Back up before switching your Multi-Game Server
Switching your Multi-Game Server to another game permanently deletes every file on it, so the backup you take beforehand is the only way back. This guide covers the order to do things in, what is worth saving for each game, and how to put a world back if you switch again later.
6 min read · Updated Oct 21, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team
Why a switch needs a backup
A switch is not an extra game installed alongside the old one. The server stops, every file in it is deleted, and the new game is installed from scratch into the empty space. Worlds, saves, configs, mods, plugins, admin lists: all of it goes.
What survives is everything outside the file area. Your plan, your address and main port, and your existing backups are all untouched. Switching games on a Multi-Game Server covers the switch itself and exactly what changes.
So the backup is not a precaution, it is the thing that makes a switch reversible. Take it even if you are sure you are never going back.
The order of operations
Do these in order. Each step depends on the one before it.
- Stop the server. Press Stop and wait for it to go offline. A running game holds its save in memory and writes it out on shutdown, so a backup taken while players are online can be missing the last few minutes.
- Take a backup. Open Backups in the server menu and click Create backup. Wait for it to finish and appear in the list.
- Lock it. Click Lock on that backup. Locked backups are never removed to make room for newer ones, which matters because a scheduled backup will otherwise eventually push it out. Backups: creating, restoring and scheduling explains locking and backup slots.
- Download it. Click Download next to the backup and save the file on your own computer. One copy on the server is not a backup of a server you are about to wipe.
- Only now, switch. Go back to Change game and run the switch.
If you would rather have the raw files than a backup archive, download the game's save folder over SFTP instead, or as well. Uploading files with SFTP covers connecting, and the same connection downloads. Loose files are handy because you can open them, check the world is really in there, and restore just that folder later instead of the whole server. The off-site backups add-on is the other cheap insurance, keeping a copy away from the machine your server runs on.
What is worth saving, per game
A full backup already contains all of this. The list is for when you want to download only the parts you actually care about, or to check your backup has what you think it has.
| Game | The files that matter |
|---|---|
| Minecraft Java | world, world_nether, world_the_end, server.properties, plugins/ or mods/, ops.json, whitelist.json, banned-players.json |
| Minecraft Bedrock | the worlds/ folder, server.properties, allowlist.json, permissions.json |
| Rust | the save files under server/, including the .sav and any custom .map, plus your oxide/ or carbon/ config and data folders |
| Palworld | the save folder under Pal/Saved/SaveGames/, and PalWorldSettings.ini |
| Valheim | the world's .db and .fwl pair (the .db is the world, the .fwl its metadata, and you need both), plus BepInEx config if you use mods |
| ARK | SavedArks with its .ark save, .arkprofile player files and .arktribe tribe files, plus GameUserSettings.ini and Game.ini |
| Project Zomboid | the save folder under Saves/Multiplayer/, plus your server .ini and its _SandboxVars.lua |
| Terraria | the .wld world file (and its .bak), plus your server config file. On tModLoader, the mod list and mod configs too |
| Enshrouded | the savegame folder and enshrouded_server.json |
| Don't Starve Together | the whole cluster folder, including cluster.ini, cluster_token.txt and the Master and Caves save folders |
| Counter-Strike 2 | your cfg/ folder and any custom maps. There is no world to lose, so configs are the whole job |
For the games with no entry above, or where you are not sure which folder is which, the safe move is the full panel backup. It takes everything, so you do not have to be right about the layout.
Whichever game you are on, the pattern is the same: the save data, the config files that make the server yours, and the mod or plugin folder. The game's own install files are re-downloaded fresh every time, so they are not worth saving.
Putting it back when you switch again
Say you move from Minecraft to Rust for a month, then switch back. Here is what happens to that backup.
Your backups are kept through a switch, so it is still in the list. A backup belongs to the game it was taken on, though, because it contains that game's files. So:
- Switch the server back to the original game, and let the install finish.
- Stop the server.
- Open Backups, find your locked backup, and click Restore.
- Tick Also delete files added since this backup if you want the server exactly as it was, rather than the fresh install's files mixed in with yours.
- Start the server and watch the Console as it loads the world.
Restoring a backup from game A onto a server currently running game B does not work and is not worth trying. The files will not match what the server is configured to launch, and you end up having to reinstall anyway.
If you kept loose files instead of a backup, upload the save folder over SFTP after the new install has finished, with the server stopped, and overwrite what the fresh install created.
Two things that catch people out
Admin and RCON passwords are new after every switch. The old ones in your backup no longer apply to the new game. Find the current values in Startup settings on the Settings tab, and tell your admins the password changed rather than letting them think they have been demoted.
Your backup slots are not unlimited. If you switch back and forth between a few games and keep a locked backup for each, you can fill them up. Unlock and delete the ones you no longer need, and keep the downloaded copies on your computer as the long term archive. A written plan helps more than it sounds like it would: how to plan your game server backups covers deciding what you actually need to keep.
Before you commit to the switch
Run through this quickly:
- The server is stopped and the backup finished after it stopped.
- The backup is Locked, so nothing can rotate it away.
- You have the backup file on your own computer, and it is not zero bytes.
- You know which game you are switching to, and have checked its RAM needs in how much RAM each game needs on a Multi-Game Server.
- Your players know, because their old world is going away too.
Five minutes of that turns an irreversible action into a reversible one.
Common questions
Does switching games delete my backups?
No. Backups live outside the server's file area, so a switch keeps them while deleting everything on the server itself. The backup is only usable on the game it was taken on, so switch back to that game before restoring it.
Can I restore a Minecraft backup onto my Rust server?
No. A backup holds one game's files, and a server set up to launch Rust cannot do anything with a Minecraft world. Switch the server back to Minecraft first, then restore.
Do I have to stop the server before taking the backup?
It is strongly worth doing. Most games only write their save to disk periodically and on shutdown, so a backup taken with players online can be missing recent progress or catch a save file mid write. Stop, then back up, then switch.
What if I forgot to back up before switching?
The files are deleted permanently, so there is nothing on the server to recover. Your only hope is an earlier backup still in the list, or a scheduled one, which is a good argument for having the panel take backups on a timer whether you remember or not.
Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.
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