Switch your Valheim Server to BepInEx

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Mods need BepInEx, and BepInEx has to load before the game does — which is why it’s a separate build rather than something you drop into a folder. Moving your server onto it takes a few minutes through GameSwap, and it costs nothing.

What you get

Valheim (BepInEx) is the same Valheim server with the BepInEx plugin framework preloaded. Every setting from the vanilla build is still there — password, crossplay, world modifiers, all of it — plus:

• A BepInEx/plugins folder that mods are loaded from.
• A BepInEx/config folder for their settings files.
• A Thunderstore Modpack field on the Startup tab, if you’d rather install a pack than upload plugins yourself.

Before you swap: save your world

Danger

A GameSwap installs the new game fresh. Your world does not come across on its own, even if you freeze the current game — freezing stores your vanilla server so you can go back to it later, it doesn’t copy anything onto the BepInEx server.

If you want to keep playing your current world, download it first.

1. Stop your server.
2. Open the Files tab and go to .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local.
3. Download the whole folder named after your world — Dedicated, for example.

Since Valheim 1.0 a world is a folder, not a pair of files: _main.N.* plus one .chunk file per region anyone has explored. Take all of it and don’t pick files out of it. Leave the *_backup_auto-* folders behind.

Tip

A panel backup is worth taking as well, but download the two world files to your own machine regardless. Ten seconds now versus a world you can’t get back.

Freeze or wipe

GameSwap asks what should happen to the Valheim server you have now. Both options cost nothing.

• Freeze — your current server is archived into a freeze slot, off your server and not using your disk. You can restore it later exactly as it is. Every server has one free slot.
• Wipe — your current server is erased permanently. Uses no slot.

Freeze is the safer choice, and it’s the one to take if you’re not sure the modded server will work out. It’s your whole vanilla setup on ice, and restoring it puts everything back.

Wipe if you already have your world files downloaded and you’re not planning to come back — or if your free slot is holding something you’d rather keep.

Caution

Freezing is not a way to park a world while you cancel a server. If a server is terminated, its freeze slots and everything in them go with it.

Do the swap

1. Open your server in the Nitro Panel and choose GameSwap in the sidebar — the swap-arrows icon.

2. Find Valheim (BepInEx) in the catalog and select it. Your current game is marked RUNNING NOW, so vanilla Valheim and the BepInEx build are easy to tell apart.

   

3. Choose Freeze or Wipe for the game running now.

4. Confirm. Name the freeze if you froze — something like valheim-vanilla-before-mods — and tick Email me when it’s finished if you’d rather not watch.

5. Start it. The progress page shows the current phase; you can close it and the swap keeps running.

Your server is offline while the swap runs, and the panel shows a progress screen instead of the usual server view. That’s expected.

Full detail on slots, cooldowns and restoring is in the GameSwap guide.

Put your world back

Once the swap finishes you have a fresh BepInEx server with a brand new world. To carry your old one over:

1. Leave the server stopped.
2. Open the Files tab and go to .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local. Create the folders if they aren’t there yet.
3. Upload your world folder. Full detail on both upload routes is in Move a Singleplayer World to your Valheim Server — the procedure is identical.
4. On the Startup tab, set World Name to match the folder name exactly. It’s case-sensitive, and a name that doesn’t match generates a brand new world instead of erroring.
5. Start the server, and check the console for ZNet.LoadWorld: <name> to confirm which world came up.

Valheim world saves are the same on both builds, so a world made on vanilla loads on BepInEx and vice versa. Mods can add things to a world that vanilla then doesn’t understand, though — see the caution below before you plan on going back and forth.

Install mods

Option A — a Thunderstore modpack

On the Startup tab, put a pinned Thunderstore dependency string into Thunderstore Modpack:

AuthorName-ModpackName-1.2.3

The version is part of it on purpose — a pack that updates can’t change your server without you deciding to.

Caution

Changing this field needs a reinstall to take effect, and a reinstall replaces your server files. Download your world files first, same as before a swap.

Only plugin .dll files are installed from a pack. Mods that ship their own asset or config files need those uploaded by hand into BepInEx/config.

Option B — upload plugins yourself

Leave Thunderstore Modpack blank and you get an empty BepInEx to fill.

1. Stop the server.
2. Download the mod from Thunderstore or Nexus.
3. Open the .zip and put the .dll files into BepInEx/plugins on the Files tab.
4. Anything the mod says belongs in a config folder goes into BepInEx/config.
5. Start the server and watch the Console tab.

Chainloader startup complete means BepInEx loaded. Each plugin logs its own line as it loads, so the console tells you what actually came up — check there first if a mod doesn’t seem to be doing anything.

Caution

Every player needs the same mods you do. Most Valheim mods are client-and-server, and a player without them is usually rejected or breaks in odd ways. Share your mod list, or point everyone at the same Thunderstore modpack.

Going back to vanilla

Two routes, depending on what you did on the way in.

If you froze, open GameSwap, find your frozen game under Frozen games, and choose Restore. Your vanilla server comes back exactly as it was — but it comes back with its world, the one that was on it when you froze. Any progress made on the modded server lives in that server’s world files, so download those before you restore.

If you wiped, swap to plain Valheim from the catalog and upload your world files afterwards.

Caution

A world played on a heavily modded server may not load cleanly on vanilla. Mods that add items, structures or biomes leave data behind that vanilla Valheim doesn’t recognise. Keep a copy of the pre-mod world if going back matters to you.

Troubleshooting

Issue	What to check
Server started but no mods loaded	Look for Chainloader startup complete in the console. If it’s missing, you’re on the vanilla build — check the catalog says Valheim (BepInEx).
Modpack field changed, nothing happened	The field only applies on a reinstall. Download your world files, then reinstall.
A specific mod isn’t loading	Check the console for its line. Most often the .dll is nested inside a subfolder in the zip — it has to sit directly in BepInEx/plugins.
Players get kicked or see missing items	Mod mismatch. Everyone needs the same mods at the same versions.
Empty world after the swap	Expected — a swap installs fresh. Upload your world folder and set World Name to match it exactly.
Server won’t start after adding mods	Remove the last mod you added and start again. Mod conflicts show up in the console before the server finishes loading.

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Questions? Reach out on the support Discord or create a ticket.