Windrose Updated April 27, 2026

Creating and Managing Worlds

Create new worlds, switch between worlds, and understand how world IDs link saves to your server configuration.

WindroseworldsWorldIslandIdsave management

Overview

A Windrose dedicated server loads a single world at a time, identified by the WorldIslandId field in ServerDescription.json. Understanding how worlds are stored and identified is essential for creating new worlds, switching between saves, and managing multiple world slots.

How World Identity Works

The WorldIslandId in ServerDescription.json is a string that must exactly match the folder name of the world save under:

R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/<version>/Worlds/

For example, if your world folder is named island_main, your ServerDescription.json must contain:

"WorldIslandId": "island_main"

If these do not match, the server will either fail to load the world or create a new blank world at the specified ID.

Creating a New World

To have the server generate a fresh world:

  1. Stop the server.
  2. Open ServerDescription.json.
  3. Change WorldIslandId to a new unique value: 
    "WorldIslandId": "island_fresh_01"
  4. Save the file.
  5. Start the server. Because no world folder exists with that ID, the server will generate a new world.

The new world folder will be created at:

R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/<version>/Worlds/island_fresh_01/

Switching Between Existing Worlds

To switch to a different existing world:

  1. Stop the server.
  2. Confirm the target world folder exists under the Worlds/ directory.
  3. Update WorldIslandId in ServerDescription.json to match the target folder name exactly.
  4. Save and start the server.

Player progress, inventory, and world state will reflect the switched-to world.

Listing Existing Worlds

Navigate to the following path in the panel file manager or via SFTP to see all world saves:

R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/<version>/Worlds/

Each subdirectory is a separate world. The directory name is its WorldIslandId.

WorldDescription.json per World

Each world folder contains its own WorldDescription.json with world-specific settings. Changes to gameplay settings apply only to the world whose folder they are in. When you switch worlds, you are also switching to that world's WorldDescription.json.

See the gameplay settings article for details on editing WorldDescription.json.

Deleting a World

To permanently delete a world:

  1. Stop the server.
  2. Back up the world folder if you want to keep it archived.
  3. Delete the world folder from R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/<version>/Worlds/<world-id>/.
  4. If this was the active world, update WorldIslandId in ServerDescription.json to a different world or a new ID.

Deleting the active world folder without updating ServerDescription.json will cause the server to create a new blank world with the same ID on next startup.

PersistentServerId

The PersistentServerId field in ServerDescription.json is a unique identifier for your server instance. It should remain constant across world switches and updates. Do not change it unless you are intentionally re-registering the server as a new instance.

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