Fix Palworld Settings Not Applying

When a Palworld setting does not take effect, it is almost always one of five things: the server was running when you saved, the key is managed by the Startup tab, a WorldOption.sav file in the world folder is overriding the settings file, the line has a typo, or the key is spelled differently from Pocketpair's. This guide checks them from the quickest to the least obvious. Pocketpair's own server guide describes PalWorldSettings.ini but says nothing about WorldOption.sav, so that part comes from how our own tools and the community describe it.

Checked against Palworld 1.0.5 and Pocketpair's server guide for 1.0.4, October 2026.

1. Save while the server is offline

The World Settings tab warns Stop the server to save. Palworld writes its settings back to the file when it shuts down, so a change saved while it runs is lost. Press Stop (the tab has a button for it), wait for Offline, press Save settings, then press Start. The tab says Saved settings load when the server boots, so nothing changes in a running game.

2. Is the key managed by the Startup tab?

The panel rewrites a set of keys into the file on every boot, so an edit to them never sticks: ServerName, ServerDescription, AdminPassword, ServerPassword, ServerPlayerMaxNum, PublicIP, PublicPort, RCONEnabled, RCONPort, AutoSaveSpan, bIsUseBackupSaveData, CrossplayPlatforms, RESTAPIEnabled and RESTAPIPort. Change the name, description, passwords, player cap, autosave interval, in-game backup saves and crossplay platforms in Startup, then restart. You can see it happen: on each start the Console logs lines such as Updating key: ServerName with value: ... and Updating key: AutoSaveSpan with value: 120, which is the panel writing your Startup values into the file. The World Settings tab does not list these keys.

3. Look for WorldOption.sav

Our settings generator page says a WorldOption.sav file in the world's save folder overrides the .ini, and a community migration tool's README says the same ("it overrides the ini"). If it does, the file you edit is ignored. The folder is Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/<world ID>/. The file is mentioned in community migration tools as something to remove after moving a co-op world.

1. Open the Backups tab and press Create backup.
2. In the Console tab, press Stop and wait for Offline.
3. In the File Manager, open Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/ and then the world folder. If you have more than one folder, open the one named on the DedicatedServerName= line of Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini.
4. If WorldOption.sav is there, delete it. The community tools say the only visible effect is that players pick their starting spot again.
5. Press Start and check the setting in game.

4. Check the line is intact

The settings file is one line, OptionSettings=(Key=Value,Key=Value,...), under the [/Script/Pal.PalGameWorldSettings] header. Our settings generator page warns that a typo or a missing comma makes the game fall back to its defaults without an error. Editing in the World Settings tab avoids this, since the tab rebuilds the line for you and keeps a copy of the old file in its Backups card. If you edit by hand, change values only.

If the tab shows Settings file has an unexpected format, it could not read the line and shows the raw file read-only. Open PalWorldSettings.ini in the File Manager (Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/) to find the broken part. The newest PalWorldSettings.ini.<date>.bak beside it is the copy the tab saved before your last change, so you can compare the two.

5. Is the key spelled the way Pocketpair spells it?

Pocketpair spells some keys unusually, such as PlayerStomachDecreaceRate, so copy the spelling exactly from its configuration page for 1.0.4. That page also notes that some listed parameters are reserved for future updates or deprecated, so a key on the list is not always one the game still acts on. Palworld server settings and best presets covers the common keys, and Palworld world options beyond the settings tab the ones the tab leaves out.

Still not applying

Note the key, the value you set, whether WorldOption.sav exists and what the server did instead, then contact support with all four.