RuneScape: Dragonwilds worlds and saves

Your RuneScape: Dragonwilds server can hold more than one world, and the World Name setting decides which one it loads. This guide covers starting a fresh world, going back to an old one, where the save files live and how to protect a world before you change anything.

New to the server? How to make a RuneScape: Dragonwilds server covers the first start.

How the server picks its world

Each world is one save file, named after the World Name it was made under: a world called PYW-K3X9QA is saved as PYW-K3X9QA.sav. Every time the server starts, it reads World Name from the Startup tab and looks for the save with that name:

• If a save with that name exists, the server loads it.
• If there isn't one, the server creates a brand-new world with that name, and its save file appears during that first start.

Nothing is deleted either way. A world you switch away from stays on the server as a save file, untouched, until you load it again.

A new server starts with a world name made just for it, such as PYW-K3X9QA. No one else's world has the same name, so your party finds yours when they search the Public tab.

Before you change worlds

Take a backup first, so you have a restore point from before the change. One backup holds every world in the save folder, not only the one that's loaded. Back up and restore a RuneScape: Dragonwilds world has the steps.

Start a fresh world

1. Open the Startup tab and find World Name.
2. Type a name you haven't used on this server before. It can be up to 16 characters (the game's world list shows only 16): letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens, underscores and apostrophes.
3. Click Save on that field.
4. A Restart to apply note appears while the server is running. Click Restart now, or press Restart yourself when your party is ready. Anyone playing is disconnected until the server is back up. If the server is stopped, the note reads Loads on next start and the new world is made when you next press Start.
5. Watch the Console for World loaded., then World saved (...) with your new name in the brackets, then Your server is online - players can join now. In our test on a real server the new world was online about 11 seconds after Start.

Switch back to an old world

1. In the Startup tab, set World Name back to the old world's name, typed exactly as it was before.
2. Click Save, then restart the server.

The server finds the old save and loads it. We tested this on a real server: after switching to a second world and back, the first world loaded again and both save files were still in the folder. The world you just left stays on the server in the same way, so you can move between worlds as often as you like. Each change needs a restart.

If you can't remember an old name, the Audit Logs tab records every change to World Name, with the value it was changed from and to. Look for the entries that name DEFAULT_WORLD_NAME.

Bring a world from your PC

A world you played on your own or with friends on your PC can move onto your server, progress and all.

1. On your PC, open %LOCALAPPDATA%\RSDragonwilds\Saved\SaveGames (paste it into the File Explorer address bar). Each world is one .sav file named after it, such as Poggers.sav. Leave the .sav.backup files alone.
2. In the dashboard, Stop the server. The import refuses while it runs, because the game saves the running world over anything put underneath it.
3. Open the World Import tab and drop the .sav file onto it, or click to browse for it.
4. Pick it in the list and click Import. It goes into the server's saves folder and World Name is set to it for you.
5. Press Start, then join. You're in your own world.

The world name is the file name, so it has to fit the same rules as World Name: up to 16 characters, letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens, underscores and apostrophes. The tab tells you if a file doesn't fit. Your server's old world stays on the server, and a world of the same name already there is kept under a new name, not deleted.

Where the save files live

Open the File Manager and go to RSDragonwilds/Saved/SaveGames/. Every world made on this server has one file there, named after its world: PYW-K3X9QA.sav (or whatever your first world is called) for the world your server started with, and <World Name>.sav for each one you add. The file names are also the quickest way to see which world names this server already has.

Save files are small. A brand-new world is about 61 KB, so keeping old worlds around costs next to no disk space.

To keep a copy on your own computer, download the SaveGames folder from the File Manager. It arrives as a .zip. How to manage your server files covers downloading and uploading.

What keeps your worlds and what doesn't

• Changing World Name keeps every world. Only the loaded one changes.
• Upgrading or downgrading your plan keeps your worlds. The player cap is the part that changes.
• Reinstall server on the Settings tab downloads the game again. In our test on a real server a reinstall took about 29 seconds and both worlds' save files were still there afterwards. The panel still warns that a reinstall can overwrite or remove files, so take a backup first.
• Restoring a backup writes the backup's files over the current ones, save folder included. It brings back a save file that was deleted, and it returns every world in the backup to how it was when the backup was taken, so anything played since then is lost. Back up and restore a RuneScape: Dragonwilds world covers it.

If something looks wrong

1. The world is empty after a restart - World Name doesn't match the world you expected. Fix the name in Startup and restart.
2. Startup won't save the name - it's longer than 16 characters or uses a character outside the allowed set.
3. The new name hasn't taken effect - the server only reads the setting when it starts. Restart it.
4. Your party can't find the world - they're searching the old name. Send them the new one.