How to Upload an Existing World to a 7 Days to Die Server

Last modified on Nov 17, 2023 in 7 Days to Die

By Nathan Young

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Overview

Playing on your 7 Days To Die server can be tons of fun, but you would miss out on your singleplayer or custom worlds. Luckily, the design of the game and server allows you to upload an existing save into your 7D2D server. This is extremely helpful if you want to bring custom or solo worlds into the server. However, the process itself can be complicated and frustrating due to the technical work you’d be doing. Due to that, Apex Hosting will guide you through locating the saves, preparing them, uploading the files, and configuring the server so you can enjoy the existing world with friends.
 

Preparing Local Saves

1. You’ll need to navigate to the local game directory to find the files, which can be done by pressing the Windows key + R at the same time.
2. After it opens the Run program, enter %appdata% and click Ok.
   
3. Find the 7DaysToDie folder and open that up, then press Saves.
   
4. Locate your desired world, then right-click it and compress the folder into a ZIP file.
   Note: You can use 7zip or WinRAR for the compression process.
5. Once that completes, keep that window open or move the newly created file to an easily accessible location.

File Organization

The assortment of save files for your 7 Days To Die world is important, because that’s what will dictate the loading operations for the map.

The name of the main folder you zipped is the GameWorld value within the game’s design. Additionally, the subfolder’s name inside of the main one is the GameName value. In our example, we have the main “PREGEN8k” folder with “ApexTest” as the subfolder. Make note of your save folder names for later activation in your game server.
 

Uploading an Existing World

1. Head to your Apex server panel and shut down the server.
2. Afterward, press the FTP File Access button in the top left and login with your password, then navigate to the Saves folder.
3. In the top left corner, click Upload and drag your zipped world file into the “Drop files here to upload” field.
   Note: If the file gets stuck, then use FileZilla to upload it in the same directory.
   
4. Once that finishes uploading, head back to the Saves folder in the FTP panel and check mark the ZIP file.
5. In the top right corner, press Unzip and on the next prompt click Submit.
   
6. Wait for all files to be extracted, which should display a “Done, returned Ok” message at the bottom of the console. When you see that, you’re finished!

Activating an Uploaded Map

1. Head to the server panel and near the top left, press Config Files.
2. Locate and click on the “Main 7 Days To Die Configuration” option, which is the serverconfig_apex.xml file.
   
3. Inside of that file, find the GameWorld setting and change the value to match your uploaded save folder’s name.
4. After that, find the GameName option and edit its value to align with your uploaded subfolder’s name (in the main world folder).
   

   Note: Our example used has the uploaded “PREGEN8k” folder with “ApexTest” as the subfolder inside of it hence the corresponding values in the file.

5. Once you made those changes, click Save in the top and Restart your server from the server panel. The server will load your world!

Conclusion

Uploading your existing world into your 7 Days To Die server allows you to share custom or solo worlds with other online players. Although the process is a bit long, it’s worth it when you start playing with others on your map. Just remember to keep track of your save folder names so you don’t lose your world when uploading it. If everything goes smoothly, then you should see your world in-game on the server without any data loss. We hoped this helped you understand the preparation and steps to get your existing save in the 7D2D server.