Your Space Engineers 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
Everything is in the config folder inside Files. The settings file is SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg. The world is a folder inside config/Saves named after the World Name shown in Settings (it is World by default), containing Sandbox.sbc and Sandbox_config.sbc plus the other save files. The server loads the Sandbox.sbc inside the folder that matches World Name.
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 and make a panel backup, which copies the whole server folder including the world folder inside config/Saves (not just Sandbox.sbc) and SpaceEngineers-Dedicated.cfg, so your admin list is kept. To keep a copy on your PC, download the backup from the Backups page.
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 Space Engineers world.
