---
title: "Don't Starve Together World Settings and Regeneration"
description: "Don't Starve Together world settings: worldgenoverride.lua, presets, and regenerating a world without losing the cluster."
url: "https://www.gameserverkings.com/knowledge-base/dont-starve-together/dont-starve-together-world-settings/"
category: "Don't Starve Together"
category_url: "https://www.gameserverkings.com/knowledge-base/dont-starve-together/"
published: "2026-09-12T06:30:41.797Z"
updated: "2026-09-12T06:32:35.847Z"
source_format: "markdown"
site: "GameServerKings"
---

# Don't Starve Together World Settings and Regeneration

World settings on a Don't Starve Together server live in `worldgenoverride.lua`, and there is one of them **inside each shard folder** — `Master/worldgenoverride.lua` for the surface and `Caves/worldgenoverride.lua` for the underground. There is a second, very similar file called `leveldataoverride.lua` sitting next to it, and you should not touch that one.

> [!NOTE] Checked against Don't Starve Together dedicated server build **747465**
> Quotes below are from the comments and code Klei ship inside the dedicated server itself (Steam app `343050`), which Klei explicitly invite people to read, plus their update notes. Verified 12 September 2026.

## Two files, and only one is yours

Klei's own comment in the server's `shardindex.lua` is the clearest statement of the difference anyone has written:

> `leveldataoverride` is for GAME USE. It contains a _complete level definition_ and is used by the clusters to transfer level settings reliably from the client to the cluster servers. It completely overrides existing saved world data.
> `worldgenoverride` is for USER USE.

So: `leveldataoverride.lua` is what the game writes when someone configures a world in the client and pushes it to a cluster. `worldgenoverride.lua` is the one a server owner edits by hand. Editing the wrong one is the most common way to lose a world.

## What goes in the file

The server accepts exactly five top-level keys. Anything else is ignored with a warning:

| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| `override_enabled` | Master switch. `false` and the file is read but not applied |
| `worldgen_preset` | The preset used to generate the map |
| `settings_preset` | The preset used for world rules |
| `preset` | Legacy single key, still accepted; fills in for both of the above |
| `overrides` | A table of individual settings layered on top |

A minimal file looks like this:

```lua title="Master/worldgenoverride.lua"
return {
  override_enabled = true,
  worldgen_preset = "SURVIVAL_TOGETHER",
  settings_preset = "SURVIVAL_TOGETHER",
  overrides = {
    winter = "shortseason",
    summer = "shortseason",
    hounds = "rare",
    regrowth = "fast",
  },
}
```

Every `overrides` entry takes a named value rather than a number — mostly `"never"`, `"rare"`, `"default"`, `"often"`, `"always"`, with season lengths using `"veryshortseason"` through `"verylongseason"` and regrowth using `"veryslow"` through `"veryfast"`. Anything left at `"default"` can simply be left out.

## Playstyle presets

These are the preset names the server actually recognises. Surface presets come from the forest level definitions, caves presets from the caves definitions — they are not interchangeable.

| Shard | Presets |
|---|---|
| Master | `SURVIVAL_TOGETHER`, `RELAXED`, `ENDLESS`, `WILDERNESS`, `LIGHTS_OUT`, `TERRARIA`, `SURVIVAL_TOGETHER_CLASSIC`, `SURVIVAL_DEFAULT_PLUS`, `COMPLETE_DARKNESS` |
| Caves | `DST_CAVE`, `DST_CAVE_PLUS`, `TERRARIA_CAVE` |

> [!IMPORTANT] Set the playstyle on Master only
> Klei changed this in October 2022: "The overrides table for the desired playstyle no longer need to be set on every shard. When set on the master server, they will automatically be sent to the caves server (or any other secondary shard)." Their instruction is to stop listing every setting and instead "only on the master server, set worldgen_preset and settings_preset to 'RELAXED', 'ENDLESS', 'SURVIVAL_TOGETHER', 'WILDERNESS', or 'LIGHTS_OUT'."

This is also where Endless and Wilderness went. They used to be `game_mode` values in `cluster.ini`; Klei converted them to presets and the server now rewrites the old game-mode values back to `survival` on startup.

