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Don't Starve Together guide

How to move your Don't Starve Together world to a dedicated server

Hosted a world from Don't Starve Together's Host Game menu? Move it to a dedicated server with the surface and the Caves together, so the world keeps going when you're offline.

Updated 28 October 2026

Find your world

On Windows, the worlds you host are in Documents\Klei\DoNotStarveTogether, in a folder named with a long number. Each world is a cluster folder (Cluster_1, Cluster_2 and so on) holding cluster.ini, Master (the surface) and Caves.

To check which is which, open cluster.ini in Notepad: cluster_name is the world's name. On another host, download its cluster folder, the one with cluster.ini in it.

Upload it

  1. Zip the cluster folder. Right-click the cluster folder and zip it, so the zip holds that one folder with cluster.ini, Master and Caves inside.
  2. Upload the zip. In your dashboard, open your server's Files & SFTP tab, choose world-imports/ as the upload folder and press Upload to world-imports. The browser takes files up to 96 MB. For a bigger world, press Generate SFTP credentials and upload the zip to the world-imports folder with FileZilla or WinSCP, up to 16 GB.
  3. Wait for the safety scan. Every upload is scanned before your server gets it. Press Refresh until the zip shows Passed safety scan.
  4. Stop and start the server. Press Stop, then Start. As the server starts, the world in the zip replaces the server's world, and the Console says when it's imported. The next backup keeps it.

Good to know

  • The server's name, password, game mode and player limit come from your Settings, not the world's cluster.ini.
  • Add the world's server mods on the Mods tab. Their options go in modoverrides.lua, uploaded to config/.
  • If your world never had Caves, turn off Caves shard in Settings to keep it surface-only.
  • Upload one zip at a time. If world-imports holds more than one, the server imports none of them and clears the folder.
  • If a zip can't be imported, the server starts with its current world and the Console says why. Fix the zip and upload it again.
Don't Starve Together questions

Good to know.

Do players keep their characters?

Yes. Don't Starve Together saves each player's character in the world, so everyone carries on as they were.

Can I zip the whole DoNotStarveTogether folder?

No. With several clusters in it, the zip holds several worlds and the import stops. Zip just the one cluster folder.

Do I still need a Klei server token?

Yes. Every dedicated server needs one, and it's free. You paste it in when you order, and can replace it in Settings.