Voyagers of Nera Save Management

Managing Server Saves

This guide explains save management for dedicated hosting with practical steps to keep uptime stable, reduce regression risk, and maintain a smooth player experience.

Save Location

Saves are located in:

Inside, you will find a folder with a unique alphanumeric ID. This is your world data.

How to Backup

1. Stop the Server.
2. Copy the PersistedData folder.
3. Paste it to a secure location (e.g., your desktop or a cloud backup folder).
4. Restart the Server.

Restoring a Save

Simply delete the existing PersistedData folder and replace it with your backup copy. Ensure the server is offline while doing this.

Topic Deep Dive: save management

Save management on dedicated hosting is most reliable when changes are staged, measured, and validated against live-join behavior before wider rollout.

• Plan first: Plan maintenance for save management and announce player-facing impact in advance.
• Measure impact: Track CPU, RAM, and network baselines before and after each configuration change.
• Protect continuity: Keep rollback-ready backups so failed changes can be reverted within minutes.

Operational Checklist

Treat this topic as a repeatable server operation, not a one-time change. Schedule changes during lower traffic, announce maintenance windows, and keep a rollback snapshot before each update. If your server is modded, validate changes on a staging copy first so startup logs, world loading, and player joins are confirmed before production rollout.

Validation Steps

• Capture baseline metrics: Record CPU, RAM, and average player ping before changes.
• Apply one change at a time: Avoid batch edits that make root-cause analysis difficult.
• Review logs after restart: Check for version mismatch and dependency warnings immediately.
• Run a real join test: Confirm fresh clients can connect and complete core gameplay actions.
• Observe for at least 24 hours: Validate behavior under peak load, not only right after reboot.

Performance and Stability Notes

Most hosting incidents come from resource spikes combined with configuration drift. Keep restart cadence predictable, review world/save growth weekly, and cap optional systems that generate extreme entity counts. When performance drops, compare with your last known-good baseline and revert recent high-risk changes quickly to reduce downtime.

Backup and Rollback Policy

Use automated daily backups plus pre-change snapshots for risky operations. Keep at least one off-node copy and test restore procedures routinely. A practical retention strategy is 7 daily, 4 weekly, and 2 monthly restore points. If a change causes instability, roll back first, stabilize service, and then reattempt with a narrower test scope.

Game-Specific Hosting Notes

• Early-access cadence: Expect frequent patches; keep a pinned rollback archive for the previous known-good server build.
• Version lockstep: Confirm client and server patch parity quickly after updates to reduce join failures.
• Session stability: Validate reconnect behavior after long sessions and monitor memory growth over multi-hour uptime.