How to Transfer a Palworld World to a Dedicated Server (1.0)

You can move an existing Palworld world to a dedicated server, but there is one important trap: a dedicated-server save and a co-op host save are not the same migration. Moving between two dedicated servers is normally a clean folder copy. Moving a world hosted from the Palworld client can leave the original host at the character-creation screen even when every base and Pal is still present.

Palworld players flying over the persistent island world they are moving to a dedicated server

This guide covers both cases for Palworld 1.0. Start with the section that matches your source world, and keep the untouched backup until every player has checked their character, guild, bases, inventory, and Palbox on the new server.

Start a managed Palworld server for your existing world

First, identify the move you are making

Dedicated server to dedicated server: copy the complete world folder after stopping both servers. Player identities usually remain attached to the same platform accounts.
Co-op or single-player to dedicated server: the world can be copied, but the co-op host uses a special player identity. That character needs a separate migration if you want to preserve its level, inventory, Pals, technology, map progress, and guild ownership.
Starting a fresh world but keeping your Pals: Palworld's Global Palbox is the lower-risk option. It transfers Pals rather than the whole world or character.

Before touching the save

Update both ends to the same Palworld version. A 1.0 server may upgrade an older save when it opens it. Do not then expect that upgraded save to work in an older build.
Start the destination server once. This creates its Pal/Saved directories and a fresh world folder. Stop it again before uploading anything.
Save and stop the source server cleanly. An admin can use Palworld's /Save command before shutdown. Never copy a live world while the game may still be writing Level.sav.
Make two backups. Keep one untouched copy of the source world and a second working copy for the migration. A backup stored inside the same server directory is not enough if that machine or account is the thing you are leaving.

Pocketpair's current server documentation also supports rotating save backups with bIsUseBackupSaveData. Those snapshots are useful for recovery, but make a separate offline copy before a host migration.

Where Palworld saves are stored

A Steam co-op or single-player world on Windows is normally under:

%LOCALAPPDATA%PalSavedSaveGames<Steam ID><world ID>

A dedicated server stores its worlds below the PalServer installation:

PalServer/Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/<world ID>/

The exact PalServer parent folder depends on where Steam or SteamCMD installed app 2394010. The world folder you need contains files such as Level.sav and LevelMeta.sav, plus the Players directory. Copy the whole world folder, not only Level.sav.

Move a dedicated-server world to another dedicated server

Stop the old server after a final save, then stop the new server.
Download the complete source folder from Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/<world ID>.
Open the fresh world folder generated by the destination server and replace its contents with the source world contents. Keeping the destination's generated folder name avoids an extra world-selection change.
Do not overwrite the destination's entire Pal/Saved/Config tree. Keep its network, password, and host-managed settings, then reapply any gameplay values you deliberately changed on the old server.
On a self-hosted Linux machine, make sure the copied files belong to the user that runs PalServer.sh. A correct save that the service cannot read is indistinguishable from a missing world at startup.
Start the destination and join with one player. Confirm the world, character, guild, bases, inventory, party, and Palbox before inviting everyone else.

If you prefer to keep the source world's folder name, copy that folder into SaveGames/0 and set DedicatedServerName in the destination's GameUserSettings.ini to the same folder name. Replacing the contents of the already-selected destination folder is simpler and gives you one fewer setting to get wrong.

Move a co-op world to a dedicated server

The first half looks deceptively similar: stop the destination, copy the co-op world's contents into its generated world folder, and start it. Your buildings and world state can load correctly. Other players may also find their characters intact.

The original host is the special case. A local co-op host is stored under the fixed player ID 00000000000000000000000000000001. On a dedicated server, Palworld assigns that person a platform-linked ID instead. Copying or renaming the player file does not update all of the references inside Level.sav, so the server can show the right world while asking the host to make a new character.

You have three sensible choices:

Keep the world and let the host start a new character. This is the least technical choice, but the old host's character progression and ownership do not follow automatically.
Start fresh and use the Global Palbox. Export valuable Pals from the old world, enable Global Palbox import on the new world, and bring those Pals across. This does not move bases, inventory, the map, technology, or the player level.
Rewrite the host identity in a working copy of the save. This is the only route to a full co-op-host migration, but Pocketpair does not provide an official converter. Community tools modify both player and world save data, so use one only against a disposable copy and keep the original untouched.

The open-source Palworld host save fix documents the established GUID-remapping workflow and its known caveats. Its process requires the old host ID, the new character ID created on the destination, and an offline copy of the world. Read the tool's current compatibility notes before running it against a Palworld 1.0 save. After conversion, test guild ownership and working Pals as carefully as the character itself.

Use the Global Palbox when the Pals matter more than the map

Palworld's Global Palbox exists specifically to move Pals between worlds. The server settings are bAllowGlobalPalboxExport and bAllowGlobalPalboxImport. The source must allow export and the destination must allow import.

This is often the cleanest answer for a group using the 1.0 launch as a reason to start over. You keep selected breeding lines and favorite Pals without rewriting a save database. It is not a world-transfer shortcut: bases, storage, inventory, guilds, technology, fast-travel unlocks, and player levels stay with the old world.

Uploading a world to GHosting

Create the Palworld server and let its first install finish.
Stop the game server from its Info tab.
Open Files and browse to Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0.
Open the generated world folder, then upload the top-level files from your backed-up world. Recreate the Players folder and upload its player save files there.
Start the server and verify one account at a time.

The file manager accepts uploads up to 512 MB per file, which is enough for most Palworld save files. If a large or complicated co-op migration needs a host-ID rewrite, keep the conversion on your own computer and upload only the tested result. Never use the live server as the only copy of a save you are modifying.

Configure a Palworld server and bring your world

Transfer checklist after the first login

The destination loaded the expected world and bases.
Each player has the correct level, inventory, technology, map, and fast travel.
Guild membership and base ownership are intact.
Party Pals, Palbox contents, and base workers belong to the right players.
The server uses the intended password, player cap, rates, PvP, raids, and backup settings.
A new save completes successfully, followed by a clean restart into the same world.

Only delete the old server after that checklist passes and you have downloaded one fresh backup from the destination. For installation, ports, crossplay, RAM, and settings, continue with our complete Palworld 1.0 dedicated-server guide.