Valheim leaves Early Access on September 9, 2026. The Deep North lands with it, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 join the party, and Iron Gate is promising full crossplay across PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox, PS5, and Switch 2.
If you already run a dedicated server, launch morning is the wrong time to discover your world files are from last Tuesday. This is the week to take a copy, pick the map your group actually wants, and know what the first restart is going to do.
What 1.0 actually changes for a server
Iron Gate's release announcement is the short version: 1.0 and Deep North arrive together, on every platform they listed, with crossplay turned on. The 1.0 FAQ is the longer one. Old saves stay. New terrain only grows in places nobody has walked. Mods have no launch guarantee. There is no public test branch.
What they have not published is the dedicated-server ops note. Nobody has an official answer for whether the game client and the Valheim Dedicated Server app (Steam 896660) go live in the same minute. Treat a short "can't join" window on the 9th as likely, not as a scheduled event.
A dedicated world is still the right way to play this. One person leaving their PC on is a bad plan for a 10-player crossplay launch. If you want that world ready before the biomes start filling up, start a Valheim server this week and get the backup out of the way first.
Back up the world before you touch anything
A Valheim world on today's dedicated-server build is a pair of files with the same name:
MyWorld.db
MyWorld.fwlThe .db is the terrain, the buildings, and the progress. The .fwl is the
name and seed. Upload one without the other and Valheim shrugs and generates a
fresh map around whatever you gave it, which looks exactly like the update ate
your save.
Stop the server first. Valheim writes the world on a clean shutdown, so wait
until it reports Offline before you copy anything. On berrybyte, take a
full snapshot from Backups, then download
worlds_local as a second copy you can hold onto. Grab the .old siblings
sitting next to the pair too.
Self-hosted saves live where Iron Gate's
dedicated-server guide
says they do: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim on Windows,
~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim on Linux. A custom -savedir moves that
root.
After the first 1.0 boot, look at the folder before you move files around. The May public test stored each world as a folder of chunks instead of a single pair, and nobody has said which layout ships on the 9th.
If you later need to put those files back on a server, the world migration guide has the paths and the upload order.
What the first restart after the 9th actually does
On berrybyte, Auto Update runs before Valheim starts. Once Iron Gate publishes 1.0 for the dedicated-server app, the next start downloads that build and then opens your world. Leave it running. The first boot can sit on the download for a bit.
A crossplay server also mints a new six-digit join code every time it comes up. The old one dies with the restart. Copy the new code once the world reports ready, then send that, not the one from August.
If you host this yourself, update app 896660 with SteamCMD while the process is stopped, then start it and read the version line in the console. The setup guide covers the flags, ports, and save locations if you want the longer version.
People will fail to connect for a while. That is normal.
Valheim wants the client and the server on the same build. Players get the storefront update at different times, and Iron Gate has not said which depot lands first. Some friends will be on 1.0 while the server is still on Early Access. Some will still be downloading while you already restarted.
Keep the server offline long enough for Auto Update to finish once app 896660 changes. Restarting ten times will not fetch a build Steam has not published. When the console version and a player's version finally match, they get in.
Then send the new join code. The PS5, Switch 2, Xbox, and PC join guide is the one to drop in Discord if half the group is on a couch and the other half is on Steam.
Mods are going to have a bad morning
There is no 1.0 public test branch. Mod authors meet the final game at the same time you do. Iron Gate's modding statement has always left compatibility to each author, and the 1.0 FAQ says they will not guarantee anything at launch.
Do the first boot vanilla. Confirm the world opens and people can join. Add plugins back one at a time after their authors mark a 1.0 build. Keep the pre-update copy until the whole group has actually played on 1.0. A rollback wants those files, not a world the new version has already touched.
When you are ready to put mods back, the BepInEx guide is the recovery path.
Should you keep your world or start fresh?
Iron Gate says existing saves stay playable. You can sail your current ship north on September 9.
Deep North terrain only generates where nobody has explored. The main Valheim FAQ calls that radius about 500 metres around ground someone has already walked. If a friend already poked the far north "just to see," that coastline keeps the old ice.
That is why Iron Gate keeps recommending a fresh world for the full 1.0 experience. A new map after the server is on 1.0 grows each zone with the finished terrain the first time someone steps into it.
Keep the old world if the hall you built is the point of the server. Start
fresh if the group wants Deep North the way it was designed, or if you have
already wandered the northern edge. Either way, park the old .db and .fwl
under their current name before you change Settings → Game Settings. A
self-hosted box uses the -world flag for the same thing.
Our Deep North update guide walks through both options if you want the longer version.
A short list before September 9
- Stop the server and copy
worlds_local, not just the two files you remember. - Decide keep-vs-fresh now, not while people are waiting in the join menu.
- Stay out of the far north if you are keeping the map. Walking there this weekend pushes Deep North generation farther away.
- Strip mods for the first 1.0 boot.
- Write down the current build, just in case you need the old files later.
Host the Deep North on berrybyte
Want to play Valheim 1.0 and the Deep North with your friends? Host a server with berrybyte. Every plan includes all 10 player slots, crossplay, automatic updates, off-site backups, and free world migration.
Need more server admin help? Check out the Valheim wiki.