Windrose Save File Location & How to Upload Your World

Your Windrose save files are in %LOCALAPPDATA%\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles on your PC: paste that into Win + R and press Enter. Inside there's a folder for your profile (on Steam it's named after your SteamID), and each world gets its own folder, named with its world ID, under RocksDB_v2_Backups. The catch is that a world isn't one tidy file, so moving it onto a server means copying the right folder and making sure the server loads it instead of quietly rolling a fresh one.

If you don't have a server yet, our Windrose server hosting page gets you one to upload straight into.

How to upload your Windrose world to a dedicated server

This order keeps the server offline for the shortest time: the digging happens on your PC first.

1. Quit Windrose properly. The game makes a backup when you exit, so let it close from the menu rather than killing it.
2. Find the world folder. Open %LOCALAPPDATA%\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles\<your profile>\RocksDB_v2_Backups\ and look for the Worlds folder. Each folder in there is one world, named with its ID. Pick the one with the newest date modified, and check it has a file ending _Latest.zip in it.
3. Copy the whole SaveProfiles folder somewhere safe. That's your undo button.
4. Back up the server's current save, even if it's a fresh world you don't care about.
5. Stop the server.
6. Upload your world folder into the server's SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB_v2_Backups/Worlds/ folder, so it sits directly inside Worlds. Don't rename it, and don't unzip the _Latest.zip inside it.
7. Point the server at your world. Put your world ID in WorldIslandId in ServerDescription.json, copying it from the folder name rather than typing it. That's the studio's own method. (On LOW.MS you can instead delete the server's own world folder from Worlds, so yours is the only one left.)
8. Start the server and join. A world from an older game version can take a while to update on first boot.

Tip: On LOW.MS you do steps 4 to 8 in the control panel. Press Create backup on the Backups tab, then stop the server. On the Files tab, open config/windrose/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB_v2_Backups/Worlds/ and use Upload folder to send your world folder. If the panel asks whether to extract a zip, choose Keep as .zip. To pick the world by ID rather than deleting the old one, edit config/windrose/ServerDescription.json, not the copy under game/R5/, which is replaced every time the server starts; if that file stops being valid JSON the server won't start, so change only the ID. Before you start the server, delete config/windrose/.world-settings-applied too, so your world keeps its own difficulty instead of taking the World pane's settings on the Manage tab. The Console tab is read-only, with nowhere to type, but it's where you watch your world load. The invite code is on the Overview tab, in the Join your server card (called Connection details when it also shows your SFTP login).

Where is the Windrose save file location on PC?

The studio gave both paths in its 17 April Steam Cloud post:

Game client (solo or self-hosted):  %LOCALAPPDATA%\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles
Dedicated server:                   R5\Saved\SaveProfiles

It advises backing up the whole SaveProfiles folder, which is step 3. I'd do it every time, not just for a move.

Inside SaveProfiles is your profile folder. On Steam it's your 17-digit SteamID64. On Stove it's called StoveDefault; on Epic it's your Epic profile. There's normally only one profile folder, so open whichever one's there. A dedicated server always uses Default instead.

Your profile holds several folders with irritatingly similar names:

On your PC it's the same layout as on a server: RocksDB_v2_Backups\Worlds\<WorldID>\. The studio's web guide shows a version folder such as 0.10.0 in that path, which is how the old RocksDB folder was laid out. If you see one, you still want the folder named with the world ID, and the server wants it directly inside Worlds.

Characters aren't part of the world. Windrose keeps each character in its own database in your profile, and the studio says a dedicated server stores "only world-related data" and not "player character data". So there's nothing character-related to upload: your character stays on your PC and comes with you. Keep the step 3 backup anyway: your characters sit in that same SaveProfiles folder.

Does Windrose autosave?

Yes. Patch 0.10.0.5.120 says the game "now automatically backs up all data every 10 minutes of gameplay and upon exiting". That's why step 1 wants a clean quit. Before that, the 19 April patch made a full copy at every launch, up to 30, in a <profile>_Backups folder. The game's own SaveWorkflow.md says that folder is no longer used.

A dedicated server is busier. On live servers it rewrites the world's _Latest.zip roughly once a minute, and, per the studio's SaveWorkflow.md (shipped since 0.10.0.6), every start rebuilds the live database from that zip, so the zip really is the save.

