Wilderack backs up your Palworld world for you: every time the server goes to sleep, and every 10 minutes while it runs. Your world lives in Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/. You can restore any backup, download it, or upload a world from single player, co-op or another host.
How backups work on Wilderack
| Backup | When it’s made | How long we keep it |
|---|---|---|
| Latest safe copy | Each time the server sleeps, and every 10 minutes while it runs and something changed | Always the newest one |
| Your own backups | When you press the backup button in Backups | Until you delete them |
| Scheduled backups | On a schedule you set in Schedules | The oldest is replaced when your backup slots are full |
| Automatic safety backups | Before every risky step: switching games, restoring, updating, installing mods | 7 days |
The server saves the world before each safe copy, so nobody needs to stop playing. Backups hold your world and settings, never Palworld’s game files, which we install from Steam.
Make, restore and download
Make one: open Backups, press the backup button and add a label, like before the boss raid.
Restore one:
- Open Backups and pick the backup.
- Choose restore and confirm.
- We back up the world as it is now, then put the old one back and start the server.
Download one: choose download on any backup. You get a zip with a link that works for 24 hours.
To get back only one file, like yesterday’s PalWorldSettings.ini, open Files, pick the file and restore an earlier version of it.
Where the world lives on the server
Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/<world id>/The world ID is a long string of letters and numbers. Inside that folder:
| File or folder | What it is |
|---|---|
Level.sav |
The world: bases, buildings, Pals in the world |
LevelMeta.sav |
Information about the world |
Players/ |
One .sav file per player character |
WorldOption.sav |
Only in some worlds: settings that override PalWorldSettings.ini |
backup/ |
Palworld’s own backups, when bIsUseBackupSaveData is on |
The server loads the world named in DedicatedServerName in Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini.
Palworld’s own backups are on by default and run on their own timer. Pocketpair’s docs list it as 5 copies 30 seconds apart, 6 copies 10 minutes apart, 12 copies an hour apart and 7 copies a day apart. They live next to the world on the same disk. Our backups are kept apart from your server, so they’re the ones to trust if something goes badly wrong.
Bring a single-player or co-op world
Steam on Windows. Your worlds are in:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Pal\Saved\SaveGames\<your Steam ID>\<world id>\Paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\Pal\Saved\SaveGames into the File Explorer address bar to get there. If you have several worlds, the newest one usually has the most recent date.
Xbox app and Game Pass on PC. These saves are stored in a different, packed format. You need a community tool to convert them first. Pocketpair doesn’t make one, so use it at your own risk and keep a copy.
Xbox, PS5 and Mac. We can’t confirm a way to copy worlds off consoles, and the Mac save location may differ by version. Start a fresh world on the server instead, or ask us at support@wilderack.com.
Upload it
- Close Palworld, so the world is fully saved.
- Zip the whole world folder, the one named with the world ID.
- In the panel, open Games > Bring your world and upload the zip.
- If the world folder has a
WorldOption.sav, delete it in Files if you want your Settings to apply. Keep it if you want the world’s single-player settings. - Start the server and join.
Doing it by hand instead? Stop the server, upload the world folder into Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/, and set DedicatedServerName in GameUserSettings.ini to the folder’s name. Then start the server.
The host character problem
When you move a co-op world to a dedicated server, everyone’s progress comes along, except the host’s character. In co-op, the host is saved under a fixed ID (a file ending in 0001.sav in Players/). A dedicated server gives that player a new ID, so the host starts with a new character. This still happens on Palworld 1.0.
The world, bases and Pals are fine. To get the host’s character back:
- Make a backup in Backups and download it.
- Have the host join the server once and create a new character, then leave.
- Stop the server and download the world folder.
- Use a community save tool, such as Palworld Save Pal, to move the old host character onto the new player ID.
- Upload the fixed world and start the server.
Save tools change your world files directly, and they come from fans, not from Pocketpair. Only use one on a copy, and keep the backup from step 1 until the host’s character is back.
Move a world from another host
- Stop the server on your old host.
- Download
Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/with your world folder inside, plusPal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini. From a Windows host, the settings file is inWindowsServerinstead. - Zip them and upload in Games > Bring your world.
- Check that
DedicatedServerNameinGameUserSettings.inimatches your world folder’s name. - Start the server and join.
Leave out the game files and any old mods. If your old server used mods, read the mods guide first.
Questions
Where are Palworld single-player saves on Windows?
For the Steam version, in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Pal\Saved\SaveGames\, then a folder named after your Steam ID, then one folder per world. The Xbox app and Game Pass version stores saves in a different format that needs converting first.
Where is the world on a Palworld dedicated server?
In Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/ followed by a folder named with the world's ID. The server picks which world to load from DedicatedServerName in Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini.
Why is my character gone after moving my co-op world to a server?
In co-op, the host's character is saved under a fixed ID, and a dedicated server gives that player a new ID. The world is fine, but the host gets a new character. Community save tools can move the old character to the new ID. Back up first.
How often is my Palworld server backed up?
Wilderack makes a safe copy every time the server goes to sleep and every 10 minutes while it runs. You can also make backups by hand or on a schedule, and restore or download any of them.
Sources we checked
- Configuration parametersPocketpair
- Palworld v1.0 Official Release ChangelogPocketpair
- Palworld Save PalPalworld Save Pal community project
