Starbound
Whether you want a local backup just in case, or you're ready to bring an existing singleplayer world onto your server, managing your Starbound save comes down to moving two folders around. This guide covers both directions: downloading a backup of your current save, and importing an existing one onto your server.
Always make sure your server is completely stopped on your MintServers panel before downloading or uploading save files. Moving files while the server is still writing to them can corrupt your save.
Understanding Your Save Files
Starbound splits its save data across two separate folders, and it's worth knowing the difference before you move anything.
📁 storage (or your main server directory)
📁 universe (shared planets, systems, and outpost progress)
📁 player (individual character and ship data)
What Lives Where
universeEvery planet, system, and moon anyone has visited, plus your server's shared Outpost progress. This is what most people mean by "the world."
playerEach character's inventory, quest progress, and ship, including everything built on that ship. This data is tied to the character, not the world.
Backing Up Your Save
storage folder.universe folder and download it to your computer.player folder and download that too.Keep dated copies of both folders somewhere safe before making major changes to your server, like installing new mods or resetting the universe. If something goes wrong, you can restore from that backup instead of losing progress.
Importing An Existing Save
This works whether you're bringing over a singleplayer world to continue on your server, or trying out a custom map someone else made.
storage folder.universe folder and delete its existing contents.universe folder you're importing into this now-empty folder.The browser-based Files tab works fine for most saves, but for large files or folders with many pieces, an SFTP client like FileZilla or WinSCP is faster and more reliable. See our guide to connecting via SFTP to get set up.
Importing the
universe folder brings over the world, but not your character or ship, those live in the player folder instead. If you want to continue on your server as the exact same character, with the same ship and everything you'd built on it, also clear out the server's player folder and upload your character's matching files there using the same steps above.
🛠️ Troubleshooting Common Import Issues
Server loads a fresh universe instead of your import
Double-check the files were uploaded directly into the universe folder itself, not into a subfolder inside it. Also confirm the server was fully stopped during the whole transfer.
Your character exists but your ship is empty
Ship data lives in your character's .shipworld file inside the player folder, not in the universe folder. If you only imported the universe, your ship wasn't included.
Everyone's bookmarks and Outpost progress reset
This usually means the universe.dat file was replaced or partially overwritten. This file holds your server's shared identifier, and losing it resets bookmarks and Outpost state for every player. Restore it from your backup if this happens unexpectedly.
Your save is now backed up and ready to import wherever you need it.
Still stuck?
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