How do I bring my Palworld world over to my HavoNode server?

A world from another dedicated server is one folder. Stop the old server, upload that folder to Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/ on your HavoNode server, and point DedicatedServerName at it. Co-op worlds from someone’s PC need an extra step, covered at the end.

What to copy

On the old server, open Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/. Each world there is a folder with a 32-character name. Inside you’ll find Level.sav, LevelMeta.sav and a Players folder with a file for each character, plus a few other files. Take the whole folder.

The one thing to leave behind is the backup folder inside it, if there is one. Palworld makes it when world backups (bIsUseBackupSaveData) are switched on and fills it with older copies, so it only slows the upload down.

If there’s more than one world folder, open the old server’s GameUserSettings.ini in Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/ or Pal/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/. The folder named on its DedicatedServerName= line is the world it was running.

Move it

1. On the old server, join as admin and type /Save in the chat, then /Shutdown. You can also stop it from the old host’s panel. Wait until it has fully stopped.
2. Download the world folder from the old server.
3. Download a backup from your Game Panel first.
4. Stop your HavoNode server from the Game Panel.
5. In your Game Panel’s file manager, upload the world folder into Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/. Keep the folder’s name exactly as it was.
6. Open GameUserSettings.ini in Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/ or Pal/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/, whichever your server has. Set DedicatedServerName= to the folder’s name, character for character, and save.
7. If you want your old game settings, copy the values you care about from the old PalWorldSettings.ini into yours. Keep your HavoNode server’s own PublicPort, PublicIP, RCONPort and RESTAPIPort.
8. Start your server and join.

Your bases, Pals and characters should all be there. For a second check, note which folders are in Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/ before you start the server. If an extra one appears afterwards, the server didn’t find your world.

Saves only move forwards

Pocketpair lets older saves carry on in newer versions: version 1.0 picked up worlds from 0.7.3 and earlier. Nothing official says a save from a newer version will load on an older server, so don’t try it. Make sure your HavoNode server runs the same version of Palworld as the old one, or a newer one.

Co-op worlds from a PC

A world you played in co-op, hosted from someone’s own game, can come over too, but the host’s character won’t work as it is. In co-op the host plays on the machine running the world, so their character is saved differently from everyone who joined them. On a dedicated server the old host joins like everyone else. The server doesn’t recognise their old save, and they start as a new character.

To keep that character, the host’s save has to be converted to match their new player ID before you upload it. Pocketpair hasn’t published an official way to do this, so keep a copy of the original world before you try anything.