Tools / Valheim
Valheim World Recovery
World won't load, or a .db/.fwl got mismatched, truncated, or you
restored the wrong one? A Valheim world is a matched pair - <World>.db (the
world) and <World>.fwl (name, seed, spawn) - and the game keeps
.old backups. Point this page at your world folder: it pairs the files
up, ranks every copy by save time and integrity, picks the newest
intact pair, and hands you a clean, ready-to-upload world plus the launch
argument.
Valheim 1.0 changed the save layout, and this tool reads both. A 1.0 world
is its own directory holding _main.N.db2, _main.N.fwl2,
_main.N.ok and a pile of .chunk files, where N counts up
on every save and several generations are kept side by side. The tool lists each 1.0 world,
picks the highest generation that finished writing (the one with an .ok), and
shows your pre-1.0 .db/.fwl, which conversion leaves in place, as
what it really is: a frozen rollback point from before the update, not a newer save.
One limit: a completely empty world folder contains no files for the browser to hand over,
so the tool cannot see it at all. That is normal, not a lost world - it just has not been
saved under 1.0 yet, and your legacy files beside it are intact. For each 1.0 world the tool
also reads the newest completed save's _main.N.chunks index and checks that
every terrain file it names is on disk: the Could not find file ….chunk
failure is exactly a name in that index with no file behind it, and the tool supplies the
missing files from a backup folder, or from the same piece of terrain at another revision.
What changed, in full.
An update or a mod changed your 1.0 world and you want it undone? Pick the
folder that holds the world and its <World>_backup_auto-<date>
folders. Each backup is a copy of the whole world from one moment, so the tool offers them
newest first and zips the one you pick under your world's name. It will not roll back to an
older _main.N inside the live folder: every save there shares the same terrain
chunk files, so an older one would mix two points in time. Before your next mod update, copy
the world folder somewhere safe and you will always have a clean point to return to.
Valheim 1.0? If the world select screen says Missing DB, that
is this exact problem: Valheim found the .fwl and no usable .db beside
it, so the world lists but will not load. Drop the folder in below and the tool will find the
intact pair. A world tagged [Old Format] is a different thing and needs no
recovery: it is a pre-2022 legacy save, and Valheim converts it once you use
move to local or move to cloud and then fully quit the game. Backups of a
legacy save carry the same tag, which is normal.
Full guide to both.
Your save never leaves your browser. It reads only file names, sizes and modified-times to rank the copies, copies the chosen pair's bytes into a zip locally, and never modifies your originals - the zip even keeps the files it would replace as a backup.
Pick your world folder
Local worlds live in %APPDATA%\..\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local\ (or
Steam Cloud); a dedicated server keeps them in its worlds / save directory. Pick
the folder with your .db and .fwl files. Stop the server / close the
game first.
Reads names, sizes & times locally. Nothing is uploaded.
Want this on a real server? Supercraft hosts Valheim →
How Valheim saves - and how they break
Each world is two files that must stay together: <World>.db is the world
itself, <World>.fwl is its metadata. On every save Valheim rotates the
previous copy to .db.old / .fwl.old, and many servers keep dated
auto-backups too. The usual failures:
- Truncated
.db- a crash or a copy made mid-write leaves the current world too small to load. The.oldpair is almost always fine. - Orphaned half - a
.dbwith no matching.fwl(or vice versa) won't load. The tool flags it and only offers complete pairs. - Wrong copy restored - people rename the older backup over the newer good one. The timeline (real save times) stops the guessing.
Want to read a world's name, seed and modifiers, or build the
-modifier startup flags? That's the
World & Modpack Doctor. Prefer it hosted
with daily backups? Run a Valheim
server with Supercraft.
Manual recovery (no JavaScript needed)
- Stop the server / close the game so nothing overwrites a copy.
- In the world folder, back up everything for the world first.
- Check the Date modified and size of
<World>.dbvs<World>.db.old. If the current one is tiny or newer-but-broken, the.oldis your restore point. - Copy the good
.db.oldto<World>.dband the matching.fwl.oldto<World>.fwl- always both, as a pair. - Start with
-world "<World>"and confirm it loads before deleting the backup.
