World Wipe Protocols

Wiping a server is sometimes necessary — major version upgrades, persistent corruption, or community resets. This guide covers when to wipe, how to do a partial vs. full wipe, what files to keep or delete, and how to communicate the wipe to your players. The procedure is the same across recent 7D2D versions; specific recommendations are called out when version-dependent.

When Is a Wipe Necessary?

  • Major version upgrade with breaking save changes. The Fun Pimps usually note in patch notes when a save format changes incompatibly. A2x → 1.0, 1.0 → 2.0, and similar major boundaries have historically required fresh worlds. Same-version stable updates (e.g. V2.5 → V2.6) generally don't.
  • Save corruption from a non-graceful shutdown. If kill -9 hit the server mid-save, region files can be corrupted; partial wipe of the corrupted region is often enough.
  • Community reset / "season". Servers running PvP or seasonal communities often wipe on a fixed cadence (monthly, quarterly) by design.
  • Mod overhaul change. Adding or removing a major overhaul mod (Darkness Falls, Undead Legacy) effectively requires a fresh world — old chunks reference vanilla content the new mod set won't have.

Save File Layout (recap)

For full detail see Save Migration: Local to Dedicated. The relevant subfolders inside Saves/<GameWorld>/<GameName>/:

  • Region/ — the placed-block data: bases, dug areas, harvested trees. The r.X.Y.7rg files are per-region terrain and block state.
  • Player/ — per-player character files (named after Steam/EOS ID). Levels, perks, inventory, status effects.
  • main.ttp — world-level state: current day, time, weather, blood-moon counter.
  • map_*.dat — per-player map exploration data.

Partial Wipe (Soft Reset)

Keep player progress, reset the map.

  1. shutdown the server gracefully (see Scheduling Restarts).
  2. Back up the entire save folder somewhere safe, even if you intend to wipe — easy to undo.
  3. Delete Region/ from Saves/<GameWorld>/<GameName>/.
  4. Delete main.ttp if you want to reset the day counter and Blood Moon cycle. Keep it if you want to preserve "we're on Day N".
  5. Delete the map_*.dat files if you want players' map exploration to reset. Keep them if you want their explored areas preserved.
  6. Leave the Player/ folder untouched — characters keep their levels, skills, perks, and inventory.
  7. Restart the server. Players will rejoin to a fresh map but as their existing characters.

Caveat: their inventory contains anything they were carrying when they last logged off. If they were holding heavy late-game gear, they keep it on the fresh map. Some admins force a level reset by deleting individual Player/ entries; communicate this clearly first.

Full Wipe (Hard Reset)

Reset everything — fresh world, fresh characters, fresh day counter.

  1. shutdown the server gracefully.
  2. Back up the save folder.
  3. Delete the entire Saves/<GameWorld>/<GameName>/ folder.
  4. Optionally also delete GeneratedWorlds/<world-name>/ if you want a different terrain on the new run — otherwise you can keep the same RWG world and just wipe the play state on top of it.
  5. If you want a different RWG seed: change WorldGenSeed and/or WorldGenSize in serverconfig.xml. The server will generate a new world on first start.
  6. Restart the server. Players will rejoin to a fresh map as level-1 characters.

Version Upgrade Wipe Decision Tree

Should you wipe when upgrading the dedicated server?

  • Stable hotfix (e.g. V2.6 b1 → V2.6 b3): No wipe. Saves are forward-compatible within a stable cycle.
  • Minor stable (e.g. V2.5 → V2.6): Usually no wipe needed for the world; check the patch notes for specific compatibility callouts. Mods may need to be re-tested.
  • Major stable (1.0 → 2.0, or future 2.x → 3.0): Plan to wipe. Read patch notes carefully — if the format changed, the existing save won't load cleanly.
  • EXP → Stable: Always wipe between Experimental and Stable branches. EXP saves are not guaranteed to load on Stable.

Communicating the Wipe

Players hate surprises more than they hate wipes. A communication checklist:

  1. Announce 7+ days in advance for any non-emergency wipe. Use Discord (Discord webhook integration) and an in-game say message at every login.
  2. Pin a post explaining what's preserved vs. lost. Soft reset (keep characters, lose map) reads very differently from hard reset (lose everything).
  3. Offer a backup window — let players use a panel-based file download to grab their character file if they want a memento.
  4. Schedule the wipe at a low-activity hour — same logic as Scheduled Restarts.
  5. Re-announce after the wipe: "We're live on the new map, here's the seed, here's what's different." Keeps the community engaged through the transition.