Palworld Co-op Save to Dedicated Server: Move Your World and Keep the Host (1.0)

Moving a Palworld co-op save to dedicated server hosting takes four steps: copy the world folder from the host's PC, upload it, point the server at it, then repair the host's character, which the server does not recognise. This tutorial covers all four on our Palworld server hosting and on servers you run yourself.

New to dedicated servers? Our Palworld dedicated server guide covers RAM, setup and consoles first.

• Why move: co-op takes 4 players and needs the host online; a dedicated server takes up to 32 and runs on its own.
• Where the save is: on the host's PC, under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Pal\Saved\SaveGames, in a folder that holds Level.sav and a Players folder.
• On the server: upload that folder to Saved/SaveGames/0, leave out WorldOption.sav, and set DedicatedServerName to the folder name.
• The catch: the host gets a new character. A UID swap with a maintained save editor brings the old one back.
• No official tool: Pocketpair's server guide does not cover this. Everything below comes from community tools, so back up first.

1. Why the host loses their character

The Steam store page sets the limits: "In online co-op play mode, up to 4 players can play together. Additionally, a dedicated server can allow up to 32 players to play together." The world itself moves without trouble. The players inside it are the problem.

Palworld ties every character to a player ID. The author of the community Palworld Host Save Fix explains it in the README: "players are identified and correlated to their save via their GUID. These different types of servers generate player GUIDs differently". In co-op, the host is always 00000000000000000000000000000001. On a dedicated server the host gets a new ID, finds no save under it and lands in the character creator. Guests usually keep their characters.

Pocketpair's server documentation covers deployment, settings and the API, but has no page on moving a co-op world. You rely on community tools that edit your save, so take backups at every step.

2. Prepare the co-op world

Do this in co-op, with the host's game, before you copy anything:

1. Hand over the guild. If the host leads the guild, transfer guild master to another player. The Host Save Fix README lists this as the workaround for a known guild bug: "transfer ownership from the co-op host's character to another character and have the co-op host's character leave the guild."
2. Quit to the title screen so the game writes its last save, then close Palworld.
3. Copy the whole SaveGames folder somewhere safe. This is your way back if anything goes wrong.

3. Find the world folder

On Windows with the Steam version, paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\Pal\Saved\SaveGames into the File Explorer address bar. Open the folders inside until you find one that holds:

That folder, named with a long string of letters and numbers, is your world. With several, pick the one whose Level.sav changed last, and write its name down for step 6.

This guide covers the Steam version on PC; we have not tested Game Pass saves.

4. Prepare the server

On 1up, Palworld runs 24/7 from Pro, since the game needs 8 GB of RAM just to boot. On Free it runs with the hourglass at ×3.5 (your free time drains 3.5 times faster), enough to test the move, but Free has no backups.

1. Create the server and press ▶ Start once, so the game writes its folders and config files. Join it once to check that it works.
2. Press ■ Stop. Never upload a world while the server runs: it would save its own world over yours.
3. In Backups, press 💾 Create backup. Pro keeps 5 backups (Studio 10, Ultra 20) and takes a daily one on its own, but take a manual one now.

Self-hosting? Stop the server and copy its Pal/Saved folder first; on Windows, read WindowsServer for LinuxServer below.

5. Upload the world

Open Files and go to Saved/SaveGames/0. You will see a folder the server created for its own empty world. Leave it there for now.

1. Press + Folder and create a folder with exactly the same name as your co-op world folder.
2. Open it and press ↑ Upload. Select Level.sav, LevelMeta.sav and LocalData.sav.
3. Inside it, create a Players folder with + Folder, open it and upload every .sav from your Players folder.
4. Do not upload WorldOption.sav.

Why leave out WorldOption.sav? The Host Save Fix README says to delete it "to allow modification of PalWorldSettings.ini". On 1up the Game tab writes its settings (name, password, rates, PvP) into that file at every start, so an uploaded WorldOption.sav would hide them. Players only pick their respawn point again.

