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Windrose

Pirate Survival · Co-op · Kraken Express · Kraken Express, Pocketpair Publishing

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Transferring your Windrose save to the server

Move a solo or hosted world to your Windrose dedicated server: RocksDB save location, folder structure, WorldIslandId and how to back up correctly.

Last updated July 16, 2026 · RespawnHost

Moving a solo or hosted world to the dedicated server

Played solo or as host and now want your world on a dedicated server so it stays online permanently? You do it by copying files — you transfer the entire RocksDB world folder.

Warning

Windrose stores the world as a RocksDB database — that's a whole folder with many files, not a single .sav file. Always copy the complete folder, never individual files from it. Back up both first: your local save and the server save.

Where are the saves?

Local (your PC, Windows):

%LOCALAPPDATA%\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles\<Profile>\RocksDB\<Version>\Worlds\<World-ID>\

<Profile> is usually your SteamID. The <World-ID> folder is your world.

On your RespawnHost server:

R5\Saved\SaveProfiles\Default\RocksDB\<Version>\Worlds\<World-ID>\

Note

The folder name is build-dependent: depending on the Windrose version it's called RocksDB, RocksDB_v2 or similar (sometimes with a separate …_Backups folder). Before moving, check the actual folder name on both sides — they must match each side's game version.

Step by step

  1. Stop the server (in the panel). Never copy files while the server is running.
  2. Find your local world: open %LOCALAPPDATA%\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles\…\Worlds\ and identify your world folder (by modified date if you have several).
  3. In the RespawnHost panel, open the File Manager (or connect via SFTP) and navigate to the corresponding Worlds\ folder on the server.
  4. Back up the existing server world (rename or download it).
  5. Upload the complete local world folder into the server’s Worlds\ folder.
  6. Check that the WorldIslandId in ServerDescription.json and WorldDescription.json matches and points to the uploaded world — otherwise the server won’t load it.
  7. Start the server. Connect via invite code and confirm your world has loaded.
File manager of a Windrose server in the RespawnHost panel showing the R5 folder, R5WorldDescriptionUpdater.exe, StartServerForeground.bat and SaveWorkflow.md
The server file tree in the File Manager — the R5 folder contains Saved\…\Worlds\

Server → server (e.g. from another host)

Same process, only simpler: download the complete world folder from the old server, upload it into the matching Worlds\ folder at RespawnHost, check WorldIslandId, start.

Frequently asked questions

Can I copy individual files out of the RocksDB folder? No. RocksDB is a single coherent database — only the complete folder makes a working world.

My world won’t load after the move — why? Usually a mismatched WorldIslandId or the wrong RocksDB/RocksDB_v2 folder name for your game version. Double-check both. And always make sure server and client versions are identical.

Does my host character carry over? The server takes the world data (bases, ships, progress) from the RocksDB folder. Make sure server and game versions match so the world loads cleanly.