Upload a Hytale Singleplayer World to Your Server

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Move a Hytale singleplayer world to a dedicated server: where the save is, which folders to upload, the version check, mods and what happens to player data.

Three Hytale characters next to a wooden village notice board covered in pinned notes

You built something in a singleplayer world and want your friends on it, also when your PC is off. Online Play only opens the world while you are in it, and a new dedicated server starts with a fresh world unless you give it yours. Here is where Hytale keeps the save, which folders to upload, what to check first and what happens to player data, from Hypixel's own pages and server code, checked on 3 November 2026.

Quick answer: To upload a Hytale singleplayer world to your server, close the world, open the launcher's settings, click Open Directory and then User Data, and open Saves and your world's folder. Stop the server, rename its universe folder as a backup, and upload the universe folder from your save in its place. Put the files from the save's mods folder into the server's mods folder. Update the server to the same build as your game before it loads the world, because client and server must match exactly and a world upgrades itself the first time a newer server opens it. Your inventory comes along: player data lives in universe/players, one file per player UUID, so join with the same Hytale profile.

Where Hytale saves your singleplayer world

Every singleplayer world has its own folder under UserData/Saves. Hypixel's log file guide lists the default paths for the release patchline, because each world writes its server logs inside its own save folder:

SystemSave folder
Windows%APPDATA%\Hytale\UserData\Saves\<world>
macOS~/Library/Application Support/Hytale/UserData/Saves/<world>
Linux$XDG_DATA_HOME/Hytale/UserData/Saves/<world> or ~/.local/share/Hytale/UserData/Saves/<world>

The quickest way there: open the Hytale Launcher, click the settings cog in the top corner, and under Open Directory click User Data. Hypixel says that button "always opens the correct folder". Then open Saves and the folder with your world's name.

Since Update 5, non-release patchlines "use their own directories" under the Hytale data folder, such as data/pre-release/, and a custom install folder on Windows moves everything too. The User Data button handles both.

What is inside the save folder

Singleplayer runs the same server program as a dedicated server. Hypixel's server source says so in a comment: "The client starts the packaged JAR itself, with the working directory set to the world folder under UserData." That is why a save folder looks like a small server folder:

In the save folderWhat it holdsUpload it?
universe/worlds/One folder per world, each with its own config.json (seed, PvP, game mode and more) and the chunk dataYes, as part of universe
universe/players/One <UUID>.json file per player who has played in the worldYes, as part of universe
mods/Mods and asset packs stored with this worldYes, into the server's mods
logs/Logs from your singleplayer sessionsNo
config.json and other files at the topThe singleplayer server's own settingsNo, keep the server's own

The Hytale Server Manual describes universe/ as "World and player save data" and mods/ as "Installed mods". Hypixel's asset pack guide adds that "Mods and Asset Packs are also stored per world", in Saves\<world>\mods. Mods you installed for all worlds sit in UserData\Mods instead, so if your world uses any of those, they go to the server too.

Keep the server's own config.json: it holds the server name, password, maximum players and view distance.

Check the version and patchline before you upload

Three checks decide whether the world loads.

The server must run the same build as your game. The manual: "Client and server must be on the exact same protocol version." Run /update status in the server console to see the server's version, and update it if it is behind. On 3 November 2026 the newest release build in Hypixel's Maven repository was server 0.7.5, published on 29 October.

Worlds upgrade one way. The Chapter I changelog says "Existing worlds will upgrade themselves the first time they load." For cubic worlds the modder notes add that "a world loaded on this version cannot be opened on an older one." Hypixel does not say whether other worlds can go back, so update the server before its first boot with your world, not after, and keep your original save.

The patchline has to match too. A world from pre-release belongs on a pre-release server. Update 8's pre-release notes, for example, move global world events to universe/resources/GlobalWorldEvents.json: "A server older than this change does not read the new file." The manual sets the server's patchline with /update patchline [name], and the Hytale Downloader takes -patchline pre-release. If you picked an older build under Launcher, Settings, Patchline, which the launcher allows since Update 5, the server and every player need that same build.

How to upload a Hytale singleplayer world to your server

  1. Leave the world. Quit to the main menu or close the game, so nothing writes to the save while you copy it.
  2. Make a backup. Copy the whole save folder somewhere else on your PC.
  3. Update the server, then stop it. Do not replace files on a running server: it keeps saving the world while it runs, and for the configuration files the manual warns that "Manual changes while the server is running are likely to be overwritten."
  4. Move the server's old universe aside. Rename universe to universe-before-import, so you can go back.
  5. Upload universe from your save. It goes where the old one was: the folder the server runs in. With Hypixel's start scripts that is the Server folder, because the scripts "Run server from inside Server/ folder so config/backups/etc. are generated there". Afterwards, universe must contain worlds and players directly, not another universe folder.
  6. Upload the mods. Copy the contents of the save's mods folder, and any mods from UserData\Mods the world uses, into the server's mods folder.
  7. Start the server and read the boot log (next section).
  8. Join. Check your inventory and builds, then make yourself operator.

If your host's file manager can unpack archives, upload universe as one zip file. On our Hytale server hosting you have full file access, so you can stop the server and swap universe and mods yourself. Plans come with 20 GB of NVMe storage on Small up to 50 GB on Extreme.