The browser takes files up to 512 MB each and does not unzip archives. For a large world, or to drag the whole folder at once, use the SFTP access card on the same page with FileZilla.

6. Point the server at your world

1. In Files, open Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini with Edit.
2. Find the line DedicatedServerName= and replace the value with your world folder's name, exactly. This is step 2 of the README's co-op migration.
3. Save and press ▶ Start.

The panel does not manage this file, so your change stays across restarts.

Have a guest join first. They should spawn with their own character in your world, bases included. If they see an empty new world, DedicatedServerName does not match the folder: stop, compare letter by letter, start again.

Then the host joins and gets the character creator. Create a throwaway character, play a minute, run save in the Console and press ■ Stop. The new file in Players carries the host's new ID.

A warning for Linux servers like ours: the README reported in 2024 that a Windows co-op save on a Linux server made every player start over. If a guest also gets the character creator, they make a throwaway character too and get repaired the same way.

7. Bring back the host character

This is the step people call the "host save fix". Two tools exist, and only one still reads current saves.

The original script no longer reads 1.0 saves. The Host Save Fix was last updated in May 2024 and depends on palworld-save-tools 0.17.1. That library's own v0.24.0 release warns that "0.6 saves are not readable by this tool anymore", after Palworld changed its save compression. The script's issue tracker is full of the resulting error, not a compressed Palworld save, found b'PlM' instead of b'PlZ'. A pull request adding the new format was still unmerged on 13 October 2026.

Use a maintained save editor. Palworld Save Pal, an open-source editor updated in October 2026, has a "Player UID Swap - swap UIDs between two players (useful for co-op to dedicated server migration…)". Its v1.4.3 release fixed "Player UID Swap wiping every pal in a co-op save" and loads saves from the latest patch.

1. In Files, use ↓ Download as .zip on your world folder, unzip it on your PC and keep a second copy untouched.
2. Open the folder in Palworld Save Pal.
3. Swap the UIDs of the host's old character (…0001) and the throwaway character. The old character now carries the host's new ID.
4. Save, then upload the changed Level.sav and the Players files back over the ones on the server, with the server stopped.
5. Press ▶ Start and have the host join.

What does not come across: the map you uncovered. Save Pal's v1.4.0 notes say fog of war "can't be" moved, because "its mask lives in LocalData.sav, which is per-machine". The host explores it again or travels with a guest.

8. Check everything before you play

• Host: level, inventory, Pal Box and technology are back.
• Bases: Pals keep working after five minutes. If they stand idle, the README's workaround is to drop every Pal and pick it up again, base workers included.
• Guild: the host is back in it; hand guild master back if you want.

Keep the old co-op folder as an archive; play only on the server. Our Palworld server settings guide explains the rates you inherited; if console friends cannot see the server, read Palworld server not showing in the community list.

9. Which plan holds a moved world

Pocketpair's requirements page asks for 16 GB of memory and warns that 8 GB raises the risk of out-of-memory crashes. With prices from our pricing page, Pro (€10/month) gives 8 GB of RAM, the boot floor, with 60 GB of disk, 30 slots and 5 backups; Studio (€20/month) gives 16 GB, the amount Pocketpair recommends, with 80 GB of disk, 50 slots and 10 backups; Ultra (€50/month) gives 32 GB. Paid plans are refunded on request within 3 days.

Tested on Palworld v1.0.5.102999, 2026-10-13: folder layout, GameUserSettings.ini and upload limits checked on our server image and panel. We did not run either save tool on a 1.0 save ourselves; tool facts come from their READMEs, releases and issue trackers on that date.

Change log

• 2026-10-13: first version, for Palworld v1.0.5.
• 2026-10-20: Palworld now runs on Free with the hourglass at ×3.5; 24/7 from Studio.
• 2026-10-26: Palworld runs 24/7 from Pro (€10, 8 GB); current Studio and Ultra figures.