Valheim Backup & Save Schedule

Configure Valheim's built-in backup system and generate external backup commands. Adjust intervals below — the startup flag block updates live.

Built-in Backup Startup Flags

These flags are appended to the Valheim Dedicated Server launch command (e.g., valheim_server.x86_64 or start_server.bat).

-saveinterval (auto-save every N seconds) 1800 s (30m)

5 min (300s) Default: 30 min (1800s) 2 hours (7200s)

-backups (number of backup files to keep) 4

1 Default: 4 20

-backupshort (short backup interval, seconds) 7200 s (2h)

30 min Default: 2 hours (7200s) 4 hours

-backuplong (long backup interval, seconds) 43200 s (12h)

1 hour Default: 12 hours (43200s) 24 hours

Generated Startup Flags

-saveinterval 1800 -backups 4 -backupshort 7200 -backuplong 43200

External Backup Command

World Name

The name you used when creating your world.

Operating System

rsync command

rsync -av --include="MyWorld.db" --include="MyWorld.fwl" --include="MyWorld.db.old" --include="MyWorld.fwl.old" --exclude="*" ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local/ /backups/valheim/

Estimated storage: 5–50 MB per world (larger maps with many structures can exceed 100 MB). Run this command on a cron/Task Scheduler after each save interval.

Files to Back Up

File	Purpose
{worldname}.db	World voxel and entity data (main save file)
{worldname}.fwl	World metadata — seed, name, UID
{worldname}.db.old	Previous .db before last save
{worldname}.fwl.old	Previous .fwl before last save

If using the -savedir startup flag, all files live in that custom directory instead of the default path.

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