How to convert a server world into a single player world?

[Asmodeusnim]

Hiya so the server I'm playing on with friends is going to be refreshed with an entirely new modpack built around the latest stable version of VS. I was a bit late to join this version of the VS world with my friends so I've found I'm not quite ready to start all over yet. The server owner was cool with giving a copy of all of the server world data, but I can't seem to be able to open the world as a single-player world.  

Does anyone know how to do this or why just putting the server-world data file into the world saves folder doesn't work?

I really want to keep on exploring this modpack (plus my house this time is super nice haha), but I also don't want to hold back my friends from starting a new game.

Edited May 5 by Asmodeusnim
typos

[Helst_navngivet]

Im not sure, so take what im about to say with a moderately sized barrel of salt, but if the server owner ran the server on linux and you are on some other system like windows or mac, it might not be possible to save it. If it was a server running on the system you are using, then there is probably still hope.

Looking at what you said im a bit confused as to whether the server owner sent the DATA file or the SAVE file, as it should probably work if it was the save file, as data is only used to store stuff like the things in your hotbar, backpack and other forms of metadata.

If all of the above align and the systems are compatible and its the save file, then what you might be doing wrong is either A: not putting it in the right folder (VintagestoryData/Vintagestory), or B: not putting it in the right folder (save/somethingelseidk).

There are a lot more people who have more experience than me regarding these sorts of things, but i hope this helps in some way.

Sorry i couldnt be of much assistance, and best of luck.

[Byrnorthil]

To confirm: you've taken the worldname.vcdbs file from the VintagestoryData/Saves directory and moved it into the Saves folder of your local installation (next to your other worldname.vcdbs files)?

As far as I understand that's what you'd need to do to import the world. Plus ensure that the mods are correct but I'd assume you've already done that. If this is what you've done and it's not working then more troubleshooting is in order.

If you have the full VintagestoryData folder then there should be no reason why you'd need to hold back your friends; you can set things up on your side entirely independently. You might however ask your admin if they'd be able to pick a new world name to leave the old save intact (pretty trivial, requires a single line change in a config) in case your group decides they want to give the old world a tour :). Though that may not be feasible for storage space or another reason.

[Asmodeusnim]

16 hours ago, Helst_navngivet said:

Im not sure, so take what im about to say with a moderately sized barrel of salt, but if the server owner ran the server on linux and you are on some other system like windows or mac, it might not be possible to save it. If it was a server running on the system you are using, then there is probably still hope.

Looking at what you said im a bit confused as to whether the server owner sent the DATA file or the SAVE file, as it should probably work if it was the save file, as data is only used to store stuff like the things in your hotbar, backpack and other forms of metadata.

If all of the above align and the systems are compatible and its the save file, then what you might be doing wrong is either A: not putting it in the right folder (VintagestoryData/Vintagestory), or B: not putting it in the right folder (save/somethingelseidk).

There are a lot more people who have more experience than me regarding these sorts of things, but i hope this helps in some way.

Sorry i couldnt be of much assistance, and best of luck.

I actually do not know if the server is Linux or not! I'll need to check with the server owner and see. Do you know why it's incompatible between software?

But yes, poorly worded in my original, but I have an entire back-up copy of the server world files. So I have both data and the save file (.vcdbs) for the server world and everything else in between. 

re: folder location --I'm fairly certain there is nothing to worry about here, the .vcdbs is what I copied over to the proper save folder location with my other, solo player world save files. 

[Asmodeusnim]

15 hours ago, Byrnorthil said:

To confirm: you've taken the worldname.vcdbs file from the VintagestoryData/Saves directory and moved it into the Saves folder of your local installation (next to your other worldname.vcdbs files)?

As far as I understand that's what you'd need to do to import the world. Plus ensure that the mods are correct but I'd assume you've already done that. If this is what you've done and it's not working then more troubleshooting is in order.

If you have the full VintagestoryData folder then there should be no reason why you'd need to hold back your friends; you can set things up on your side entirely independently. You might however ask your admin if they'd be able to pick a new world name to leave the old save intact (pretty trivial, requires a single line change in a config) in case your group decides they want to give the old world a tour :). Though that may not be feasible for storage space or another reason.

