Skip to main content

​
Disaster Recovery: Valheim Saves

Valheim worlds can occasionally experience corruption, often manifesting as a “0KB” file size or a world resetting to Day 0. The game engine maintains a simple secondary backup system that can be used to restore your progress without external tools.
Reading TimeDifficultyLast Updated
5 minutesBeginnerJanuary 2026

​
The ‘.old’ Recovery Method

Whenever Valheim saves a new state, it migrates the previous successful save to a .old file extension.
  1. Stop the Server: Never modify world files while the game process is active.
  2. Locate Files: Go to your /worlds_local/ directory.
  3. Identify Health:
    • World.db (The current, likely broken file).
    • World.db.old (The previous successful save).
  4. Restoration:
    • Delete the current World.db and World.fwl.
    • Rename World.db.old to World.db.
    • Rename World.fwl.old to World.fwl.
  5. Restart: Boot the server to verify the rollback.

​
Panel-Level Backups

If both the primary and .old files are corrupt, you must utilize the FREAKHOSTING Backups tab to restore a previously archived ZIP of your world directory.

​
Support Channels

If you need assistance or have any questions, please contact our support team:

​
First Month Discount

Use code KB20 at checkout to get 20% off your first month of hosting!
Last Updated: January 2026 | Valheim: Backup recovery verified.