## The file tells you when you get it wrong

Unusually for a config file, the DST server sanity-checks `worldgenoverride.lua` on load and prints exactly what it did not understand:

```text
WARNING! Found entry '%s' in worldgenoverride.lua, but this isn't a valid entry.
WARNING! Found override '%s', but this doesn't match any known option. Did you make a typo?
WARNING! Found value '%s' for setting '%s', but this is not a valid value. Use one of {%s}.
```

It also prints `Loaded and applied world gen overrides from ...` on success, and `Found world gen overrides but not enabled.` when `override_enabled` is missing or `false`. Read the console after a restart and you will know immediately whether your edit took.

> [!TIP] Our egg only places worldgenoverride.lua during installation
> The starter `worldgenoverride.lua` files in `Master/` and `Caves/` are fetched once, when the server is installed. After that they are ordinary files in your File Manager — edit them there, and reinstalling is what would replace them.

## Regenerating a world

Klei ship two console commands, and their own comments say which to use:

| Command | Klei's note |
|---|---|
| `c_regenerateworld()` | "Permanently delete all game worlds in a server cluster, regenerates new worlds afterwards… This will not work properly for any shard that is offline or in a loading state" |
| `c_regenerateshard()` | "It is not recommended to use this instead of c_regenerateworld, unless you need to regenerate only one shard in a cluster" |

`c_regenerateshard` takes an optional argument: called plain, it **preserves** your world settings and only rebuilds the map. Pass `c_regenerateshard(true)` and the settings are wiped too.

Both are remote console commands, so run them in remote mode from the shard you mean to affect — see [Don't Starve Together console commands](/knowledge-base/dont-starve-together/dont-starve-together-console-commands/) for how local and remote mode differ.

Save data for each shard lives under its own folder, at `Master/save/` and `Caves/save/` inside the cluster directory. That is what to copy before you experiment, and it is why a [backup](/knowledge-base/general/how-to-create-a-backup/) of the whole cluster folder is the only backup worth having.

> [!CAUTION] Regenerating is immediate and permanent
> There is no confirmation prompt. `c_regenerateworld()` takes the surface and the caves together. If you only meant to reset one, you wanted `c_regenerateshard()`, run while standing in the world you want gone.

For a smaller step backwards, `cluster.ini`'s `max_snapshots` controls how many rollback points the cluster keeps — Klei's default is `6`, and each one is written every time the server saves.

## Common Questions

### Where is worldgenoverride.lua on a hosted server?

`DoNotStarveTogether/config/server/Master/worldgenoverride.lua` and the matching file under `Caves/`, reachable in the File Manager or over [SFTP](/knowledge-base/general/how-to-upload-files-via-sftp/) on your [Don't Starve Together server](/games/dont-starve-together/).

### Do world setting changes apply to an existing world?

Preset changes regenerate; the individual `overrides` are layered onto the save data the server already has. The reliable way to get a genuinely fresh world on new settings is to set them first and then regenerate.

### Should I edit leveldataoverride.lua?

No. Klei describe it as "for GAME USE" — it is how the client pushes a complete world definition to a cluster, and it "completely overrides existing saved world data". Server owners use `worldgenoverride.lua`.

### How do I reset only the caves?

Stand in the caves and run `c_regenerateshard()`. `c_regenerateworld()` would take the surface with it.

### Why did my world setting not apply?

Check the console after a restart. The server names every unrecognised entry, unknown option and invalid value by hand, and prints "Found world gen overrides but not enabled" if `override_enabled` is not `true`.

### Can Master and Caves have different settings?

They can have different presets — the caves presets are a separate set — but since October 2022 the playstyle overrides you set on Master are pushed to Caves automatically, so you no longer duplicate them.

## What to Read Next

- [Don't Starve Together Dedicated Server Setup](/knowledge-base/dont-starve-together/dont-starve-together-dedicated-server-setup/) — the cluster folder, `cluster.ini` and why there are two processes.
- [How to Install Don't Starve Together Server Mods](/knowledge-base/dont-starve-together/dont-starve-together-server-mods/) — mods change world generation too, and they are also configured per shard.
- [Don't Starve Together Console Commands](/knowledge-base/dont-starve-together/dont-starve-together-console-commands/) — local versus remote mode, and the full `c_` command list.
- [How to create a backup](/knowledge-base/general/how-to-create-a-backup/) — copy the cluster folder before you regenerate anything.
- [How to upload files via SFTP](/knowledge-base/general/how-to-upload-files-via-sftp/) — for editing the Lua files off-server.

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