How to Upload Your Own Valheim World to the Server

🌲 Why upload your own world?

With a Valheim server at ZentexNode you can play with friends the world you have been exploring solo. No need to start from scratch: uploading your world is a simple process that takes just a few minutes.

📂 Step 1: Find your world on your PC

Valheim saves worlds in a local folder. The exact path depends on your operating system:

Windows: open File Explorer and paste this path in the address bar:
%AppData%\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local\

You will see one folder per world you have created. The folder has the same name you gave the world in-game.

Linux / macOS:
~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local/

Inside the world folder you will find several files: _main.*.fwl2 (world seed and settings), _main.*.db2 (world data), _main.*.chunks and many .chunk files (explored areas). They all make up the complete world.

⏹️ Step 2: Stop the server (MANDATORY)

Before touching any files, stop the server from the panel. Uploading files while the server is running can corrupt the world.

• On the ZentexNode panel, click the red Stop button.
• Wait until the console shows the process has ended.

📤 Step 3: Navigate to the worlds folder in the panel

In the panel, go to the Files tab. Navigate to this path (the .config folder is hidden but the panel shows it):
.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local/

📁 Step 4: Create a folder with your world name

Inside worlds_local, create a new folder with the name you want for the world on your server. Use only letters, numbers and hyphens (no spaces). For example: MyWorld or ValhallaMaria. Remember this name — you will need it in step 6.

⬆️ Step 5: Upload your world files

Enter the folder you just created. Use the panel Upload button to upload all the files from your local world folder. The essential files are:

• _main.*.fwl2 — world seed and metadata
• _main.*.db2 — database with all the world content
• _main.*.chunks — chunk index
• All *.chunk files — explored map areas

Tip: large worlds can have hundreds of .chunk files. Compress the entire folder into a ZIP on your PC, upload it to the panel and extract it there to speed up the process.

You do not need to upload the automatic backup files (*_backup_auto-*).

⚙️ Step 6: Set the WORLD variable

Go to the Startup tab in the panel. Find the WORLD variable and type exactly the folder name you created in step 4 (case-sensitive). Click Save.

▶️ Step 7: Start the server

Go back to the main tab and click Start. In the console you will see Valheim loading your world. If you see errors like Failed to load world, check that the name in the WORLD variable exactly matches the folder name (case-sensitive).

💡 Final tips

• Always make a backup before modifying server files.
• If your world was created with an old version of Valheim (before Ashlands), open it first on your PC with the current game version to convert it to the new format before uploading.
• You can have multiple worlds on the server (multiple folders in worlds_local) and switch between them just by changing the WORLD variable.
• If you play with BepInEx mods, also set BEPINEX = 1 in the panel Startup tab before starting.