How to Import a Save to Your Palworld Server

Updated 31 July 2026 · By Host Havoc Technical Support Team

You can transfer a singleplayer save from your PC to your Palworld server so you and others can continue in that world. The server must be stopped during the upload.

You will need an FTP client to transfer the files. See FTP client setup before starting.

Locate your local save files

  1. Launch Palworld and click Start Game. You will see a list of your locally saved worlds.
  2. Click the world you want to upload.
  3. Click the small folder icon near the bottom-left of the screen. This opens the saves folder on your PC.
  4. Note the folder path. The save data you need is in that directory.

Upload the save files

  1. Stop your server in the game panel before uploading.
  2. Connect to your server using your FTP client.
  3. Navigate to /Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/ on the server. The server's current world is the folder inside it with a long ID as its name. It contains Level.sav, LevelMeta.sav, WorldOption.sav and a Players folder.
  4. Back up the current world first. Download that world folder to your PC before you change anything, and keep it until the imported world loads correctly.
  5. Upload your whole local world folder (the folder with the long ID name, not only the files inside it) into /Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/.
  6. In the uploaded world folder, delete or rename WorldOption.sav. While this file exists, the world ignores your PalWorldSettings.ini settings.

Point the server at the uploaded world

This step is required. The server loads the world whose folder name matches DedicatedServerName.

  1. Open Configuration Files in the game panel and use the Config Editor to open Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini (Pal/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/GameUserSettings.ini on a Windows server).
  2. Set DedicatedServerName to the exact name of the world folder you uploaded, for example DedicatedServerName=2E85FD38BAA792EB1D4C09386F3A3CDA.
  3. Save the file and start your server.

Fix the host's character

The host's character from a singleplayer or co-op world is not recognised on a dedicated server, so the host is asked to create a new character. Depending on the server platform, other players can be affected too. The community palworld-host-save-fix tool can move the old character over to the new one.

Warning: This is an experimental community tool, not made or supported by Pocketpair or Host Havoc. Back up the world folder before you run it, and check the tool's page for compatibility with your game version.

  1. Have the host join the server and create a new character, then stop the server. A new .sav file appears in the world's Players folder. Its file name is the host's new GUID.
  2. Download the world folder to your PC and keep a separate backup copy.
  3. Run the tool on the downloaded folder, following the instructions on its page. For a singleplayer or co-op host, the old GUID is 00000000000000000000000000000001.
  4. Upload the fixed world folder back to /Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/, replacing the copy on the server, and start your server.

Troubleshooting

  • World not loading after upload: Confirm the server was stopped during the upload. Uploading to a running server can corrupt save data.
  • Save folder not found: Use the folder icon in the world selection screen to locate the exact path on your PC.
  • Server starts a new world instead of yours: Check that DedicatedServerName matches the uploaded world folder's name exactly.
  • Settings in PalWorldSettings.ini are ignored: Delete or rename WorldOption.sav in the world folder, then restart the server.