Factorio server backups and saves

Your Factorio map is backed up every time the server sleeps, and every 10 minutes while it runs. You can also make a backup by hand, restore any of them, or download one as a zip. This page also shows how to bring a single-player save, or a save from another host, onto your server.

How backups work on Wilderack

Before each backup of a running server, we save the game with /server-save, so the backup has your latest work. Backups hold your saves, settings and mods. They never contain the game itself, which installs fresh from factorio.com.

Factorio keeps its own safety net too. It autosaves every 10 minutes into 5 rotating files, unless you changed autosave_interval or autosave_slots. It also saves when the last player leaves.

Make a backup

1. Open your server in the panel and go to Backups.
2. Press the backup button and give it a name, like before-space.

It works while the server runs or sleeps.

Restore a backup

1. Go to Backups and pick the backup you want.
2. Choose restore and confirm.

We make a fresh backup of the current state first, so a restore is never a one-way trip. The server then starts with the restored map.

Download a backup

In Backups, choose download on any backup. You get a zip link that works for 24 hours. Inside, the saves folder has your maps as .zip files. Each one loads in single player or on another server.

Where your saves live on the server

Your server opens the newest save in saves/ each time it starts. Keep that in mind when you upload or delete saves.

Bring your single-player save

Find your save

Factorio saves are .zip files. Don’t unzip them. Look here:

On Windows, press Win + R, paste %APPDATA%\Factorio\saves and press Enter. Steam, GOG and factorio.com copies all use these folders. If you run Factorio from an unzipped folder, the saves are in a saves folder inside it.

On a Mac, open Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder and paste the path.

Check before you upload

• Same version or older. The server must run the same game version as the save, or newer. A save from a newer game won’t load on an older server.
• Same mods. Install the save’s mods on the server first. See How to add mods to a Factorio server.
• Space Age. A save made with Space Age needs a Space Age server.

Upload it

From the panel (easiest):

1. Go to Games > Bring your world.
2. Upload your save’s .zip file as it is.
3. We check it and put it in place. The server opens it on its next start.

With Files or SFTP:

1. Stop the server from Overview. A running server autosaves, and that newer autosave would load instead of your upload.
2. Upload the .zip to saves/.
3. Start the server. It opens the newest save, which is now yours.

Move from another host

1. On your old host, download your newest save from its saves folder. If it has mods, note them or download the mods folder too.
2. Install the same mods here from Mods.
3. Upload the save the same way as a single-player save, above.

Your old host’s server-settings.json can come along too. Open it next to ours and copy the values you want. Don’t copy the whole file over, so your server keeps its own name and listing details.

Go back to an older autosave

The easy way is Backups: restore the backup from the time you want.

To do it by hand:

1. Stop the server from Overview.
2. In Files, download the newer saves in saves/ that you don’t want, so you have a copy.
3. Delete them from the server, so the autosave you want is the newest.
4. Start the server.