FSL Local GTAO Saves – Full Guide

Introduction: What FSL Provides to GTA Online

In the vast environment of GTA Online, players are constantly searching for ways to minimize their grind, get creative, and attempt things without being tied to Rockstar’s cloud saves. This is where FSL (Fast Save Loader) comes into play. FSL is a program that allows you to reroute GTA Online save data (from Rockstar’s servers) to your local machine. At its simplest, the benefit is largely the exploitation of infinite money in-game, the ability to save your progress while offline, and control of your own profile. For modders, content creators, and roleplayers, FSL is opportunity, creativity, and protection from the risk of resets to cloud saves.

In-Game Pictures:

Video Guide

 

Setup: Correctly setting up FSL

Using FSL is easy, but it must be done carefully. You’ll download the DLL file (it will usually be named WINMM.dll, but is usually renamed to WINMM.unknowncheats etc.), remove its unknowncheats name tagging it as WINMM.dll, which will also be placed in your main GTA V directory or place in the following: your Rockstar games>GTA V>(FIles)>wives; You will also need to disable BattlEye (BE) in your SC settings, as BE can block FSL from properly loading. When set up, FSL will load every time you play GTA V; FSL is fully injectable to your gaming v. For a lot of users, proof of concept will be seen during your first launch; when the game loads a new path with FSL, it will confirm on the legal screen that you have, during your load time, FSL is now active with your GTA online version number with (with FSL). Local Saves? This is how FSL works with your Data  

The main offering of FSL is the ability to store your GTA Online save data locally! This is how it works:

When you load up GTA with FSL activated, it first checks for a local save. If none is found, FSL will download your current Rockstar-cloud save and store it in your system directory at %APPDATA%/FSL. All future save and load actions will now bypass Rockstar's servers completely, and instead be saved directly to your hard drive – which means every new purchase of a car, property or stat change was saved locally without Rockstar cloud. The beauty of this approach is that it is fully reversible. You can disable FSL and your game will revert back to the Rockstar official online save. When you enable FSL again, your modded local save will be active again. This allows the player to play in dual mode so there isn't any chance of permanently risking their legitimate progression while testing the power of local saves.  

Backups and Safety of Data

While FSL does make backups of your save data automatically, there is a disclaimer; you should backup your own save data too! The reason is that everything contained in %APPDATA% is liable to be wiped when resetting Windows. So if your files are wiped, and your local saves have any progress saved in them, you may lose anything associated with that removed data. The recommendation to avoid this is for players to regularly copy their FSL folder up to some safe location outside of %APPDATA%. Seasoned GTA players often treat this as basic 'best practice' - local saves are awesome, but ultimately assign the risk right back to the player. Infinite Money: Cheat Codes Explained One of the most intriguing features of FSL is its built-in money cheats. Simply use the tilde key (~) in the game and enter your cheat while in an online session, and you can instantly add money to your game account. The supported commands are: 1M - Adds $1,000,000 10M - Adds $10,000,000 100M - Adds $100,000,000 1B - Adds $1,000,000,000 10B - Adds $10,000,000,000 With these cheats enabled you can create outrageous amounts of wealth within seconds, basically skipping the hours of grinding through heists, businesses and repetitious missions. Since this is a local change only, Rockstar's servers will never see the change, lowering the risk of a ban substantially. But, be warned that using infinite money cheats in public sessions can still be dangerous if they are used alongside other detectable mods. It is best to keep a low profile.  

Settings and Configuration File

The first time you run FSL, a configuration file is created at %APPDATA%\FSL. This file defines the way the tool runs. Some settings depend on one another, for example; you cannot have GTA+ benefits or money cheats enabled if you don't have local saves, enabled first. Any time you modify the configuration, you will have to fully exit and re-load the game for the changes to take effect. For power users, the config file becomes a base for customizing FSL to meet specific workflows for casual play, testing mods or creating Roleplay servers. As of FSL 2.0, developers also have another layer of implementation option, an API which allows other mods to interact with FSL in some cool ways. These include functions like: int LawnchairGetVersion(); - Gets the current FSL version. bool LawnchairIsProvidingLocalSaves(); - If local saves are an option. bool LawnchairIsProvidingBattlEyeBypass(); - If BattlEye bypass is activated. For these, modders can use GetModuleHandleA to find WINMM.dll, and then call GetProcAddress for the functions available. The real benefits of this is it's very easy to make companion mods that are aware of FSL when it's in use, which enhances compatibility and helps with tool conflicts. For developers this offers a way forward towards a more robust modding ecosystem in a future-proof environment.  

Frequently Asked Questions

Is FSL Safe?

FSL was built to be almost untraceable because it would sometimes allow your modified saves to never touch Rockstar's servers. That said, as the game comes out in more patches and iterations, Rockstar could choose to "sig" or flag the tool, in some way, for players trying to get around their terms, and understanding the nature of this risk is worth being aware of. To be safer, most players recommended one could always use it in combination with a working anti-cheat bypass mod menu if they were playing online.

Can I Edit My Saves?

Currently, there aren't any dedicated tools to edit FSL save files, but you can use CodeWalker to view the files. It is possible that editing functionality could develop over time as the community grows.

Why Did My Money Disappear When I Disabled FSL?

This happens because your money is tied to your local save area, not the Rockstar cloud. Disabling FSL would take you back to the original online save. So if you are worried about losing your modded money, just keep FSL on!

Can FSL Remove Bans?

Older versions of FSL could remove bans, but lately Rockstar has come up with peer to peer certificates for ownership and to track bans. So while it does not seem possible to remove bans with FSL at this time, some players speculate it can still facilitate some actions in solo .

Can I Share My Save Files?

Yes. Since FSL saves everything locally, anyone can export their save files and share them with other players. This provides another layer of experimentation for the community; now you can share builds, vehicles and styles of play you created!

How Do I Check That FSL Is Working?

If you installed correctly, you will see the "with FSL" tag next to your online version number on the legal disclaimer screen in-game. If you do not see it; either FSL is out of date, or you installed incorrectly!!

Best Practices for Responsible Use

Being responsible with FSL means you have to balance freedom and responsibility when you use it. Visibly loading into public lobbies with $10 billion bucks (or $10 million) is awesome because it is fun; but this is also guaranteed to put a target on your account. I would recommend using FSL as a sandbox for your leisure time, i.e. using FSL to test mods, film roleplay scenes, and simulate economic systems that Rockstar's grind systems routinely preclude. By applying backups and limited use in the safest sessions, FSL can become a companion, instead of a liability.