Hytale Server Backups and World Transfer: Back Up, Restore and Move

What to back up

The manual's file structure lists these items at the top of a server directory:

Inside universe/, each world has its own folder under universe/worlds/ with its own config.json. A community guide also reports that player files live under universe/players/. You do not need to copy these individually. Back up the whole universe/ folder, so worlds, per-world settings and player data stay consistent with each other.

The manual also says a pre-update backup is built into the updater: RunBackupBeforeUpdate (default true) runs a full server backup before an update is applied and requires a configured backup directory, and BackupConfigBeforeUpdate (default true) covers the four JSON files. Take your own backup anyway before a major update, because a world first loaded on a newer build may not open on an older one; one community guide reports exactly that, so plan to restore a backup rather than run the old version against the new world.

Back up from the ChicagoServers panel

Sign in at panel.chicagoservers.co, open the server under Your servers, and click the Backups tab. The tab appears when your plan includes backups; if you cannot see it, ask support.

1. Pick the type of backup

   Under Back up now, choose World and settings (saves, configs, mods) or Whole server (everything, the game included). World and settings is smaller and is what most people want day to day. Choose Whole server before a risky change, or before Erase and reinstall on the Settings tab.

2. Add a note

   A note like "before adding mods" or "before update" makes the right backup easy to find later.

3. Click Back up now

   The page can be left while it runs. When it finishes, the backup appears under Your backups.

4. Test it once

   Do a trial restore into a folder (see below) so you know the backup contains your world, because the panel describes the contents generally and the Hytale folder layout is the part to confirm.

Under Your backups you can restore, download, delete, or star a backup to keep it from being replaced. Download an occasional backup to your own computer, because a backup stored with the server does not protect you if the server itself is lost.

Restore a backup

1. Open the backup

   On the Backups tab, under Your backups, click Restore next to the backup you want.

2. Choose how

   Put it back stops the server, replaces its files and starts it again if it was running. Unpack into a folder replaces nothing: it unpacks the backup so you can copy back only what you need, such as a single world or permissions.json.

3. Keep the restore point

   Leave Save the current files as a restore point first ticked so you can undo the restore if it was the wrong backup.

4. Click Restore

   Wait for the server to come back, join, and check the world, your builds and your permissions.

Use Unpack into a folder when only one thing broke. If someone wrecked one world but the rest is fine, unpacking and copying back that world's folder from universe/worlds/ loses less recent progress than restoring everything. Stop the server before you copy files into a world folder.

Restoring an old backup also restores the old bans.json, permissions.json and whitelist.json, so check those after a restore. See the permissions and whitelist guide.

Schedule backups

There are two ways to automate backups on the panel.

• Automatic backups on the Backups tab: choose How often, the time and what to back up, then click Save schedule. Times are Chicago time.
• Schedules tab: add a task, choose When, then use Add a step and pick Make a backup. You can combine steps, for example a console warning to players, a Wait 5 minutes, a backup, and a restart. If you add a step that waits for the server to empty, it waits up to an hour and skips the run if players are still on.

Sensible habits: back up at your quietest hour, keep a rhythm that matches how much progress you can afford to lose, star a known-good backup before experiments, and do not let the backup run at the same moment as a restart. Check the Backups tab for how many backups your plan keeps rather than assuming. Starred backups are kept instead of being replaced.

The game also has built-in backup options. According to the manual's --help output, --backup enables automatic backups, --backup-dir <Path> sets the backup directory, and --backup-frequency <Integer> sets the interval in minutes, with a default of 30. The manual's example wrapper script uses them like this:

--backup --backup-dir backups --backup-frequency 30

Whether these flags are active on your ChicagoServers server depends on how the server is launched, and launch options are managed by staff on the panel, so ask support if you want them. One community guide notes that built-in backups sit on the same server, use disk space, and would be included in a panel backup, so they complement panel backups rather than replacing an off-server copy.

Upload an existing world

You may want to bring a single-player world to your server, or restore a world from your computer. Community hosting guides agree on the main points. The single-player save is reported to be at %AppData%\Hytale\UserData\Saves\<your world>\universe on Windows. The server side is its universe/ folder.

1. Back up the server first

   Make a Whole server backup under Back up now. Replacing universe/ overwrites what the server has.

2. Stop the server

   Click Stop at the top of the page. The panel's own guidance is to stop the server before replacing its world or any file the game rewrites. Community guides warn that uploading while the server runs can cause missing chunks or half-written files.

3. Compress the world on your computer

   Zip your universe folder (or just the world folders from universe/worlds/ if you want to add them without replacing everything).

4. Upload

   On the Files tab, open the server's main folder and click Upload (or drag the zip onto the page). For big worlds use SFTP: copy Host, Port and Username from the blue SFTP bar, use your panel password, and connect with an SFTP client. Plain FTP will not work.

5. Extract and replace

   Right-click the zip and choose Extract here, then delete the zip. If you are replacing the whole world, delete or rename the old universe folder first, and make sure the new folder ends up named exactly universe, not nested as universe/universe.

6. Start and check

   Click Start, watch the Console, join, and look at your builds. If you uploaded individual worlds, a community guide reports a console /world list to see which are loaded and a /world load command for ones that are not, with /world setdefault to pick the world players land in. These commands are not in the manual, so check /help on your build.

• Mods may not come with a single-player save. Check the world's own mods folder, upload the mods it needs separately to mods/, and match the versions the world was built with.
• Player data varies. Reports differ on whether inventories and positions carry over. One guide says players usually start fresh, another says a full universe transfer brings single-player progress along. Test with one account before inviting everyone.
• Keep the original. Leave your local copy untouched until you are sure the server world is correct.
• Versions must line up. The manual says client and server must be on the exact same protocol version, and a world from a newer build may not open on an older one. Update first, then upload.

Move a world between hosts

Moving to or from ChicagoServers is the same job in either direction: take a complete copy, bring it up on the new host with matching versions, test, then switch players over.

1. Stop the old server and copy

   Stop the source server so the files are consistent. Download universe/, the four JSON files and mods/, using SFTP or a downloaded panel backup (Your backups lets you download one).

2. Match the Hytale version

   Make sure the new host runs the same Hytale server version, because the manual says client and server must match exactly and worlds may not go back to an older build. On ChicagoServers, ask 24/7 support which version your server is on.

3. Upload and place the files

   Stop the new server, upload the files into the same layout (use the steps in the previous section), and keep universe exactly named.

4. Authenticate and start

   A new server needs to be authenticated with a Hytale account, which the manual describes using the /auth login device command in the server console. On ChicagoServers, ask support how authentication is handled for your server if you are not sure. Remember the manual's limit of 500 servers per game license.

5. Test, then switch

   Join with a test account, check the world, then update the address for your players. Hytale's own default port is UDP 5520, but the panel assigns ports, so give players the address shown at the top of the server page.

Do not run both copies at once for long. If you keep the old server around while players move, remember it will keep saving a diverging world, so decide on a cut-off and tell players.

Running this on ChicagoServers

On a ChicagoServers Hytale server, backups, schedules, file upload and SFTP are all part of the panel, and 24/7 support can help with a world transfer. Run a restore test once, before you need it. If you are planning mods too, the mods guide pairs well with a pre-change backup.

Frequently asked questions