Squad · Backups and your world

Squad server backups and moving a server

What a Squad server backup holds, how backups will work on Wilderack, and how to move your Server.cfg, admins, bans and rotations from another host.

By How we check our guidesLast reviewed 3 min read

Squad servers are coming soon

Squad's license rules out running it commercially, Offworld Industries names the hosting companies it trusts, and its licensing rules don't accept servers in virtual machines. Squad opens on Wilderack once Offworld makes us a hosting partner. These guides are ready for the day Squad opens on Wilderack.

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A Squad server has no world to save: every match starts fresh. What you’d hate to lose is the setup around it, like your admin list, your bans and the rotation you tuned. All of it lives in one folder, SquadGame/ServerConfig, and that’s what backups keep.

Squad servers can’t be ordered on Wilderack yet. We open Squad once Offworld Industries makes us a hosting partner. This guide shows how backups will work then.

What a backup holds

File Why it matters
Server.cfg Name, queue, tags, rotation mode and match rules
Admins.cfg Your admin groups and everyone in them
Bans.cfg Every ban given in game. Losing it lets banned players back in
LayerRotation.cfg and LevelRotation.cfg Your rotations
ModsConfig.cfg Mod load order
MOTD.cfg The message players see when they join

Game files aren’t in backups: Squad installs fresh from Steam. Mods aren’t either. They download again from the Workshop on the next start, from the list in Settings.

How backups work on Wilderack

  • Every 10 minutes while the server runs and something has changed, a safe copy is made. Squad writes these files as plain text, so copies are safe with players online.
  • Before every risky step: switching games, restoring, updating and changing mods. These copies are kept for 7 days.
  • By hand: open Backups and make one, with a label like “before new admin rules”.
  • On a schedule: add a backup to Schedules, such as once a day.

The files are small, so backups take almost no room.

Restore a backup

  1. Open Backups and pick a backup by its date or label.
  2. Choose restore. The panel backs up the current files first, so you can undo it.
  3. The server restarts and reads the restored files.

To get back one file, like Bans.cfg from last week, open it in Files and pick an earlier version by date.

Restoring an old backup brings back old bans too. If you lifted a ban since then, check Bans.cfg after a restore.

Download a backup

Open Backups, choose a backup and download it. You get a zip with a link that works for 24 hours. Keep one on your own computer before big changes, like a new rotation or a rewrite of your admin groups.

Move a server from another host

  1. Download SquadGame/ServerConfig from your old host, with every .cfg file in it.
  2. Leave out Rcon.cfg. Wilderack writes its own RCON settings, with a password made for your server.
  3. Zip the folder and upload the zip in Games, then Bring your world. We take a backup first, then put the files in place.
  4. Add your mods again. Copy your Workshop IDs into Settings, then restart.
  5. Check your settings. Max players in Settings wins over MaxPlayers in Server.cfg.

Player history, ranks and unlocks belong to each player’s own Squad account, so they come along by themselves.

If your old server was licensed, talk to Offworld before you move it. Offworld’s licensing rules ask servers to apply again when they change hardware, hosting provider or owner.

Questions

Does Squad save a world I need to back up?

No. Every Squad match starts fresh, so there is no world file. What's worth keeping is the server's setup in SquadGame/ServerConfig, above all your admins, bans and rotations.

How do I move my Squad server from another host?

Download the SquadGame/ServerConfig folder from your old host, zip it, and upload the zip in Games, then Bring your world. Leave out Rcon.cfg, since Wilderack writes its own. Then re-add your Workshop mods.

Can I move a licensed Squad server?

Ask Offworld first. Its licensing rules ask servers to apply again when they change hardware, hosting provider or owner, so a move means a new license application.

Sources we checked

  1. Server ConfigurationOfficial Squad Wiki
  2. Server Licensing and Administration PoliciesOffworld Industries

Be first to host Squad

Squad's license rules out running it commercially, Offworld Industries names the hosting companies it trusts, and its licensing rules don't accept servers in virtual machines. Squad opens on Wilderack once Offworld makes us a hosting partner. Join the waitlist and we’ll email you the day it opens.