How it works

Ringside Exchange is a fan-made place to swap AEW: Fight Forever creations. You download what other players made and add it to your own game. Everything stays offline and single-player.

Add a wrestler to your game

1. Get Python if you're on Windows. Install Python 3 from python.org with its default options; that includes the py command. Steam Deck and most Linux systems already have it.
2. Download the installer, ringside.py, and keep it somewhere easy, like your Downloads folder. You only need it once.
3. Open a terminal in that folder. On Windows, open the folder in File Explorer, click the address bar, type cmd and press Enter. On Steam Deck, switch to Desktop Mode, open the folder in Dolphin and press F4 (or right-click and choose “Open Terminal Here”).
4. Close the game, then copy the command from the creation's page and run it. On Windows it looks like py ringside.py get 12; on Steam Deck and Linux, python3 ringside.py get 12. You can list several numbers at once.
5. Start the game. The wrestler appears with your created wrestlers.

Getting several? Press “Add to install list” on each wrestler. The bar at the bottom builds one command for all of them. Browsing on your phone? Open your list with “View list” in the bar, then press “Send this list to my PC” to get the same list on your computer.

The installer backs up your whole SaveGames folder first (into Ringside-backups next to it) and only adds new files. To undo an install, run py ringside.py restore (or python3 ringside.py restore on Steam Deck). It rolls your whole SaveGames folder back to the newest backup, so it tells you how old that backup is and asks before doing anything.

Tag teams and arenas

The game keeps all your tag teams in one file, and all your arenas in another, so using someone else's replaces yours. The installer handles it safely: py ringside.py swap 4 backs up your saves, shows what will be replaced, and waits for you to type yes. To get your own back, run py ringside.py unswap teams (or unswap arenas), which changes nothing else. Merging someone's teams into yours isn't possible yet.

Share your own

Use Share a creation and pick the save file. For a wrestler, share the UGCWrestler_N.sav file that holds just that one wrestler: sort your SaveGames folder by date modified and it's usually the newest. Never share UGCWrestler_1.sav, which holds your roster edits. After uploading you get a manage key: keep it, because it's the only way to delete your creation later.

Stay safe

• Only use shared content offline. Never take it into the game's online modes.
• Never share or install OnlineInfo.sav.
• Spotted something stolen or broken? Use “Report a problem” on its page.

If something goes wrong

• “'py' is not recognized” means Python isn't installed yet. Install Python 3, then open a new terminal. If py still fails, try python instead.
• “No such file” or “can't open file 'ringside.py'” means the terminal isn't in the folder where you saved ringside.py. Open the terminal from that folder, as in step 3 above.
• It says the game is running. Close AEW: Fight Forever completely, including from the Steam tray, and run it again.
• Nothing new appeared in the game. Check the command said “Added”. If it did, restart the game. Then tell us with “Report a problem” on the creation's page, choosing “It doesn't work”.
• “Couldn't reach” the site. Check your internet connection and try again. Nothing was changed.
• “Skipped: #N isn't on the site any more”. Its creator deleted it, or it was hidden after reports. Everything else in the command was still added.
• “Something unexpected went wrong”. Your saves were backed up first, so py ringside.py restore puts them back. Please send the last line it printed with “Report a problem”.
• “Only N free wrestler slots left”. The game reads up to 100 wrestler files. Delete created wrestlers you don't use in the game's Create menu, then run the command again.
• “Found more than one SaveGames folder”. You have the game in more than one place (for example on a Steam Deck SD card). The installer uses the first one it lists. To pick another, add --saves and that folder's path before the command, like py ringside.py --saves "D:\SaveGames" get 12.
• “There's no saved original” when you run unswap means you hadn't swapped on this PC, so there's nothing of yours to put back. To roll everything back to before your last swap, use restore (below).
• Want everything back how it was? Run py ringside.py restore to roll back to the newest backup (it shows the date and asks first), or add a file name from Ringside-backups, for example py ringside.py restore SaveGames-20261002-171249.zip. Running restore twice is safe: it never picks its own safety copies.

Shortcuts

Press / anywhere to jump to search. On the platform tabs, the arrow keys switch between Windows and Steam Deck.

For tinkerers

The site has a JSON API at https://ringside.exchange/api/creations, and the installer accepts --saves PATH to target a copy of your saves. Run py ringside.py --help for every option.