Can confirm I've moved a copy of the server-world .vcdbs file into the same save directory as my other solo world files! 

When I try to open the world, it just sits at the "it begins" loading prompt then eventually fails/crashes without saving a crash log. I've completely gutted my mods folder so that it matches 100% the mods used in the server world, but to no effect. I do wonder if this is actually a Linux incompatibility issue that Helst_navngivet mentioned.

I might ask the server owner if that'd be possible since he is a long time and good friend of mine, I just feel a bit bad always asking him for help/change his workflow since he is just hosting our Vintage Story server and very rarely plays on any of the worlds/servers we'd had thus far. I think there is a storage space limitation though, as with prior server worlds we've just hit an "end-point" everyone is happy with and completely wipe & restart everything without backups. Genuinely this is the first time I've wanted to keep on playing on while everyone else is "okay I'm good and done" aha

[Byrnorthil]

It shouldn't be an OS incompatibility. If it is, that's a bug and should be reported on the issue tracker.
 

What version of VS was the server running previously? If it's more than one major release behind (1.20 or prior) it's possible that save migration is no longer supported for that version. Or that mods are bugging it such that save migration fails. If the save was an old version try installing a separate instance of VS  using that same version and see if you get the same error.

[Zane Mordien]

10 hours ago, Asmodeusnim said:

Can confirm I've moved a copy of the server-world .vcdbs file into the same save directory as my other solo world files! 

When I try to open the world, it just sits at the "it begins" loading prompt then eventually fails/crashes without saving a crash log. I've completely gutted my mods folder so that it matches 100% the mods used in the server world, but to no effect. I do wonder if this is actually a Linux incompatibility issue that Helst_navngivet mentioned.

I might ask the server owner if that'd be possible since he is a long time and good friend of mine, I just feel a bit bad always asking him for help/change his workflow since he is just hosting our Vintage Story server and very rarely plays on any of the worlds/servers we'd had thus far. I think there is a storage space limitation though, as with prior server worlds we've just hit an "end-point" everyone is happy with and completely wipe & restart everything without backups. Genuinely this is the first time I've wanted to keep on playing on while everyone else is "okay I'm good and done" aha

There is no compatibility issue. I create my server worlds in windows and then move them to a Linux server all the time. Did you update the world save game file name in the serverconfig file in the server? Otherwise it might be looking for a file that doesn't exist and it would create a new world.

[Asmodeusnim]

On 5/6/2026 at 2:41 AM, Byrnorthil said:

It shouldn't be an OS incompatibility. If it is, that's a bug and should be reported on the issue tracker.
 

What version of VS was the server running previously? If it's more than one major release behind (1.20 or prior) it's possible that save migration is no longer supported for that version. Or that mods are bugging it such that save migration fails. If the save was an old version try installing a separate instance of VS  using that same version and see if you get the same error.

That's great to know, I was really racking what little I know I about server hosting and the file storage to try to figure out how that could be. 

My version of VS and the server version are the exact same (VS 1.21.6). I do have a separate installation of the latest version 1.22.2 (I may be off on the numbering), but that is on a whole other drive that is currently physically disconnected from my PC...so 0 chances I'm putting the server .vcdbs file in the wrong save folder. 

I did do a complete mod wipe and reset to ensure that all of my mod versions are the same with what was on the server as I had some mods from a different pack also installed, but "inactive." Trying to load the server file as a single world ultimately failed, BUT it did progress further than all previous attempts (loading screen now makes it to the second line "It senses" instead of the just first line "it begins"). Also different from prior times is I did get a couple of log files with data in them. I have not had time to check thoroughly, but from the server-main.log this is the only error I'm seeing so far:

