The Forest server: save transfer and mods

A The Forest save is a folder called Slot1 to Slot5, and moving a world between a PC and a dedicated server is copying the contents of that folder into the same-numbered slot on the other side, then pointing the config at it with slot and initType Continue. Single-player and multiplayer saves both transfer. Two things decide whether it works: the server must have a Steam game server token in serverSteamAccount or it will never write a save at all, and the server must be stopped while you copy or the next autosave overwrites what you uploaded. Mods are a separate and more fragile story - The Forest has no official mod support, and the community route is ModAPI, which patches the server's files and has to be reapplied after every update. This guide covers the slots, every direction a world can move, snapshots and rollbacks, and how to run mods without losing the world.

The install, the full Server.cfg, ports and admin commands are in The Forest dedicated server guide. This post is about the world itself.

How The Forest stores a world#

Every save is a slot, and there are five. Each slot is a folder holding the world - terrain changes, structures, the state of caves and cannibals - plus metadata the game uses for its load screen. Slots are independent: five slots means five unrelated worlds that happen to share a server.

On a player's PC the saves are under the game's profile folder:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\SKS\TheForest\<SteamID64>\  SinglePlayer\Slot1 ... Slot5  Multiplayer\Slot1 ... Slot5

SinglePlayer holds solo games. Multiplayer holds games that player hosted. A world you only joined as a guest is not the full world and does not belong in this process.

On the dedicated server, saves live wherever saveFolderPath or the -savefolderpath argument points, with a Multiplayer folder and the same Slot folders beneath it. Left at default on Windows, that is inside the server's own profile folder under SKS\TheForestDedicatedServer. Most hosted setups set an explicit path next to the install. If you are not sure where your server writes, look at the start command for -savefolderpath and at the log when the server saves - guessing is how people upload a world into a folder the server never reads.

Moving a world from your PC to the server#

Both single-player and hosted multiplayer saves transfer. The procedure:

1. Close the game on your PC so the local save is complete.
2. Find the slot. Under your SinglePlayer or Multiplayer folder, the slot you want is the one you load in-game - the slot number matches.
3. Stop the server. Not optional. A running server writes its own world into the slot at the next autosave and on shutdown.
4. Back up the server's target slot if it has anything in it, even a world you think you do not want.
5. Copy the contents of your local SlotN into the server's Multiplayer/SlotN. The contents, not the folder inside the folder - after copying, the server's slot folder should hold the save files directly.
6. Set `slot` to that number and `initType` to `Continue` in Server.cfg, and check no command-line argument overrides either.
7. Start the server and watch the log for the world loading. Join and look around before telling anyone it worked.

Copying into the same slot number on both sides is not strictly required, but it removes one thing to get wrong. Over SFTP the copy is a single drag of a folder that is usually tens of megabytes - SFTP and the file manager has the details.

What comes across is the world. What does not reliably come across is each player's exact inventory and position, which depend on how the game stored player data in the version you played. Plan a supply chest for the first session on a moved world, and nobody spends the evening rebuilding a stick collection.

Moving a world from the server to a PC#

The reverse is just as simple and much less often done, which is a shame, because it is the best insurance there is.

1. Run /save in game as an admin, or stop the server cleanly, so the slot is current.
2. Download the contents of the server's Multiplayer/SlotN.
3. On the PC, place them in Multiplayer\SlotN under your own SteamID64 folder, after backing up whatever was there.
4. Start a hosted multiplayer game and load that slot.

Do this before a server is cancelled, before moving hosts, and occasionally just to prove you can. A world you can open on your own PC is a world no hosting decision can take from you.

Slots as snapshots#

Five slots on a server are more useful than five worlds. Used deliberately, they are save states.

The admin command /save with a slot number writes the current world into that slot without switching to it. Before a risky moment - a cave expedition, a big base rebuild, a mod test - an admin types:

/save 5

The live world continues in its own slot, and slot 5 now holds a copy of this moment. If the expedition goes badly, stop the server, set slot 5, start, and the group is back where it was. Afterwards, copy that slot back into the main slot's folder if you want to keep using the original number.

Keep one slot as a standing test copy. Before you try a mod, a resetHolesMode clean-up or anything else you are not sure of, copy the live slot's contents into the test slot, point the server at it, and try it there.

Autosaves, clean stops and rollback#

The server saves on a timer, every serverAutoSaveInterval minutes with a floor of fifteen, on a clean shutdown, and when an admin types /save. It does not save when the process is killed. The worst case on default settings is half an hour of lost play; on the minimum, fifteen minutes.

• Run `/save` before anything you might regret, including a host-side restart.
• Stop cleanly. /shutdown or the panel's stop. Avoid the /restart chat command; the official wiki describes it as resetting the save, and there are enough lost-world reports to take that literally.
• The autosave is not a backup. It overwrites the same slot. A world saved after something went wrong replaces the good one.

