Moving Your Palworld Single Player World to a Dedicated Server

This guide walks you through transferring your single-player or co-op world to a dedicated server, keeping your character, pals, and bases intact.

Why the extra steps? In a local world, your character is saved under a generic "host" ID. On a dedicated server, you get a unique ID tied to your Steam account. If we only copy the world files, the server won't recognize your character and you'd spawn as a brand-new level 1. The steps below fix that.

Estimated time: 20 minutes

Step 1 — Back up your world

1. Close Palworld completely.
2. Press Windows key + R, type %LocalAppData%\Pal\Saved\SaveGames, and press Enter.
3. Open the folder named after your Steam ID. Inside, each world has its own folder with a long letter-and-number name.
4. Find your world's folder (sort by "Date modified" — the most recent one is usually the world you last played).
5. Copy the entire folder to your Desktop as a backup. Don't skip this — it's your safety net if anything goes wrong.

Step 2 — Upload the world to your server

1. Stop your dedicated server.
2. On the server, go to Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/ — you'll see a world folder there most likely called GTXGaming (start the server once first if the folder doesn't exist yet).
3. Delete the contents of that folder and upload the files from your backed-up world folder in their place: Level.sav, LevelMeta.sav, the Players folder, and anything else inside.

Step 3 — Join once with a temporary character

1. Start the server and connect to it from your PC.
2. Create a new character (this is just a placeholder — you'll get your real one back).
3. Walk around and gain at least one level so the server saves your data.
4. Disconnect, then stop the server.
5. On the server, look in Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/<your world>/Players/. You'll see a new .sav file — its filename is your new player ID. Copy that name down (without the .sav part).

Step 4 — Fix your character with a save tool

You have two options:

Option A — Browser tool (easiest): Use the Physgun Palworld Save Converter (physgun.com/tools/palworld-save-converter). It runs entirely in your browser, nothing is uploaded, and it can work out your new ID from your Steam profile automatically. Load your world files, run the conversion, and download the fixed files.

Option B — PalworldSaveTools:

1. Download your server's Level.sav and Players folder to your PC.
2. Download PalworldSaveTools (search "PalworldSaveTools" on GitHub) and run it.
3. Choose Fix Host Save.
4. Point it at your Level.sav, set the old ID to 00000000000000000000000000000001 and the new ID to the filename you noted in Step 3.
5. Let it finish — it will produce a fixed Level.sav and player file.

Step 5 — Upload the fixed files and play

1. With the server stopped, upload the fixed Level.sav and Players folder back to Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/<your world>/, replacing what's there.
2. Start the server and join — you should be back in your original character with all your pals and bases.

Step 6 (optional) — Restore your explored map

Your discovered map is stored on your own PC, not in the world save. To bring it over:

1. Join the new server once, then fully quit the game.
2. On your PC, go to %LocalAppData%\Pal\Saved\SaveGames\<your Steam ID>\.
3. Copy LocalData.sav from your old world's folder into the new server's folder (the one created when you joined).

Good to know

• Friends' characters transfer automatically. Only the world host needs the ID fix — other players' data already uses their Steam IDs.
• Playing on Xbox / Game Pass? Your save must be converted to Steam format first. The browser tool in Step 4 handles this — just point it at your Game Pass save folder.
• Keep your backup from Step 1 until you've confirmed everything works. If something goes wrong, restore the backup and try again.

Need a hand with any step? Just reach out to our support team — we're happy to help.