How to Migrate Your Valheim World to NordHost

10 min read Updated December 2025

Overview

Migrating your Valheim world to NordHost takes about 5-10 minutes. Your builds, progress, boss kills, and explored map will all transfer with you.

What Gets Transferred

Everything! Your world file contains all terrain modifications, buildings, boss progress, map exploration, and placed items. Character data is stored separately on each player's computer and doesn't need to be transferred.

Valheim worlds consist of two files:

worldname.fwl - World metadata (small file, ~1KB)
worldname.db - World data (can be 5-100MB depending on exploration)

Both files must have the same base name. You'll need both to migrate your world.

Find Your Local World Files

If you've been hosting locally or playing single-player, your world files are on your computer.

Windows

1Open File Explorer

Press Win + R to open Run, then paste this path and press Enter:

%userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local

2Locate Your World Files

You'll see files like:

MyWorld.fwl
MyWorld.db
MyWorld.fwl.old
MyWorld.db.old

You need the .fwl and .db files (not the .old backups).

3Copy Both Files

Copy both worldname.fwl and worldname.db to a location you'll remember, like your Desktop.

Linux

World files are located at:

~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local/

Find Files on Another Host

If your world is currently on another hosting provider, you'll need to download the files first.

Common Host Locations

Most hosts store Valheim world files at:

/home/vhserver/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local/

Stop the Server First

Before downloading, stop your game server on the old host. This ensures the world files aren't being written to during download, which could cause corruption.

Create Your NordHost Server

1Sign Up or Log In

Go to nordhost.io/app and create an account or log in.

2Create a Valheim Server

Click "Create Server", select Valheim, and choose your settings. The server name and password can be anything - we'll replace the world anyway.

Free Trial

New accounts get 5 free hours - plenty of time to migrate and test your world before committing to a plan.

Upload Your World

1Open Server Details

In your dashboard, click on your Valheim server to view its details.

2Select Your Files

Find the "Upload Existing World" section. Select your .fwl and .db files. Both files must have the same world name.

3Click Upload

Click "Upload World" and confirm. The system will stop your server, back up any existing world, transfer your files, and restart.

Verify & Connect

1Connect to Your Server

Open Valheim, go to "Join Game", and add your new server using the IP from your dashboard.

2Verify Your World

Check that your builds, boss progress, map exploration, and items are all present.

Success!

If everything looks good, you're done! Your Viking world is now running on NordHost with Smart Sleep.

Troubleshooting

Upload Failed: "File names must match"

The .fwl and .db files must have identical base names. If you have MyWorld.fwl, you need MyWorld.db - not myworld.db.

World Loads but Missing Recent Progress

This happens if you downloaded the world files while the server was still running. Stop the old server, wait 30 seconds, then re-download.

Character Appears Naked / No Items

Character data is stored locally on your computer, not in the world file. Make sure you're selecting the correct character in the game menu.