the character list, in game, and anywhere the save’s name is shown.
• It does not change the character’s class, progress, gear or identity in any deeper sense; its other fields (including any companion data) are untouched. The mercenary keeps its own name — renaming your character does not rename the mercenary; mercenary work lives in the mercenary guide.
• It does not apply online. Online characters are server-side; there is no file and no Name field to edit, and this method cannot rename them.
• It pairs with other identity fields carefully. The Title field (Patriarch, Champion and so on) is separate from the Name field — if you are tidying a character’s presentation, review both, as described in the stats editing guide and the level 99 guide’s title note.

If D2CE will not open the save at all, start with the unreadable-save guide and check the Patch 3.x compatibility status for current-version saves. Browse the remaining one-job guides from the guides hub.