Quote

7.5.2026 01:12:50 [Event] Singleplayer Server now running!
7.5.2026 01:12:50 [Event] Return again.
7.5.2026 01:12:50 [Notification] Please be aware that as of 1.20, servers default configurations have changed - servers no longer register themselves to the public servers list and are invite-only (whitelisted) out of the box. If you desire so, you can enable server advertising with '/serverconfig advertise on' and disable the whitelist mode with '/serverconfig whitelistmode off'
7.5.2026 01:12:50 [Error] Failed deserializing a map region. Not in repair mode, will exit.
7.5.2026 01:12:50 [Fatal] Caught unhandled exception in thread 'chunkdbthread'. Shutting down server.
7.5.2026 01:12:50 [Error] Exception: Invalid wire-type; this usually means you have over-written a file without truncating or setting the length; see https://stackoverflow.com/q/2152978/23354

 

[Asmodeusnim]

On 5/6/2026 at 9:06 AM, Zane Mordien said:

There is no compatibility issue. I create my server worlds in windows and then move them to a Linux server all the time. Did you update the world save game file name in the serverconfig file in the server? Otherwise it might be looking for a file that doesn't exist and it would create a new world.

I'm not sure I understand, does this apply for converting a server into a single-player save?

I'm not trying to run a (multiplayer) server on a different OS. I'm trying to take a multiplayer server that one of my friends is/was hosting for our group and turn it into a solo-player world on my PC.

[Zane Mordien]

8 hours ago, Asmodeusnim said:

I'm not sure I understand, does this apply for converting a server into a single-player save?

I'm not trying to run a (multiplayer) server on a different OS. I'm trying to take a multiplayer server that one of my friends is/was hosting for our group and turn it into a solo-player world on my PC.

Sorry, I misread the issue. I've had no luck doing that. I tried to take my server world and reload it on my PC and it did not work. I didn't use any mods in that world either. 

[Asmodeusnim]

On 5/8/2026 at 8:58 AM, Zane Mordien said:

Sorry, I misread the issue. I've had no luck doing that. I tried to take my server world and reload it on my PC and it did not work. I didn't use any mods in that world either. 

Okay, I think my friend and I solved this because one way or another we got it to work...though I'm not totally sure what the EXACT issue was, I'm not gonna look this gift house in the mouth. 

What I did to troubleshoot this:

1. Confirmed that the VS version of the server and my local VS  were the exact same.
2. Made sure that all mods used on the server and on my local VS are the exact same mods and the exact same version. 
   1. For some reason, just having a mod installed but "inactive" in the mod-list is still causing issues (ranging from super long load-in times to just crashing the entire client). Inasmuch as I am aware, this should not be happening...but it's also easy enough to swap out mods in VS that I don't mind having to do that if I want to play a previously existing world with different mods (and didn't look into this further).
3. Double checked that the .vcdbs world file was put into the correct save folder. (if you don't know how to find your local save files, just go into the client as if you're going to launch an existing world and instead click on the "Open Saves Folder" button on the bottom left of the Your Worlds list). 
4. BEFORE launching the server-world, renamed the World Name through the VS client (pencil/edit button at the right of the world in the Your Worlds list).
   1. The server host never named the server world so the file was Default.vcdbs and the World Name box was empty. For whatever reason, the world would not fully load if this box was popping up as empty in the client.
   2. I later re-named the .vcdbs file directly without any issues as well (I just like having the world name match the file name).
5. Launch the server-world in Repair Mode. (You can do this from the same screen where you can change the World Name, its the bottom-most button on the right).
   1. While loading the server-world in Repair Mode, VS did see some issues with the file/world and I guess it fixed them? It took about 20 minutes to load the file, so I was stepping away from my PC while it went through everything (would come back to check if it crashed again or not).
6. Once loaded into the world, take a look around and check if mods loaded correctly and stuff is as you remember it to be.
7. Close the world and re-launch like normal just to check if you can. Hopefully it does because now it works fine!

One last thing to note is that I did end up re-downloading a new copy of the server-world files that our server-host made available to us. I don't know if there was an issue when I downloaded and extracted the files the first time around, but the first copy of files would not run in repair mode! It would crash the entire client if I tried and the VS client wouldn't have any error code report or recognize that it crashed.