New World on Your Valheim Server: Start Over, Pick a Seed and Switch Worlds

What stays and what starts from scratch

In Valheim your character doesn't live on the server but on each player's PC (the characters_local folder, next to worlds_local). That's why in a new world everyone joins with their own character, skills and whatever is in their inventory. If you really want to start from zero, everyone should create a new character.

What does belong to the world: the terrain, buildings, chests, portals, defeated bosses (and what they unlock, like what the traders sell) and the explored map, which the game saves per world. In the new world the map starts blank and the bosses are alive again.

Starting a new world without deleting the old one

The server loads the world whose name it's set to and, if it doesn't exist, creates it. So to start a new one you only need to give it another name: the previous world stays in its folder, untouched, in case you want to go back.

1. Make a backup

   In “Backups”, before changing anything. You don't need it for the old world to stay there, but if something goes wrong, you can come back to this point.

2. Change the world name

   In “Settings”, type a new name in “World” (for example, from Vikings to Vikings2). No odd spaces or accents: it's also the folder's name.

3. Restart

   With “Restart”. In the console you'll see it generating a new world; the first time takes a bit longer.

4. Join

   With the same address, port and password as always: the server is the same, only the world changes.

Choosing the seed

The Valheim dedicated server has no setting for the seed: every world it creates gets a random one. If you want a specific one (one you've seen on a seed map, or a friend's), you create the world on your PC and upload it.

1. Create the world on your PC

   In the game, “Start game” → “New world”: enter the name and type the seed. Join for a moment and leave, so it gets saved.

2. Find its folder

   In %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local there's a folder with the world's name. If it isn't there, it may have been saved to Steam Cloud: in the game, “Manage Saves” shows where each world is.

3. Zip it

   Right-click → “Compress to ZIP file”. The panel doesn't upload folders, which is why it goes zipped.

4. Upload it with the server stopped

   In “Files”, go into .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local, upload the .zip and use “Decompress”. For a big world, SFTP is better.

5. Set its name and start

   In “Settings”, “World” exactly like the folder, capital letters included. If it doesn't match, the server creates another empty world (yours is still there). Start it and check in the console that it loads the world rather than creating it.

Several worlds on the same server

The worlds_local folder holds as many worlds as you like, each in its own folder, but the server loads one at a time: the one in “World”. To switch, enter the other one's name and restart. That way you can have your usual world and a test one, or one per group of friends, and take turns.

Every world takes up disk, more so over the years: the game's automatic backups (“_backup_auto”) are full copies of each world. Check the disk on “Home” now and then and delete the worlds you no longer use (if you want to keep them, download them from “Files” first).

If you want two worlds running at once, you need two servers. On NapNodes the RAM belongs to your account: if you have spare RAM, “Create server” in “My servers” sets up another Valheim with it; if not, “Archive” on the one you aren't using stops it, keeps its world and frees its RAM for another.

Deleting the world for real

If what you want is for the world to disappear and to start again with the same name: stop the server, make a backup in “Backups” just in case and, in “Files”, inside worlds_local, delete the world's folder and its “_backup_auto” copies. In a world from before version 1.0 it's two files, the .db and the .fwl (plus their .old): delete them all. When you start it, the server creates a new one with that name.

What about the new world's difficulty?

World modifiers (tougher combat, no map, no death penalty, portals that let metal through…) are set on a dedicated server with startup options (-preset and -modifier). On NapNodes you don't type anything: in “Settings” → “World difficulty and modifiers” you pick a preset or each modifier, and they apply on restart. They work on a world you've already started too; just bear in mind the world keeps any modifiers it has had (the catch).

On the free server

All of this works the same on the free Valheim server, with two differences: it has 5 GB of disk, so only a few saved worlds fit, and it has no “Backups”, so download the old world from “Files” before deleting it. With a paid plan you get the automatic daily backup and two more of your own.

Frequently asked questions