A rollback is replacing a slot's contents with an earlier copy while the server is stopped. That only works if an earlier copy exists somewhere other than the slot. The routine that makes sure it does: a scheduled copy of the save folder kept off the server, a manual copy before updates and mods, and one practice restore so you know the procedure works. Backups that actually restore explains why the practice restore is the point, and game server save files explained puts The Forest's layout next to other games'.

On RE:NODE, backups are taken on demand or on a schedule, stored off the machine they protect, downloadable, and restored with one button. A Schedules entry can run a nightly backup and then a restart as ordered tasks at a quiet hour. The Restart button sends a clean stop rather than a kill, so the world is saved on the way down.

Keeping an old save healthy#

A world that has run for a year gets heavier for specific reasons: structures, cut holes, terrain changes and dropped items all accumulate. Three config switches help.

• `treeRegrowMode on` regrows a share of felled trees when players sleep, so the area around a base does not become a wasteland.
• `resetHolesMode on` for a single restart clears every hole cut in a structure - including every door and window players cut deliberately. It is a blunt tool for a save that has become slow to load. Snapshot to another slot first, turn it on, start, check, turn it off.
• `allowBuildingDestruction` decides whether cannibals can break structures. It does not repair anything already destroyed.

The Forest has been feature-complete for years, so save compatibility between game versions is no longer a regular risk. That stability is also what makes modding this game more practical than modding its sequel.

Mods on a The Forest server#

There is no official mod support and no workshop. The community tool is ModAPI, which lists The Forest's dedicated server as a target of its own. It works as a patcher: you point it at a copy of the game or server files, choose mods from its catalogue, and it builds modified game assemblies with those mods included. The patched files replace the originals.

The rules that follow from that design:

• Server and every client need the same mods at the same versions. Gameplay mods that are only on one side fail to connect or desync.
• Not every mod has a server build. Check each one for dedicated server support rather than assuming a collection works.
• Updates undo the patch. app_update restores the original files. After any server update, reapply the mods before players join.
• `allowCheats off` does not stop mods. It only gates the built-in debug console.

On a hosted server where you cannot run ModAPI's interface, the practical workflow is to run ModAPI on a Windows PC against a local copy of the dedicated server files - installed with SteamCMD from app id 556450, as in SteamCMD explained - then upload the patched files over the originals on the server. Keep the unpatched originals as well, so you can return to vanilla in one copy. Wine and Proton for Windows-only servers is worth reading if your server runs on Linux, because the server is a Windows build there too and the patched files are the same Windows files.

A mod change routine that does not lose the world

1. Snapshot the live world with /save into a spare slot, and take an off-server backup.
2. Stop the server.
3. Back up the server's current game files - the folders ModAPI touches.
4. Upload the patched files.
5. Point the server at the test slot, start, and join with the matching client mods.
6. Play for long enough to trigger what the mod changes: building, combat, a save and reload.
7. If all is well, switch slot back to the live world. If not, restore the original game files and nothing about the world has changed.

Gameplay mods can write their own data into saves. Removing such a mod later can leave a save that loads with errors or not at all, which is another reason the test slot exists. What to do when a mod update breaks has the general recovery order, and keeping a modded server clean the habits that prevent most of it.

Troubleshooting#

The server loaded a new world instead of mine. initType is New, slot points at a different number, or a command-line argument overrides the config. The uploaded files are still in their folder; fix the setting and restart.

The upload did nothing and the old world loaded. The files went into a folder the server does not read - wrong saveFolderPath, wrong slot, or one folder too deep. Check the log for the path it saves to.

The world loads but progress disappears after a restart. serverSteamAccount is empty, so the server never saved. Set a token.

Players arrive with empty inventories on a moved world. Player data did not come across in full. Expected after some transfers; a supply chest fixes the first session.

After a game update, modded clients cannot connect. The update restored vanilla server files. Reapply the mods, or have everyone remove theirs until you do.

The save got slow to load after months. Accumulated structure holes and terrain edits. Snapshot, then one start with resetHolesMode on.

FAQ#

Can I move my single-player The Forest world to a dedicated server?

Yes. Copy the contents of the slot from your SinglePlayer folder into the server's Multiplayer slot folder with the server stopped, then set slot and initType Continue. Hosted multiplayer saves move the same way.

Why does my server never save?

The serverSteamAccount line is empty. A The Forest server without a game server login token runs normally and writes nothing. Set one and confirm a save appears.

How do I back up a world without stopping the server?

Have an admin run /save with a spare slot number to snapshot the world into that slot, then copy that slot. For an off-server backup, a clean stop or a fresh /save first is what keeps the copy consistent.

Do players need mods if the server has them?

For gameplay mods, yes - the same mods at the same versions as the server. A mod that only changes what one player sees may not need to be on the server at all.

Do I lose mods when the server updates?

Yes. ModAPI patches game files, and an update replaces them with the originals. Reapply the mods after every update, with a backup taken first.

How many worlds can one The Forest server keep?

Five, one per slot. Only the slot named in slot runs at a time; the others are untouched until you switch.