Moving a co-op or single-player world onto a server

There's no separate "co-op save". A co-op world lives on the host's PC, so the host uploads it. Your friends' characters are on their own PCs too, so only the host's world needs moving.

The world ID is in the folder name and in the zip name, and they have to match, so the folder name stays exactly as it is. If you've already renamed one, rename it back: the original ID is still at the start of the zip's file name inside it.

How does the server pick which world to load?

Through WorldIslandId in ServerDescription.json. The studio's rule is strict: that ID, the world's folder name and the IslandId inside its WorldDescription.json all have to match, and if any one doesn't, the server makes a brand-new world and writes the new ID back. A fresh server writes its own world's ID there on first start, which is why uploading yours next to it changes nothing. One wrong character means a new world too.

"WorldIslandId": "EC10598E83A14ED04D9C44CBFBF3F4B1"

On our servers, a check before each start adds a safety net. It only counts a folder in RocksDB_v2_Backups/Worlds as a world if it holds a <WorldID>_..._Latest.zip (which is why step 6 targets the backups folder and you don't need RocksDB_v2), and then:

• If the world named in WorldIslandId is there, the server loads it.
• If none is named, or the named one is missing, and there's exactly one world, it adopts that one.
• If there are no worlds, the game makes a new one.
• If there are several and none is named, or the named one is missing, a new world starts beside them. It won't guess.

That's step 7's alternative: delete the server's own world (your step 4 backup has it) and yours is the only candidate.

One more thing specific to our servers: the copy of ServerDescription.json that counts is the one in the config/windrose folder. Every start, the control panel writes the server name, password and connection settings into it, plus the invite code if you've set one there. It leaves the server's own ID alone and keeps WorldIslandId as long as that world is in the Worlds folder, so setting the world ID by hand works, but a name changed in the file is undone at the next start. Keep it valid JSON: if it doesn't parse, the server refuses to start rather than lose its identity.

Will my world keep its difficulty settings?

It will. Windrose stores a world's settings inside its own save (a WorldDescription.json in the latest backup zip), so they travel with the world. On our servers it keeps whatever it came with, as long as you delete .world-settings-applied before its first start (see the Tip). Once someone changes a setting in the World pane, the control panel writes those values into the world at the next start, and the world keeps them.

Editing WorldDescription.json on its own won't stick, because the game reloads the world from its latest backup at every start. Self-hosters use the studio's R5WorldDescriptionUpdater.exe for that; on our servers the World pane does the job.

Pick Local if Steam asks about cloud saves

If Steam asks whether to keep the local or the cloud copy, pick local. The studio's dedicated server guide is blunt about it: "If prompted about save conflicts, choose local saves. This prevents cloud data from overwriting the transferred save."

Troubleshooting a Windrose world upload

The server started a brand-new, empty world. Usually one of four things. The ID in WorldIslandId has a typo or doesn't match the folder. Several worlds sit in Worlds and none is named. The folder you uploaded has no _Latest.zip (it came from RocksDB_v2 or the old RocksDB). Or it landed a level too deep, as Worlds/<WorldID>/<WorldID>/. Fix it and restart; your world wasn't touched.

The world loaded but its difficulty changed. The server applied the World pane's settings to it. Set the pane to match your world's old settings, or restore your step 4 backup, redo the upload and delete config/windrose/.world-settings-applied before starting.

You've only got RocksDB and a _Backups folder, no RocksDB_v2_Backups. That's a save from before 0.10.0.5.120. The patch migrates old saves "in most cases" on its own, so launch Windrose on the current version, load the world once and quit.

Friends get a version error, or get dumped back to the main menu. Since the 17 April patch the game shows an error when the server is out of date, so update it. On Direct IP, a wrong password or version mismatch sends players to the menu "without displaying an error message" (a known issue in the 19 April notes).

The world loads, but your last session is missing. You copied before the exit backup was written, or Steam Cloud swapped in an older copy. If it was Steam, the studio says to turn Steam Cloud off before restoring from a backup.

The world won't load after a crash. Our servers automatically load the newest backup that isn't broken, so give it one more start. Still nothing? Restore your step 4 backup from the Backups tab and redo the upload.

Once you're in, friends join with the server's invite code, and our can't connect guide covers anything that stops them. Still no world? Open a ticket with the world ID and we'll dig in.