Keeping Your Dragonwilds Server Updated
Dragonwilds is in early access and updates often. Your server updates by reinstalling the game files, and your world is kept.
2 min read · Updated Sep 24, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team
Why it matters
When Jagex ships an update, the game client updates itself through Steam. Your server does not: a restart starts the same server files again, and only the install step downloads new ones from Steam. So for a while the two are on different versions and your players cannot connect. Updating the server is what closes that gap.
How to update
Everything here is in your control panel. Sign in at customer.guavahost.com, open My servers and click Manage on your Dragonwilds server.
- Press Stop at the top of the server page.
- Take a backup from the Backups page. This takes seconds and is worth doing every time.
- Go to the Settings tab, find the Reinstall server card and click Reinstall…. Type
REINSTALLto confirm and click Reinstall server. It runs the install step again, which pulls the current server files from Steam. - When it finishes, start the server and watch the Console.
The reinstall replaces the game files, not your world or your config. Your saves in RSDragonwilds/Saved/SaveGames/ and your DedicatedServer.ini stay where they are, and your server name, passwords and owner ID live in Startup settings, which a reinstall does not change. Reinstalling your server explains what a reinstall does in general.
After a big update
Early access updates sometimes change the shape of the config file, adding settings or renaming them. If something behaves oddly after an update, open DedicatedServer.ini on the Server properties page (or at RSDragonwilds/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/DedicatedServer.ini on the Files tab) and check it against Jagex's current dedicated server guide. The five main settings are rewritten from Startup settings on every start, so those will always be right; it is anything you added by hand that might need attention. Your backup from step two is how you get back if an update does not go well.
Test branches
The server can run a Steam beta branch instead of the normal release. In Startup settings on the Settings tab, Branch Name accepts public (the normal release) or experimental, and left empty it means the normal release.
- Take a backup.
- Set Branch Name in Startup settings and click Save next to it.
- Reinstall from the Reinstall server card on the Settings tab, so the install step downloads that branch.
Changing the field alone does nothing until you reinstall. To go back, set it to public or clear it, and reinstall again.
The experimental branch is for trying changes before they ship, and it can break saves. Your players also need to be on the same branch as the server to connect. If you want to try it, do it on a second server rather than on the world your group plays, and keep a backup either way.
Keeping it quiet
Set a scheduled restart on the Scheduled tasks page (the Restart every night starter does it in one click). It will not update the server on its own, but a server that restarts nightly picks up config changes cleanly and clears memory that has built up over a long session. Setting up an automatic daily restart shows how.
Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.
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