Migrate a Windrose World

🐧 Ubuntu 26.04 Updated 19 May 2026

This guide covers two migration scenarios: moving a world from one dedicated server to another, and moving a local (Windows) world save onto a dedicated server.

World saves are stored as RocksDB databases identified by a generated World ID. Never rename the world folder — the game uses the folder name as a key and will fail to load a renamed world.

⚠ Back up before you start. Back up the world folder on both the source and destination before moving any files. Stop the game client and dedicated server before touching any save files.

Server to Server

1 Find the World ID

On the source server, list the worlds directory to find the World ID — it's the folder name inside Worlds/.

ls /home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/

This shows the game version folder (e.g. 0.10.0). Then list the worlds inside it:

ls /home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/*/Worlds/

The folder name is your World ID — e.g. EC10598E83A14ED04D9C44CBFBF3F4B1. Note it down.

2 Stop Both Servers

Stop the source server and the destination server before copying any files.

systemctl stop windrose

3 Copy the World Files

Use rsync to copy the world folder from the source server to the destination. Run this on the destination server, replacing SOURCE_IP and VERSION with your values.

rsync -avz --progress \
  root@SOURCE_IP:/home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/VERSION/Worlds/WORLD_ID \
  /home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/VERSION/Worlds/

Also copy the backup folder:

rsync -avz --progress \
  root@SOURCE_IP:/home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB_v2_Backups/Worlds/WORLD_ID \
  /home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB_v2_Backups/Worlds/

Fix ownership after copying:

chown -R windrose:windrose /home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/

4 Update ServerDescription.json

On the destination server, open ServerDescription.json and set WorldIslandId to exactly match the copied world folder name.

nano /home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/ServerDescription.json

"WorldIslandId": "EC10598E83A14ED04D9C44CBFBF3F4B1"

⚠ The value must exactly match the folder name. Any difference — including capitalisation — will cause the server to fail to load the world.

5 Start the New Server

systemctl start windrose

Check the log to confirm the world loaded:

tail -f /home/windrose/windrose.log

Local Save to Dedicated Server

1 Find Your Local Save (Windows)

Local worlds are stored at:

C:\Users\{UserName}\AppData\Local\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles\{Profile}\RocksDB\{GameVersion}\Worlds\{WorldID}

Common profile folder names: your Steam/EGS profile ID, or StoveDefault for Stove. The last folder is your World ID — note it down.

2 Copy the World Folder to the Server

From Windows, use SCP or SFTP to upload the world folder to the server. With an SCP client (e.g. WinSCP), copy the world folder to:

/home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/{GameVersion}/Worlds/

Do not rename the folder. Then fix ownership on the server:

chown -R windrose:windrose /home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/

3 Update ServerDescription.json

Set WorldIslandId to the exact World ID folder name you copied.

nano /home/windrose/windrose/R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/ServerDescription.json

"WorldIslandId": "{WorldID}"

4 Start the Server

systemctl start windrose

Players can join using the server's invite code. The world will continue from the state it was in when you copied the save.

Common Mistakes

What to Avoid

Renaming the world folder — The game uses the generated folder name as a database key. Renaming it breaks world loading entirely.

Wrong game version folder — Make sure you copy the world into the matching RocksDB/{GameVersion}/Worlds/ directory on the destination.

WorldIslandId mismatch — The value in ServerDescription.json must exactly match the copied folder name, including capitalisation.

Copying while the server is running — Always stop both the game client and dedicated server before touching save files.

Forgetting ownership — Files copied as root won't be readable by the windrose user. Always run chown -R windrose:windrose after copying.