FAQ
Is my save really not uploaded?
Really - there's no upload endpoint on this page. Reading the folder and building the recovery zip both happen in your browser; the network tab shows zero requests carrying your world.
Can it recover a world with no good backup?
No tool can rebuild data that isn't on disk. If every .db is truncated and there's
no intact .old or auto-backup, it says so honestly instead of handing you a broken
file. Restore from a server-side backup if you have one.
Does it change my world's seed?
No - it copies your existing files verbatim and only renames the chosen pair to the clean
<World>.db / .fwl. The seed and everything else are exactly as
they were in that save.
My Valheim world won't load - can I recover it?
Usually. A Valheim world is a matched pair - <World>.db (the world) and <World>.fwl (metadata) - and Valheim keeps the previous save as <World>.db.old / <World>.fwl.old. If the current .db is corrupted or truncated, the .old pair is normally intact. This tool reads your world folder, pairs every .db with its .fwl, ranks them by save time and integrity, and builds a clean recovered pair from the newest intact one.
What are the .db and .fwl files in Valheim?
The .db holds the actual world - terrain, buildings, dropped items. The .fwl is small metadata: the world name, seed and spawn. They must stay a matched pair; a .db with a mismatched or missing .fwl won't load. This tool flags an orphaned .db or .fwl and only offers complete, matching pairs.
Valheim 1.0 says Missing DB - what does that mean?
It means Valheim found the world's .fwl metadata file but no usable .db beside it, so the world appears in the list and then refuses to load. On a dedicated server the .db is only written at the first autosave, roughly twenty minutes in, so a world created and restarted inside that window never had one. On an established world the .db normally still exists as a .db.old rotation or in a backup folder, and this tool finds the newest intact .db + .fwl pair for you.
My Valheim world says [Old Format] after 1.0 - is it broken?
No. [Old Format] marks a legacy save written before Valheim's June 2022 cloud-save change, so it sits in the old folder rather than the current local or cloud one. Valheim converts it itself: use move to local or move to cloud on the entry, then quit the game fully so the conversion completes. Backups made from a legacy save carry the same tag, which is why they look broken too. Do the conversion with mods disabled.
Does this read Valheim 1.0 world folders?
Yes. Valheim 1.0 stores each world as a directory of _main.N.db2, _main.N.fwl2, _main.N.ok and .chunk files, where N increases on every save and several generations are kept together. The tool lists each 1.0 world and picks the highest generation that finished writing, marked by its .ok file. Your pre-1.0 .db and .fwl are left in place by the conversion and are shown as a rollback point from before the update, never as a newer save. A completely empty world folder has no files for the browser to read, so it does not appear; that means the world has not been saved under 1.0 yet and the legacy files are intact.
Which backup should I restore?
The newest one that's intact. Because the copies (.old, auto-backups) look alike, the tool shows each with its real save time and file sizes, marks which are complete and which are truncated, and pre-selects the newest intact pair - so you restore 'the save from before it broke', not a guess.
Can I roll a Valheim 1.0 world back after a bad update or mod change?
Yes, to one of its backup folders. Valheim writes them next to the world as <World>_backup_auto-<date>, and each is a copy of the whole world from one moment. Pick the world folder and its backups together: the tool lists them newest first, marks which hold a completed save, and zips the one you pick under your world's name, with steps to swap it in. It does not roll back to an older _main.N inside the live folder, because every save in that folder shares the same terrain chunk files, so an older one would mix two points in time. Everything played after the backup was taken is not in it.
The server log says Could not find file ...chunk and World load failed mid-file. What now?
A Valheim 1.0 world folder holds one .chunk file per piece of terrain, and each save generation's _main.N.chunks index lists the exact file names it needs, revision number included. When the game rewrites a piece of terrain it writes a new file under a new name, so an index left pointing at a name that is not on disk makes the server stop loading right there. Pick your worlds folder: the tool reads the newest completed save's index, lists every missing file, and builds a zip that supplies them, first from a backup folder that still holds the exact file, otherwise as a copy of the same piece of terrain at its nearest other revision. It also tells you when an older save generation is still complete, so you can fall back to it by moving that generation's four _main.N.* files out instead.