Necesse Server World Backups

Overview

Necesse stores each world as a single .zip file in the saves directory. This makes backups straightforward — copy the file.

Manual Backup

Linux:

cp ~/.config/Necesse/saves/MySave.zip \
   ~/.config/Necesse/saves/MySave-$(date +%F).zip

Windows (PowerShell):

$src  = "$env:APPDATA\Necesse\saves\MySave.zip"
$dest = "$env:APPDATA\Necesse\saves\MySave-$(Get-Date -Format yyyy-MM-dd).zip"
Copy-Item $src $dest

Automated Backups — Linux (cron)

Edit the crontab for the server user:

crontab -e

Add a daily backup at 4:00 AM, keeping the last 7 days:

0 4 * * * cp ~/.config/Necesse/saves/MySave.zip ~/.config/Necesse/saves/MySave-$(date +\%F).zip
0 5 * * * find ~/.config/Necesse/saves/ -name "MySave-*.zip" -mtime +7 -delete

Automated Backups — Windows (Task Scheduler)

Create a PowerShell script backup-necesse.ps1:

$saves  = "$env:APPDATA\Necesse\saves"
$dest   = "$saves\MySave-$(Get-Date -Format yyyy-MM-dd).zip"
Copy-Item "$saves\MySave.zip" $dest

# Remove backups older than 7 days
Get-ChildItem "$saves\MySave-*.zip" |
    Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-7) } |
    Remove-Item

Schedule this script with Task Scheduler to run daily before any planned restart.

Restoring a Backup

1. Stop the server.
2. Copy the backup .zip to the saves directory and rename it to the world name the server expects (e.g., MySave.zip).
3. Start the server with -world MySave.

sudo systemctl stop necesse
cp ~/.config/Necesse/saves/MySave-2026-05-10.zip ~/.config/Necesse/saves/MySave.zip
sudo systemctl start necesse

Logs

Server logs are written to:

Check the most recent log file when diagnosing crashes, unexpected shutdowns, or connection errors.

Recommendations

• Run daily automated backups, scheduled before any planned server restart.
• Retain at least 7 days of backups.
• Store a copy of backups off-server (external storage or remote location) for disaster recovery.

Related

• Necesse World Settings and Save Management
• Necesse Dedicated Server Troubleshooting
• Running a Necesse Dedicated Server on Linux