Reset your Valheim world on purpose

Sometimes you want a Valheim world gone: the crew has beaten every boss, the map is a mess, or you simply want a fresh start with new settings. There are two ways to do it on your server. One keeps the old world on disk in case you change your mind, and the other wipes it. This guide is for a reset you want, not one that happened by accident.

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

Before you do anything

1. Open the Backups tab and click Create backup. A backup is the only thing that brings a wiped world back. How to create and restore backups walks through it.
2. 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.
3. Decide which option below you want.

Option 1: start a new world beside the old one

This is the safe route, and it is all done in the Startup tab.

1. In the World card, change World name to a new name. It takes letters, numbers, dashes and underscores, up to 20 characters.
2. If you want a different difficulty, set World preset and the dials in the Difficulty card now. Valheim keeps those modifiers inside the world's save, so it is far easier to pick them before the world's first start.
3. Press that card's Save changes, then Start the server and wait for DungeonDB Start in the Console.

The World name field is the world the server loads, or creates if it does not exist. Iron Gate's guide says the same of the -world option. Your old world stays untouched in worlds_local, and you can come back to it any time by typing its name back in, as Manage and switch Valheim worlds shows.

Option 2: wipe the world and keep the name

1. With the server stopped, open the File Manager and go to .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local.
2. Select your world's folder, for example Midgard, and click Delete. On an older save the world is a pair of files instead, Midgard.db and Midgard.fwl: delete both.
3. Start the server. It finds no world under that World name, so it creates a new one.

Valheim's own automatic backups sit in the same folder with names such as Midgard_backup_auto-20261014-101647. They are copies of the old world. Leave them if you want a way back, or delete them too for a truly clean slate.

What the new world is like

• The seed is random. The Valheim wiki says a dedicated server creates a random seed for a new world. To pick one, see Set or find a Valheim dedicated server seed.
• Everything in the world is gone. Builds, chests, boss progress and the map layout all start again.
• Characters come back as they were. A character is saved on the player's own computer or console, not in the world, so everyone arrives with their old gear and skills. If you want a true fresh start, each player needs a new character: see Back up and reset your Valheim character.
• Your lists and settings stay. The admin, banned and allowed lists live in the folder above worlds_local, so deleting a world does not touch them. Your server name, password and other Startup settings stay as they were.

Common mistakes

• Deleting while the server is running. Stop it first, every time.
• A name that does not match. On the server, Midgard and midgard are two different worlds, so typing a name in the wrong case makes a new world instead of loading the old one.
• Forgetting the backup. Take one first, even if you are sure.