On your own Linux server

On the server, with Hytale stopped (replace /opt/hytale with your own path):

cd /opt/hytale/Server
mv universe universe-before-import

From PowerShell on your PC, with the OpenSSH client installed (replace the user, address and world name):

scp -r "$env:APPDATA\Hytale\UserData\Saves\My World\universe" hytale@203.0.113.10:/opt/hytale/Server/
scp -r "$env:APPDATA\Hytale\UserData\Saves\My World\mods" hytale@203.0.113.10:/opt/hytale/Server/

Back on the server, check the result before you start it:

ls /opt/hytale/Server/universe
ls /opt/hytale/Server/universe/worlds
sudo chown -R hytale:hytale /opt/hytale/Server/universe /opt/hytale/Server/mods

The first command should list players and worlds, the second your world folders. You only need chown if you uploaded as another user than the one that runs the server.

Check that the server loaded your world

When the server finishes starting, it prints a line that begins with Hytale Server Booted! and has tags in square brackets. On a correct upload it reads [Multiplayer]. If it reads [Multiplayer, Fresh Universe], the server did not find your world. The server code calls a universe fresh when the universe folder, its players folder or its worlds folder is missing at start. That nearly always means the upload landed one level too deep (universe/universe/...) or next to the wrong folder. Stop the server, delete only the new players and worlds folders it just generated (not your upload), move your folders to the right place and start again. The copy on your PC is your fallback.

Two more lines to look for in the console:

  • Failed to load world! Missing plugin: <name>, Version: <range> means the world's config.json lists a mod under RequiredPlugins that the server does not have, or has in another version. Upload that mod and restart.
  • Skipping mod <name> (Disabled by server config) means the mod file is there but switched off, in the server's config.json or by the mod itself. Other mods in mods/ load by default on a dedicated server.

Then run /world list in the console to see every loaded world. Our Hytale Mod Browser guide explains which mods belong on a server.

If your world folder is not called default

At start the server loads every folder in universe/worlds, then creates its default world if that one does not exist yet. The name comes from World under Defaults in the server's config.json, and the built-in value is default. If your world's folder has that name, you are done.

If it has another name, the server loads your world but also generates a new default world, where new players spawn. Make yours the default from the console:

/world setdefault <your world folder name>

It is the "Command to set the default world in the server configuration", says Hypixel's API reference. Or stop the server and edit config.json:

"Defaults": {
  "World": "my-world"
}

The unused default world can stay, or you can delete its folder while the server is stopped.

What happens to player data

The server saves each player as universe/players/<UUID>.json and, in the words of Hypixel's API reference, "Loads the player data for the given UUID" when they join. Uploading the whole universe folder brings all these files along.

  • You. Join with the same Hytale profile you played the world with, and you get your inventory and progress back. An account can hold several profiles, so pick the same one in the launcher. /whoami shows the UUID you joined with.
  • Friends who joined through Online Play. They have their own files in the same folder, so their progress comes back too when they join with their profile.
  • New players. They have no file, so they start fresh at the default world's spawn.
  • Where everyone lands. A returning player goes back to the world their file names, if the server has it loaded. If not, the server sends them to the default world and drops their saved position, so nobody ends up buried underground in a world their old coordinates do not fit.

Your owner rights stay behind. In singleplayer the world owner can use /op self without any launch argument, but on a dedicated server nobody is operator at first. Type /op add YourName in the server console. Our Hytale server admin guide covers groups, the whitelist and bans.

Running the server on your own PC instead

On the same PC as the launcher, keep the server out of the launcher's install folder: since Update 7 the server exits with code 11 when its working directory, --universe, --prefab-cache or --backup-dir sits inside it (Chapter I guide). Copy the world into the server folder instead of running the server on your save, so singleplayer and the server never write to the same files.

For several worlds side by side, --universe "Loads a universe from a specified path", and the start scripts pass it on:

./start.sh --universe /opt/hytale/worlds/my-world/universe

The server reads players and worlds from that folder, so player data follows the world you pick.

FAQ

Where are Hytale singleplayer worlds saved? In %APPDATA%\Hytale\UserData\Saves on Windows by default, one folder per world. The launcher's settings cog, Open Directory, User Data opens the right folder for your patchline.

Does my inventory transfer from singleplayer to the server? Yes, if you upload the whole universe folder and join with the same Hytale profile. Your character is saved in universe/players/<your UUID>.json, and the server loads that file when you join.

Do my friends need to install the world's mods? No. Hypixel's asset pack guide says "Only the server or world host has to download Asset Packs and Mods." Put them in the server's mods folder.

Why does my server show a new world after the upload? Usually the upload went to the wrong level, and the boot line says Fresh Universe: the server needs universe/players and universe/worlds in its working folder. If your world loads but you spawn in a new one, run /world setdefault <name>.

Can I keep playing the world in singleplayer after uploading it? Yes, the save stays on your PC. From then on there are two copies that change separately, so anything you build in singleplayer does not reach the server, and the server's copy upgrades when you update the server.

How big is a Hytale world folder? Hypixel's hardware post gives about 661 MB for 5,000 by 5,000 explored blocks, or about 27 KB per 32 by 32 chunk, and Chapter I made saved worlds smaller than before. Exploring more and building with a wider variety of blocks takes more space.

Related guides: Hytale server hosting guide | Hytale failed to connect fixes

Sources

All opened on 3 November 2026: