Palworld‘s release has been smooth enough that it can get easy to forget the game is still in early access. While that is primarily a good thing, it does also mean it’s easier to be taken by surprise when bugs or glitches strike.
Recently, a particularly nasty bug has been hitting official and dedicated servers and causing them to reset all their data. Here’s what we know about the bug so far.
Palworld: Day 32 server reset bug, explained
This bug is definitely the most dreadful that Palworld players have experienced. When official servers reach day 32 in-game, they are being reset back to day one. While it seems that some lucky few players are retaining their progress when this server reset occurs, the vast majority are being forced into starting over with a new character and without any of their previous Pals. The bug also seems to be affecting dedicated servers (like those created through Nitrado), with reports suggesting single-player and co-op games are not currently being affected.
While the devs haven’t made any official acknowledgment of the day 32 reset bug, Pocket Pair’s Steam update from Jan. 24 indirectly acknowledged it by listing one of their immediate priorities as fixing a bug causes world dates to rollback. They used the word “sometimes,” but scanning the official server list will tell you there’s probably a better word to use—none of the game’s servers are past day 32. Hopefully, a fix will be one of the first things to come in Palworld‘s roadmap.
Of course, the best way to avoid this bug is to avoid official and dedicated servers until Pocket Pair fixes it, but that doesn’t make up for progress you may have already lost if you had established and progressed a character or base on a server. While there isn’t any way to survive the wipe bug, there is a way to get your progress back after it happens.
How to restore your progress after a Palworld server wipe
If you join a Palworld server and are brought back to the character creation screen even though you’ve already put time into that server, it means the server has been rolled back and your progress has been deleted. Deleted, but not lost. You can still pick up from exactly where you left off when this happens after a bit of save file tinkering.
This fix depends entirely on accessing your local save files for Palworld, which means only PC players can restore their progress. If you’re playing on Xbox, I’m sorry to say there isn’t any way for you to get your progress back. If you’re on PC, it doesn’t matter whether you’re playing via Steam or Game Pass, as both versions will still allow you to access your files.
On PC, Palworld automatically creates backup save files. Restoring your progress after a server wipe is as simple as locating the backup save and then copying and pasting the data to your current save file for a given server.
For Steam, the directory would look like this:
- C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Pal\Saved\SaveGames
Once you’re in SaveGames, select the first folder, which will be a long stream of numbers. There, you will see a list of folders that each represent a different server/save file for Palworld. You can quickly tell which one you’re after because the “Date modified” column will show the exact date and time of when you last played. Select that folder, then select “backup,” then “local.” You will see a list of folders named after the date and time when the backup was created. Select the most recent, which will show you a file named “LocalData.sav.”
Copy this file, then go ahead and make a character on whichever server you want to restore your data on. Then, quit the game and use this same “Date modified” method to find that new save folder. On the new file you’re going to overwrite, don’t go into backup—you will see another LocalData.sav file before doing so, and this is the one you want to replace. Paste the copied backup here, and then confirm you want to overwrite the existing file. After overwriting, you should be able to launch Palworld and have all of your old data from before the wipe.
Here is a video showcasing the file path for a backup Palworld save.
If you don’t see your Palworld .sav files anywhere, or perhaps even your AppData folder, it means your PC likely has “show hidden files” disabled. Make sure this setting is enabled using the View menu at the top of your File Explorer.
