Your 7 Days to Die world is backed up automatically on Wilderack: every time the server sleeps, and every 10 minutes while it runs. You can also make, restore and download backups in Backups, and bring in a world from single player or another host.
How backups work on Wilderack
| Backup | When | Kept |
|---|---|---|
| Latest safe copy | Every time the server sleeps, and every 10 minutes while it runs | Always the newest one |
| Your own backups | When you make one in Backups, with a label | Until you delete them |
| Scheduled backups | When a schedule in Schedules runs | Oldest replaced when your slots are full |
| Safety backups | Before risky steps: switching games, restoring, updating, installing mods | 7 days |
Before each backup we ask the game to save with saveworld, so the copy matches what players see. Backups hold your world, player progress, settings, admin lists and mods. They never hold game files, which always install fresh from Steam.
Make a backup by hand on the afternoon of a blood moon. If the horde flattens your base, you can choose whether to rebuild or roll back.
Make, restore or download a backup
Make one: open Backups and make a backup. Give it a name you’ll remember, like “day 20 before horde”.
Restore one: pick a backup in Backups and restore it. We make a safety backup of the current world first, so you can change your mind.
Download one: choose download on any backup. You get a zip of your world, settings and mods, with a link that works for 24 hours.
To get one file back, like last week’s serverconfig.xml, open it in Files and pick an earlier version by date.
Where the world lives on your server
| Folder | What’s in it |
|---|---|
.local/share/7DaysToDie/Saves/<World>/<GameName>/ |
Your save: what you built, what you looted, and every player’s character |
.local/share/7DaysToDie/GeneratedWorlds/<World>/ |
A random world the server generated. The save needs it to load |
.local/share/7DaysToDie/Saves/serveradmin.xml |
Admins, whitelist and bans |
serverconfig.xml |
Server settings, in the main folder |
<World> is the world’s name, like Navezgane or the name the game gave your random world. <GameName> is the GameName from serverconfig.xml.
Bring a single-player world
On PC, your saves and generated worlds live here:
| System | Saves | Random worlds |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | %APPDATA%\7DaysToDie\Saves\ |
%APPDATA%\7DaysToDie\GeneratedWorlds\ |
| macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/7DaysToDie/Saves/ |
~/Library/Application Support/7DaysToDie/GeneratedWorlds/ |
| Linux and Steam Deck | ~/.local/share/7DaysToDie/Saves/ |
~/.local/share/7DaysToDie/GeneratedWorlds/ |
Type %APPDATA% into the Windows File Explorer address bar to jump to the right place. PlayStation and Xbox don’t let you copy save files out, so console worlds can’t be moved to a server.
- Check the version. The server and your save need the same game version. A V2.6 save needs its settings rebuilt as a code to keep going on V3. See blood moon and difficulty settings.
- Find your save. In
Saves, open the world folder, then the folder with your save’s name. - Find the world. If it’s a random world, find the folder with the same world name in
GeneratedWorlds. Navezgane and pregenerated maps come with the game, so skip this step for them. - Zip and upload. Zip both folders and upload them in Games > Bring your world. Or stop the server and upload them with Files or SFTP into the matching folders under
.local/share/7DaysToDie/. - Point the server at it. In Settings, set the world to the world folder’s name (
GameWorld) and the game name to the save folder’s name (GameName). The names must match exactly, including spaces. - Start the server and join. Your character usually comes along too, because the game stores it by your account.
Stop the server before you replace save files. A running server writes its own copy over yours when it saves.
Move a world from another host
Download the save folder from Saves, the world folder from GeneratedWorlds if it’s a random world, serveradmin.xml, serverconfig.xml and your Mods folder. Upload them to the same places on your Wilderack server and follow steps 5 and 6 above. Keep our port and telnet settings: copy your old settings across line by line rather than replacing the whole serverconfig.xml.
Start a fresh world
Change GameName in Settings to a new name and restart. The server starts a new save and keeps the old one in Saves. To go back, set the old name again. For a whole new map, also change the world or the seed.
You can also keep several worlds as separate saves in Games and switch between them. Your address stays the same.
Questions
Where are 7 Days to Die saves on Windows?
In %APPDATA%\7DaysToDie\Saves, in a folder for the world and then a folder for each save. Random worlds you generated are in %APPDATA%\7DaysToDie\GeneratedWorlds.
Can I move my single-player 7 Days to Die world to a server?
Yes, on PC. Upload the save folder and, for a random world, its folder from GeneratedWorlds. Then set GameWorld to the world's name and GameName to the save's name, on the same game version.
Can I move my PlayStation or Xbox 7 Days to Die world to a server?
Not as files. Consoles don't let you copy save files to a PC, so console worlds can't be uploaded.
Sources we checked
- Server7 Days to Die Wiki (official)
- V3.0 Dead Hot Summer release notes (V2.6 saves)The Fun Pimps
- Command Console7 Days to Die Wiki (official)
