Valheim world reset or missing? Get it back

You start your Valheim server and the world looks brand new: no base, a map you don't recognise, nothing in the chests. It feels like the server wiped your world, but a Valheim server never deletes a world on its own. What happened is that it loaded a different world: a new one it made because it couldn't find yours, or an older copy of yours. The world you played is almost always still on the server or on your PC, and this guide gets it back.

1. Stop the server and don't delete anything yet

Stop the server in your dashboard before you change any files: Valheim saves the running world when it shuts down, over anything you've put in its place. Don't delete any world folders until your real world is back. One of them might be it.

2. Find out which world the server loaded

1. Open the File Manager and go to .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local. Each folder in there is a world, named after it, for example Midgard.
2. Open the Startup tab and look at World name in the World card. That's the world the server loads, and the one it creates if no folder of that name exists.
3. Open the folder that matches World name and look at the _main files, for example _main.668.db2. The number is the save count: it goes up every time the world saves (every 30 minutes by default, and when the server stops). A world you've played for a few weeks is in the hundreds. A world the server has just made starts at _main.0.

The Console shows the same count each time the world saves, at the end of a line like World save (1/5) Cloud & Backup checks done [0ms] => Save number 668.

Now match what you found to one of the three causes below.

Cause 1: World name doesn't match your world's folder

There's a folder with your world's name and a high save number, but World name says something else, so the server made a new world beside it. This happens after someone edits World name (the change only takes effect at the next start, which is why it looks like a restart wiped the world), or when a world was uploaded under a different name.

The name has to match exactly, capital letters included: on the server, Midgard and midgard are two different worlds.

1. In the Startup tab, set World name to your world folder's name exactly, and press Save changes.
2. Start the server and wait for DungeonDB Start in the Console. Your crew can join after that line.
3. Once you've checked your base is back, you can delete the folder of the world the server made by mistake.

Cause 2: The server loaded an older copy of your world

World name matches the folder, but the map is wrong or your base is missing or out of date. The server is loading an old copy of your world under the right name. Most often that's because the world was uploaded as a Midgard.db + Midgard.fwl pair. Current versions of Valheim save each world as a folder of _main files instead, so a PC that has both is holding the pair as an old copy, and the folder is the world you've been playing.

1. On your PC, quit Valheim and open %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local.
2. If there's a folder with your world's name, zip that folder and import it with your server's World Import tab, as in Upload a Valheim world to a dedicated server. The import keeps the copy that's on the server now, renamed with .pre-import- and the date, so nothing is lost.
3. Start the server and check your base is there.

Cause 3: The world went back in time

The world is yours but missing your last stretch of play: a build, a boss kill, a trip's loot. The world saves on a timer and when the server stops cleanly. If the server crashed or ran out of memory, everything since the last save is gone and the world opens at that save.

You can't get the unsaved minutes back, but you can make the gap smaller: in the Startup tab, open the Saves and backups card and lower Save every (minutes) (30 by default) to 10 or 15. A save is quick: on a world played for two weeks on our servers, each one took under a quarter of a second.

Restore an earlier copy of your world

If the world itself is damaged or a save went wrong, you have three places to get an earlier copy.

Valheim's own backups, beside the world

Valheim keeps automatic backups of the world in the same worlds_local folder, named after the world with the date and time (UTC) they were taken, such as Midgard_backup_auto-20261014-101647. Each one is a complete copy of the world folder. The Saves and backups card sets how many it keeps (Backups kept, 4 by default) and how often it takes them (First backups every (minutes), 120 by default, then Later backups every (hours), 12 by default).

To restore one:

1. Stop the server.
2. In the File Manager, open worlds_local, select your world's folder (Midgard) and click Rename. Call it something like Midgard-old, and keep it until you're happy with the restore.
3. Select the backup you want and Rename it to exactly your world's name, Midgard.
4. Start the server and wait for DungeonDB Start in the Console.

A backup of the whole server

If you've taken backups in your server's Backups tab, restoring one puts every file back as it was at that moment, the world included. How to create and restore backups walks through it. Take a fresh backup first, so you can undo the restore if you pick the wrong one.

The copy on your PC

If you've played the world on your PC since it was last on the server, your PC may have the newest copy. Upload it with World Import as in Upload a Valheim world to a dedicated server.

Stop it happening again

• Leave World name alone unless you mean to switch worlds. Changing it doesn't rename your world, it makes the server load (or create) a different one.
• Upload the world's folder, not the old .db + .fwl pair, when your PC has both.
• Take a backup in the Backups tab before an import, a reinstall or installing mods.
• Keep Backups kept at 4 or more, so there's always an older copy beside the world to fall back on.