Decide what actually has to survive the move
Write the list down before you touch anything. In almost every game it comes to four things:
- The world or save data — the part that cannot be rebuilt.
- Configuration — the settings file that makes the world behave the way your crew expects.
- Add-ons — mods, plugins or Workshop content, plus their own config and stored data.
- Access lists — admins, bans, allow-lists. Small files, and the ones people forget.
Everything else — the game binaries, the launcher script, the operating system — is re-downloaded at the other end and is not worth carrying.
Where each game keeps its world
These are the vendor-documented locations. Names differ by platform, and a host may nest them one folder deeper, but the file names are the same everywhere.
| Game | What to copy |
|---|---|
| Minecraft (Paper, Forge, Vanilla) | The world folder named by level-name in server.properties; the default is level-name=world. Take server.properties itself, and the whole plugins or mods folder with it. |
| Rust | Everything under the folder named by +server.identity. Facepunch's example notes that identity "server1" "will be used to create a C:\Rust\MyServer\server1 directory for all of your server files." |
| Valheim | The save path, which -savedir [PATH] overrides: "Overrides the default save path where Worlds and permission-files are stored." Defaults are ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim on Linux and %USERPROFILE%/AppData/LocalLow/IronGate/Valheim on Windows. The permission files there are adminlist.txt, bannedlist.txt and permittedlist.txt. |
| ARK: Survival Evolved | The saved game data plus GameUserSettings.ini, which the wiki places at ShooterGame/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/ on Linux and ShooterGame\Saved\Config\WindowsServer\ on Windows. |
| Palworld | PalWorldSettings.ini under Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/ or Pal\Saved\Config\WindowsServer\, plus the save data under Pal/Saved. The docs warn that "editing DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini will not affect the changes" — copy the real file, not the default one. |
| Factorio | The save file itself. A headless server "expects --start-server to be followed by a path to a save file", so the save plus the mods folder is the whole move. |
| Terraria | The world file and, on a TShock server, the whole tshock folder. Its wiki names config.json and tshock.sqlite there, and warns "Don't lose your tshock.sqlite or you'll have to re-setup TShock." |
Stop the server before you copy
This is the step people skip and regret. A running server holds its world open and writes to it on a timer; a copy taken mid-write can look complete and load broken. Stop the server, wait for the console to confirm it saved and shut down, and only then copy.
If your current host will not let you stop the server cleanly, that is worth knowing before you pay anyone else. Take the copy from a completed backup instead, and note which one you used.
Verify the copy before you cancel anything
A copy you have not opened is not a backup. Three cheap checks, in order:
- Size and count. Compare the file count and total size on both sides. A truncated transfer usually shows up here.
- Open it. Load the copied world on the new server, or locally, and walk into your main base. Look for the things that are hardest to regenerate: structures, stored items, tamed creatures, character progression.
- Check the small files. Admin and ban lists, plugin data, economy balances. These are the ones nobody notices until a week later.
Stand the new server up in parallel
Do not cancel the old plan on move day. Run both for a few days. It costs one extra month at most, and it is the only way to find out whether the new place is actually better before you have burned the alternative.
While both are up:
- Rebuild the add-on set on the new server from a written list, not from recollection. Match versions exactly — a plugin or mod one release ahead of the one your world was saved with is a common cause of a world that loads and then behaves strangely.
- Copy the configuration file, then read it line by line against the new server's ports. Ports change between hosts, and a config still naming the old port is the classic first-boot failure.
- Have two or three people from your crew join and play a normal session. Their route to the new server is the number that matters, not yours alone.
Cut over on a quiet day
Pick the deadest evening of your week. Announce the address change twice: once a few days ahead, once on the day. Then take the old server offline rather than leaving it running — two live copies of the same world means two divergent worlds, and merging them is not possible.
Take one final copy of the old world after the last session on it, and keep that archive somewhere outside both hosts. A copy that lives only on the machine you are leaving is not an archive.
Keep the old server until the new one is proven
Give it a full weekend of real play before you cancel. Watch for the three things that only appear under load: a world that saves correctly, add-ons that survive a restart, and a route that holds up when the whole crew is on at once. If all three hold, cancel the old plan and delete the copies you no longer need. If any of them does not, you still have somewhere to go back to.
Per-game notes live on the availability pages for Minecraft, Rust, ARK, Valheim, Palworld, Factorio and Terraria.
Where RadarHost fits
RadarHost rents game servers hosted in Beauharnois, Quebec, Canada, priced in Canadian dollars, with no setup fee and cancel any time. Sixteen games are listed in Standard, Premium and Diamond plans — Minecraft (Paper, Forge or Vanilla), Rust, ARK: Survival Evolved, Garry's Mod, Terraria, Valheim, Palworld, Enshrouded, Satisfactory, Factorio, Project Zomboid, 7 Days to Die, DayZ, Conan Exiles, Arma 3 and SCUM. Counter-Strike 2 and every other title are request-only and are never priced in advance. After payment, our team reviews the order and emails setup details or next steps within 24 hours. If you are weighing a move, read the current plans and prices first and tell us what you are carrying across.