Manage and switch Valheim worlds

A Valheim server loads one world at a time, but it can hold as many as you like on disk. That makes it easy to keep a finished world safe, try a new one with different settings, and swap back whenever the crew wants. The switch is one field in the Startup tab. This guide covers seeing which worlds you have, switching between them, bringing one in from your PC, and tidying up.

Checked against Valheim 1.0.20 (patch of 15 October 2026) and Iron Gate's own dedicated server guide, October 2026.

Where your worlds live

Every world sits in the worlds_local folder, at .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local in the File Manager. Current Valheim saves a world as a folder named after it, holding files such as _main.668.fwl2, _main.668.db2 and .chunk files. Older saves are a pair of files instead, Midgard.db and Midgard.fwl.

Folders such as Midgard_backup_auto-20261014-101647 are Valheim's own automatic backups of a world. They are copies, not extra worlds. If you want those kept or counted differently, the Saves and backups card in the Startup tab sets it.

Switch to another world

1. Take a backup in the Backups tab first, so you can undo any mistake. How to create and restore backups covers it.
2. In the File Manager, note the exact name of the folder you want to load, capital letters included.
3. Stop the server before you change any world files, so the running game cannot write over them. Progress since the last save may not be kept, so an admin can run save in the game first; see Save your Valheim world and set autosave.
4. Open the Startup tab. In the World card, set World name to that name and press that card's Save changes.
5. Start the server and wait for DungeonDB Start in the Console. The console also says which world it is loading, in a line such as Loading world Dedicated. on a server still on the default World name, with your own world's name in place of Dedicated.

World name takes letters, numbers, dashes and underscores, up to 20 characters. On the server Midgard and midgard are two different worlds, so a name in the wrong case does not load your world: it makes a new empty one.

Start a new world

Type a name that has no folder yet into World name and start the server. It creates the world under that name, as Iron Gate's guide describes for the -world option, and the old one stays on disk. Choose the World preset and difficulty dials before this first start, since Valheim keeps them inside the world's save. Reset your Valheim world goes deeper on starting again.

Bring a world in from your PC

The World Import tab does the whole job. Upload a zip of the world, stop the server, pick it and import. The panel finds the world, keeps any same-named world already on the server by renaming it with .pre-import- and the date, installs the new one into worlds_local and sets World name to match. Upload a Valheim world to a dedicated server walks through the steps.

If the world's name has a space or is longer than 20 characters, the import stops with a message saying so. Rename the world's folder on your PC, zip it again and re-upload.

Keep a copy of a world

To take a world home, open worlds_local in the File Manager, select the world's folder and use Download. The panel packs the folder into a zip for you. Stop the server first, because Valheim writes to its world files while it runs.

Remove a world you do not need

With the server stopped, select the world's folder in worlds_local and click Delete. For an older save, delete both the .db and .fwl files. Make sure World name does not point at it, or the server will create a fresh empty world with that name on the next start.

What does not change when you switch

Admin, banned and allowed lists, the join password and the Startup settings stay with the server, not the world. Characters stay with each player. Only the map, builds and progress come from the world you load.