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How to Move a Terraria World to a Dedicated Server

September 29, 2026 · 7 min read

By GHosting engineering

A Terraria world is one file, so moving it looks trivial: copy the .wld, start the server, done. Most failed moves come from two things that are easy to miss. A tModLoader world is really two files, and not every server can open every world, because tModLoader still runs an older Terraria than the one on Steam. Get those two right and the rest is an upload and a restart.

Terraria players exploring a world they are moving to a dedicated server

This guide covers vanilla and modded worlds, where to find the files, how to tell which kind of server your world needs, and what to check when a moved world does not show up the way you left it.

Check your world file in the browser first

Find your world files

Close Terraria before copying anything, so the file holds your latest save. Worlds live here:

  • Windows: Documents\My Games\Terraria\Worlds
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Terraria/Worlds
  • Linux: ~/.local/share/Terraria/Worlds
  • tModLoader worlds: a tModLoader/Worlds folder inside the same Terraria folder, for example Documents\My Games\Terraria\tModLoader\Worlds.

Each world is named after itself, like Our_World.wld. Next to it you will often see Our_World.wld.bak. That is the previous save Terraria keeps as a fallback. Leave it where it is and move the plain .wld.

World missing from the folder? It is probably saved to Steam Cloud. Open Terraria's world list and click the cloud icon on that world to keep a copy on your PC, then look again.

Modded worlds come in pairs

tModLoader saves everything that comes from mods in a second file with the same name: Our_World.twld. Modded blocks, items in chests, modded NPCs and boss progress all live there. Upload the .wld without it and the world still loads, which makes the problem easy to miss: the terrain is there, and every modded thing in it is gone.

Always move the .wld and .twld together, keep their names identical, and enable the same mods on the server before its first start on that world. A mod that is missing when the world saves takes its content with it.

Know which server can open the world

Terraria refuses a world saved by a newer version than the one running. That matters now because the two kinds of server are on different versions:

  • Vanilla Terraria is on 1.4.5. A vanilla server on the latest version opens worlds from any 1.4 release and upgrades them on the first save.
  • tModLoader is still built on Terraria 1.4.4. It cannot open a world that was saved by vanilla 1.4.5, and it will not until tModLoader itself moves to 1.4.5.

So a world you played in vanilla 1.4.5 needs a vanilla server, even if you now want to add mods. A world from tModLoader's own folder works on a tModLoader server. If you are not sure which one you have, the world migration checker reads the version from the file header in your browser and tells you which kind of server can open it, without uploading anything.

The same rule applies to players. A vanilla server has to run exactly the version your players have, or they cannot connect. Keep the server updated when Terraria patches.

Move the world onto a self-hosted server

  1. Stop the server. A running server overwrites the world file the next time it saves.
  2. Copy the .wld (and the .twld for tModLoader) into the server's Worlds folder.
  3. Point the server at it. In serverconfig.txt, set world= to the full path of the file, for example world=/srv/terraria/worlds/Our_World.wld.
  4. Start the server and watch the console until it says it is listening, then join and check your base.

Be careful with that world= path. When it points at a file that does not exist and autocreate is set, the server does not complain. It quietly generates a brand new world at that path, which looks exactly like losing your save.

Move the world onto a GHosting server

Terraria servers on GHosting have a Worlds tab, so none of the above involves a config file:

  1. Open your server and go to Worlds, then Upload a world.
  2. Drop the .wld, plus the .twld on a tModLoader server. The panel reads the world in your browser first and shows its name, size, difficulty and seeds, so you can see it is the right file before anything is sent. It also stops you if the world is too new for tModLoader, or warns you when the .twld is missing.
  3. The world is added next to the ones already on the server. Nothing is replaced.
  4. Click Switch to this. The server restarts on your world.

Every world stays on the server until you delete it, so you can switch back to the old one at any time, and download any of them again from the same tab.

Try it on a free 48-hour Terraria server

Characters stay on your PC

Terraria keeps characters in separate .plr files on each player's computer. Nothing about them needs to be uploaded: everyone joins the server with the character they already have. One exception to know about is Journey mode. A Journey world only accepts Journey characters, and Journey characters cannot join Classic, Expert or Master worlds.

Difficulty, size and seeds are fixed

A world's size, difficulty, world evil and special seeds such as For the Worthy or Zenith are decided when it is generated. Moving the world does not change them, and there is no setting that changes them later. If your group wants the same world but harder, that is a new world. On GHosting, Create a world in the Worlds tab lets you pick the size, difficulty and any combination of special seeds, and keeps your current world alongside it.

When the moved world is not what you expected

  • A fresh, empty world loaded. The server could not find your file, so it generated a new one. Check the file name and the world= path, including the capitalization.
  • The terrain is there but modded items are gone. The .twld was not uploaded, has a different name than the .wld, or the mods are not enabled on the server.
  • The server says the file is from a later version of Terraria. The world was saved by a newer Terraria than the server runs. Update a vanilla server, or on tModLoader use a world that was never opened in vanilla 1.4.5.
  • Players cannot connect. Their game version does not match the server. Update whichever side is behind.

Keep the original world file on your PC until everyone has joined and found their stuff. Nothing on the server side can recover a world you no longer have.