How do I upload my own world to my Valheim server?

Stop your server, upload the world into worlds_local in the server’s save folder, and set -world to the world’s exact name. Since Valheim 1.0, a world is a whole folder of files. Older worlds are two files, and they convert the first time a 1.0 server loads them.

Find the world on your PC

Close Valheim first, so the world isn’t halfway through saving. Then paste this into File Explorer’s address bar:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local

Not there? It’s probably a Steam Cloud save, which Valheim keeps in Steam’s own userdata folder instead. The world list in game shows which of your worlds are on the Cloud and which are local.

Coming from another host? Stop the server there, then download the same files from their file manager. There’s more in moving from another host.

What to copy

• A 1.0 world is a folder of its own inside worlds_local, with the world split into lots of chunk files. Copy the whole folder. Valheim keeps its backups in separate folders, so make sure it’s the world you’ve got and not a backup.
• An older world is two files, <World>.db and <World>.fwl. Copy both. Leave any .old files behind: those are older copies Valheim made of the same world. Worlds from before mid-2022 can still be in a folder called worlds, but on the server they go in worlds_local too.

Upload one format or the other for a world, never both.

Upload it

Download a backup from your Game Panel first, then:

1. Stop your server from the Game Panel. A running server keeps saving its own world (every 30 minutes by default), so it could write over yours.
2. Open your Game Panel’s file manager and go to worlds_local in your server’s save folder.
3. Upload the world’s folder, or its .db and .fwl files.
4. In your server’s settings in the Game Panel, set -world to the world’s name, exactly as Valheim’s world list shows it. Spaces and capitals count.
5. Start the server, join, and check your builds are there.

If you set the world up with different difficulty settings on your PC, match them in the launch options. See world modifiers and difficulty.

Older worlds convert on first load

A world from before 1.0 converts to the new folder format the first time your server loads it, and Valheim makes a backup before it starts. Keep your server up to date before that first load. Early 1.0 builds lost the upgrade levels of items on item and armour stands during conversion, until hotfix 1.0.12 fixed it. Patch 1.0.17 also fixed a rare bug that could wipe objects when a large chunk file was split.

If players can’t get in once it’s loaded, see why nobody can join.