Your 7 Days to Die world is the thing you cannot get back if it is lost, so back it up before you change settings, install mods or update.
Before you start: stop the server so the backup holds complete files. See How to start, stop, restart and force-stop your server.
Where the world is stored
The game keeps worlds in a folder whose name starts with a dot, .local/share/7DaysToDie, inside your server's files. It appears after the server has started once. Saves go in Saves/<World>/<Save Name>/ (for example Saves/Navezgane/MyGame), and terrain built by the random map generator goes in GeneratedWorlds/<world name>/. Inside a save, Region holds placed blocks and bases, Player holds character files named by player ID, main.ttp holds the world state and day counter, and map files hold each player's exploration. If you cannot see the .local folder in Files, connect with SFTP and set your client to show hidden files, or ask support.
Make a backup
- Open your server in the panel and click Backups in the left menu.
- Click Start backup with Files selected. The backup copies the whole server folder, so the world is included.
- To keep a copy outside PlayNHost, open the ... menu of the backup and choose Download.
The server folder also holds the game's own files, which can be large, so check the size on the Backups page. If it does not fit your backup space, ask support what to leave out. Do not guess an ignore pattern, because a wrong one can leave your world out of the backup. See How to create, download and restore backups for scheduling, locking and limits.
What to make sure is included
Stop the server first, then back up the whole Saves folder for your world. If you use the random map also keep GeneratedWorlds, so the exact terrain survives. Take a copy before every game update, because a save from an older game version can misbehave on a much newer one. The panel backup copies the whole server folder, which includes roughly 17 GB of game files and can use up your backup Storage or fail; check the Storage counter on the Backups page and use Ignored files to leave the game files out, or download just the Saves folder from Files.
Restore a backup
A restore replaces the current files with the backup, and anything changed since is lost. Take a fresh backup of the current state first if you may want it back.
Choose Restore to server from the backup's ... menu, confirm, and start the server when it finishes.
To bring a world from another computer instead, see How to upload your own 7 Days to Die world.
