Save and share seed files

A seed file (.hmseed) saves the island (or islands) you choose: the seed number, all your slider adjustments, the map size, and the layout of whatever islands you saved. It is not just a single number. It carries the whole island configuration, so opening it recreates the exact terrain with all your customizations. Any ground textures you painted on the island travel in the seed file too, so its look comes along with it. This makes seeds portable, shareable and reusable across projects.

How do I save a seed?

A seed saves the island (or islands) you have selected, not the whole map. Pick what you want on the canvas, use the save (star) action, give it a descriptive name, and save it as a .hmseed file in your seeds folder. The file stores everything for that selection: the base seed, your slider values, the map size, and the layout of the saved islands. Descriptive names help, so “mountain-archipelago-3k” beats a generic one.

• One island on the map: there is nothing to pick, so the star saves it directly.
• Several islands: select the island (or the group) you want first. The star stays disabled until you have a selection, so a single island can never accidentally bake the rest of the map into its seed.
• Save the whole map: Select All (Ctrl+A) so every island is selected, then save.

How do I reuse or import a seed?

• Open the seed gallery: click the gallery button next to the seed field to see all your saved seeds with thumbnail previews. Each saved seed gives you three ways to use it:
  • Click it to add its island (or whole saved group) to your current map, alongside the islands you have already placed. A group keeps its layout and lands selected, ready to drag into position.
  • Swap replaces just the island you currently have selected with the seed, leaving everything else untouched.
  • Replace all loads the seed as a brand-new map, clearing the current one.
• Favorite and sort: click the star on any saved seed to mark it a favorite. Sort the gallery by Newest or Favorites (both show everything, favorites first), or filter to just your Single-island or Multi-island saves. Favorites are personal to your computer and are not written into the shared .hmseed file.
• Import from file: drop a .hmseed file someone shared with you directly into your seeds folder (see Settings > Folders for location), or use the import button to browse for files.

Use cases

• Build a personal library: save every good terrain you generate. Build a familiar set of island shapes you’ve worked with in the map editor to speed up your future workflow.
• Share with collaborators: trade seeds with other map makers to collaborate on multi-author maps or to let friends iterate on your terrain.
• Iterate safely: save a seed before trying major slider changes, so you can always reload a good version if you want to go back.
• Version control: save different variants of the same base island with different slider tweaks (e.g., “island-v1-flat” vs “island-v2-mountainous”). Click the star again on an already-saved seed to save a new version with a different name, building a series you can compare side-by-side.