Most Valheim worlds that matter were hosted from one player's PC — and that player had to be online for anyone to play. With 1.0 bringing PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 players into the same worlds, groups are moving those saves onto dedicated servers so the world is always up and the console half of the crew can join. The move is one folder (or, for an older world, two files) and a name. This is the exact procedure, plus the things that trip people up.
Why groups are doing this now: the PS5 and Switch 2 half of the crew
Before 1.0, a PC-hosted world was enough for a PC-only group. Now the friends who bought Valheim on PlayStation 5 or Switch 2 can play in the same world — but only through a server started with crossplay on, and only while it's running. Moving the existing world onto a dedicated server gives them a join code that works whenever they log in, and keeps every hour the PC group already put in. The join-code side is covered in how console players join a Valheim server; this guide is the move itself.
What a Valheim world actually is
This changed in 1.0, and most guides have not caught up.
A world that has been played on 1.0 is a folder. Inside worlds_local there is a folder named after the world, holding a _main.*.db2 and _main.*.fwl2 pair plus a set of .chunk files. The whole folder is the world — copy all of it, never individual files out of it.
A world last saved before 1.0 is two files, always together:
<WorldName>.db — the world: terrain changes, every placed piece, every explored zone<WorldName>.fwl — the header: seed, name, world version
A 1.0 server loads either. Give it the old pair and it converts the world to the folder format the first time it loads, keeping the original pair beside it. The conversion is one-way, so keep your own copy of the pair if you might ever want it on an older build.
Characters are not in the world. Each player's character (skills, inventory, appearance) is a separate .fch file on their own machine and comes with them to any server. That's why nobody loses their gear when the world moves.
Step 1: find the world on the machine that hosted it
| Where it was played | Location |
|---|
| Windows (Steam) | %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local\ |
| Linux / Mac | ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local/ |
| Steam Cloud | Steam\userdata\<your id>\892970\remote\worlds\ |
| A previous dedicated server | Whatever its -savedir pointed at, then worlds_local\ |
If a world has both a worlds_local copy and a Steam Cloud copy, the one with the newer modified time is the live one. Pick that.
Stop the game (or the old server) before copying. A world copied while it's being saved can be half-written.
Step 2: put the world on the server
Copy the world folder — or both files, for a pre-1.0 world — into the server's worlds_local folder — the one under whatever directory the server's -savedir argument points at. On a hosted server that's typically a saves/worlds_local/ folder you can reach from the file manager or over SFTP — and on a Connect server you skip this step and the next: zip the world folder, click Import a world on the Server Settings tab, and the dashboard checks it, places it and selects it. Worlds are small (tens of megabytes for a long-running one). A folder is easiest over SFTP, since most web file managers upload files rather than folders.
Step 3: tell the server which world to load
Set the server's world name to the folder name — or, for a pre-1.0 pair, the file name without the extension. If the folder is Midgard, or the files are Midgard.db and Midgard.fwl, the world name is Midgard. On a self-hosted server that's -world "Midgard" in the launch line; on a host it's the World Name setting.
One rule the game enforces: the server password must not appear anywhere in the world name, and must be at least 5 characters. If the server won't start after the move, that's the first thing to check.
Step 4: start and verify
Watch the console for:
Load world: Midgard (Midgard)
followed by Game server connected and, on a crossplay server, Session "…" registered with join code ……. If you see missing …/worlds_local/Midgard.db instead, the name doesn't match the files — the server will generate a brand-new world with that name, which is harmless but not what you wanted. Stop it, fix the name or the file names, and start again.
Things that go wrong
- Only part of the world was copied. On 1.0, a folder missing some of its
.chunk files will not load properly — copy the whole folder. For a pre-1.0 pair, a .db without its .fwl makes the server generate a fresh world; a .fwl without a usable .db shows "Missing DB" in the world list. Copy both.
- The world shows "[Old Format]". That's a save from the pre-2022 location or layout. Load it once in your own game and use the move-to-local option, then copy the freshly written files.
- The wrong copy. Steam Cloud versus local: check modified times.
- World version. A world last played before 1.0 is upgraded in place the first time the 1.0 server loads it. Keep a backup of the original in case you ever need it on an older build.
- Case sensitivity. Linux servers care:
Midgard.db and midgard.db are different files. Match the name exactly.
- Admins didn't come along. Admin, permitted and banned lists are separate text files next to the world folder, and the server's copies start empty. Add SteamID64s for PC players and platform IDs for console players (how console admin IDs work).
Bringing the group back in
Once the world is loaded, PC players join by IP and port or by join code; console players by join code only. Everyone picks their existing character and lands where they logged out. Their map exploration and pins are stored in the character file, so those carry over too.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I move my Valheim world from my PC to a dedicated server?
Yes. Copy the world's .db and .fwl files into the server's worlds_local folder and set the server's world name to match.
Do players lose their characters when the world moves?
No. Characters live in each player's own .fch file, not in the world.
Can I move a world from a PS5 or Switch 2?
Console saves aren't accessible as files, so a console-hosted world can't be moved this way. A world that started on PC and is moved to a dedicated server can then be joined from any console.
What if I want the old world back?
Nothing is deleted. Change the world name back on the original machine, or keep multiple worlds on the server and switch by name.
Connect Valheim servers put the save folder in your file manager and over SFTP, so the move is exactly the four steps above — and the world runs 24/7 with crossplay on once it's there.