How to Add a Savegame to Your Valheim Server

You can transfer a local save to your server to continue playing with an existing world.

Find the local savegame

1. Open savegame folder
   Press Windows Key + R, enter the following path and confirm with Enter:

   %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local

2. Identify the world folder
   Since Valheim 1.0, every world is a folder of its own named after the world, for example MyWorld. The files inside belong together as a set, so you always transfer the complete folder. Folders with _backup_ in their name are backups of your world, not the current state.

Note

If you only find the two files <WorldName>.fwl and <WorldName>.db instead of a folder, the world is still in the format used before Valheim 1.0. You can upload such worlds as well, see Upload worlds in the old format.

Upload and apply the savegame

1. Stop the server
   Stop your server via the dashboard.

2. Connect via SFTP
   Connect to your server via SFTP and navigate to the following directory:

   /.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local/

3. Rename a world with the same name
   If there is already a folder with the same name as your world, rename it (for example from MyWorld to MyWorld_old) or download it to your PC first and only then delete it. Never upload your world into an existing world folder, otherwise the files of two saves get mixed.

4. Upload the world folder
   Upload the complete folder of your world with its name unchanged to the worlds_local directory. Afterwards your world is located at, for example:

   /.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local/MyWorld/

   Important

   Upload the folder directly into worlds_local and not into another subfolder, because the server only looks for worlds one folder level deep. Do not rename any files inside the folder and do not mix files from different saves. If the server does not find a complete set of files, it cannot load the world and deletes the incomplete files on startup.

5. Set world name
   Open the dashboard, navigate to the Settings and enter the exact name of your world folder in the World Name field, in this example MyWorld. The field allows a maximum of 20 characters.

6. Start the server
   Save the settings and start your server.

Warning

If the worlds_local folder does not exist, start the server once so the folder structure is created automatically. Stop the server again before uploading the files.

Tip

If the server loads a new, empty world instead of yours, it did not find your world, for example because of a typo in the World Name field or because the folder is not located directly in worlds_local. The server has then created a new world under the entered name. Stop the server, delete the newly created folder and fix the error.

Tip

Create a backup of your existing server savegame before uploading, in case you want to switch back later.

Upload worlds in the old format

Worlds that have not been opened since Valheim 1.0, as well as backups from before that, consist of the two files <WorldName>.fwl and <WorldName>.db. You can transfer such worlds to your server as well. Follow the steps above with these differences:

• Instead of a folder, upload the two files <WorldName>.fwl and <WorldName>.db directly into the worlds_local directory. Both files must come from the same save.
• Enter the name of the files without the file extension in the World Name field, for example MyWorld for MyWorld.fwl and MyWorld.db.

As soon as the server saves the world for the first time, it automatically converts it into a world folder in the new format. It renames the original files to <WorldName>_backup_<Timestamp>.fwl and .db so that the old state is kept as a backup.

Warning

Here too, rename or remove an existing world folder with the same name first, as described in step 3. If a world folder and a pair of files with the same name are next to each other, the server only loads the newer state and automatically moves the older one to a backup. This can also be the world you just uploaded.