How to back up and restore your Rust world

Your Rust 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

Inside Files, in server/rust. The map is a .map file named after its size, seed and Rust version (for example proceduralmap.3000.1.288.map), the world and buildings are in the matching .sav files (Rust also keeps older rotated copies ending in .sav.1 and .sav.2), and the cfg folder inside holds the admin lists and server.cfg.

Make a backup

1. Open your server in the panel and click Backups in the left menu.
2. Click Start backup with Files selected. The backup copies the whole server folder, so the world is included.
3. 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 and wait until it shows Offline before you create the backup, because Rust writes its save when it shuts down. The panel backup covers the whole server folder, so it keeps the map, saves, player blueprints, clan data, the cfg folder (admin list) and, if you use Oxide or Carbon, the plugin data and permissions.

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 Rust world.