Backing up your server is a necessary part of running any type of server, but you need to know where the essential data is stored and how the server handles it on its own. WinterNode also takes automatic backups of your entire server every 12 hours as an additional safety net, taken between 2AM-3AM and 2PM-3PM CST and kept for 45 days.

What Valheim 1.0 changed

Before 1.0, every world was a matching .db and .fwl file pair, and every backup was a matching pair too. Valheim 1.0 replaced that with a folder based format: each world is a folder inside worlds_local named after the world, and each backup is its own folder in the same directory. The world data inside the folder is split into smaller pieces, and only the pieces that change get rewritten on each save.

Worlds last saved before 1.0 are still a .db and .fwl pair until the server loads them once and converts them. The rest of this guide covers both.

Data files

All of Valheim’s world save data is stored in the .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local directory on your server, which you can access using the GCP File Manager or SFTP. That directory holds the live world data and the automatic backups Valheim takes.

The live world is named after the World Name server option, Dedicated by default. On Valheim 1.0 it is a folder with that name. On a world that has not been converted yet it is two files, one ending in .db and one ending in .fwl.

Restoring the data files

Restoring means putting a backup in place of the live world so the server loads it on next start. Stop the server first.

On Valheim 1.0 (folder format):

Rename the live world folder, for example from Dedicated to Dedicated.old, so you can fall back to it if you need to.
Copy the backup folder you want and rename the copy to the exact World Name, for example Dedicated.
Start the server.

On an unconverted world (.db and .fwl pair):

Rename the live Dedicated.db and Dedicated.fwl to something like Dedicated.liveBackup.db and Dedicated.liveBackup.fwl.
Rename the backup pair to Dedicated.db and Dedicated.fwl, keeping the extensions the same. For example, an automatic backup named Dedicated_backup_auto-20290729075914.db and its matching .fwl become Dedicated.db and Dedicated.fwl.
Start the server. It converts the restored world to the 1.0 folder format on load, which can take a few minutes.

If you would rather not do this by hand, WinterNode’s 12-hour server snapshots restore the whole server to an earlier point. Request one via ticket or Discord.

Restoring from a WinterNode snapshot

Our snapshots are separate from the backups Valheim takes for itself. They cover your server files rather than just the world, they are taken between 2AM-3AM and 2PM-3PM CST, and they are kept for 45 days. Files over 5GB and MySQL databases are excluded, which rarely affects a Valheim world but is worth knowing. Request one with the /request-backup-files command in a Discord ticket, or by ticket in the Client Area. Restores are usually done well inside 24 hours.

A finished restore is not yet a restored world

Restored files are placed in a /backup-restore folder in your file manager. They are not put back into place for you. Once the bot confirms the restore is complete, stop the server, back up the current world, then move the restored worlds_local data out of /backup-restore and into the matching path under .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim. Running /request-backup-files again does not move them, and each new request wipes whatever was in /backup-restore before.

Restoring Your Server from a Backup walks through the move step by step with screenshots.

Automatic backups

Valheim has its own automatic backup system that keeps 4 rolling automatic backups plus 1 backup taken when the server updates. The backups are stored alongside the live world in .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local, as their own folders on Valheim 1.0 or as file pairs on older builds. Backups are taken based on when the server starts: the first 2 hours after startup, and every 12 hours after that. All three of those numbers are configurable.

These three defaults are exposed as fields on the Server Options page, so you can change them without touching the startup command:

Panel field	Startup flag	Default	What it sets
`[REQUIRED] Backup Count`	`-backups`	`4`	How many automatic backups are kept, not counting the one taken on update
`[REQUIRED] Backup Shorttime`	`-backupshort`	`7200` (2 hours)	How long after startup the first backup is taken
`[REQUIRED] Backup Longtime`	`-backuplong`	`43200` (12 hours)	The interval between every backup after that first one

Automatic backup names contain the date and time the backup was taken. For example, Dedicated_backup_auto-20290729075914 breaks down as:

2029 (20290729075914) the 7th month (20290729075914) the 29th day (20290729075914) the 7th hour on a 24 hour clock (20290729075914) the 59th minute (20290729075914) the 14th second (20290729075914)

Taking a manual backup

Take a manual backup by copying the live world data from .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local: the world folder on Valheim 1.0, or the .db and .fwl pair on an older world. Do this while the server is offline so it is not writing to the files at the time.

You can copy it with the context menu in the GCP File Manager, or download it to your computer with SFTP or the GCP File Manager. Downloading it makes a remote backup, so even if every file on the server is cleared you still have a copy to restore from.

Restoring a manual backup works the same way as restoring an automatic one, covered in Restoring the data files above.