How to Fix Player Progress Lost After a Palworld Server Update
If everyone logs in after an update and sees a fresh world, your server is loading the wrong save folder. Here's what happened and how to get your old world back.
What Happened
Your world data isn't gone. The server just isn't looking at it.
Palworld dedicated servers use a value called DedicatedServerName in GameUserSettings.ini to determine which save folder to load. When this value changes — which can happen after an update, a panel reinstall, a config regeneration, or a fresh server setup — the server creates a new blank save folder and loads that instead. Your old save folder still exists on disk with all your data intact.
Finding Your Old Save
Stop the server, then open the file manager in your control panel and browse to:
Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/
You'll see one or more folders with names that look like random strings — these are your world save folders, each named after whatever DedicatedServerName value was active when that world was created. The new blank one will have a very recent creation timestamp and an empty or near-empty Players/ folder. Your old one will have an older timestamp and a populated Players/ folder with save files in it.
Fixing It
Step 1 — Identify the correct folder name (the one with your old world data).
Step 2 — Open:
Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini
Step 3 — Find the DedicatedServerName line. It will look something like:
DedicatedServerName=worldABC123xyz
Step 4 — Change the value to match your old save folder name exactly (case-sensitive):
DedicatedServerName=YourOldFolderNameHere
Step 5 — Save the file and start the server. It will now load the correct save folder and your world, characters, and progress will all be there.
Prevention
The most common trigger for this issue is anything that regenerates GameUserSettings.ini from scratch — reinstalling the server, using a "reset config" option in your panel, or certain updates that overwrite config files.
Write down your DedicatedServerName value somewhere outside the server (a sticky note, a text file on your local machine, your panel's notes section) immediately after your server is first set up. If you ever see a fresh world on login, you can jump straight to the fix without having to hunt through folder timestamps.
If You Have Multiple Save Folders
If you've had several of these incidents and have multiple world folders sitting in SaveGames/0/, check each one:
- Folder has a
Level.savfile and aPlayers/folder with.savfiles → this is a real world save - Folder has
Level.savbutPlayers/is empty → this is a world that was loaded once with no one logging in, likely a false start after a config change
The one with the most player files and the oldest-but-not-newest timestamp is almost certainly your real world.