The Forest Server Saves: Slots, Autosaves and Init Type

The single most common complaint about a The Forest dedicated server is that the world resets every time it restarts. It is almost never a fault, a corrupted file, or a hosting problem. It is one setting, it ships set the wrong way for a persistent server, and the official wiki describes the symptom exactly: with it left alone, "the game won't save and you will have to restart each time."

That setting is Init Type. This page covers it, the save slot system it feeds, how autosaves work, and what to back up.

Set Init Type to Continue after your first boot

It ships as New. New means start a fresh world every launch. Your first boot needs it; every boot after that needs Continue. Leave it on New and the server will cheerfully discard the world each restart.

Init Type: New Versus Continue

Endnight's official documentation gives the parameter as -inittype <New|Continue> with "default is New", and the wiki spells out what that default costs you: "Must be set to New or Continue. If left on New, the game won't save and you will have to restart each time."

The workflow is two-stage and nobody tells you:

1. First boot on New. The server generates a world into the save slot and starts.
2. Change Init Type to Continue and restart. From now on the server loads what is there.

The Init Type field on the Startup tab is where you change it. It is also passed on the command line, and Endnight notes that "Command line parameters overwrite matching entries defined in the config file" — so the Startup field is authoritative and editing initType in the config file will not override it.

Use New deliberately, as a wipe

Switching back to New for one boot is how you deliberately start a fresh world. It is a clean reset — and an irreversible one, so download the old save first.

Save Slots

The Forest keeps five save slots, and a dedicated server uses exactly one at a time. The wiki: "Slot to save the game. Must be set to either slot 1 / slot 2 / slot 3 / slot 4 / slot 5."

slot is not a Startup field. On a hosted The Forest server it lives in the config file at TheForestDedicatedServer_Data/forest/config/config.cfg and defaults to 1. It is also not panel-managed, so a change there persists across restarts.

Using the slots deliberately gives you something close to manual checkpoints:

• Run on slot 1 normally.
• Before something risky, have an admin run /save 2 in chat to write the current state into slot 2.
• If it goes wrong, stop the server, change slot to 2, restart with Init Type on Continue.

The wiki's warning on /save is worth repeating: it "Saves the game on the chosen slot number. Be careful as it may save over another game in your dedicated server save folder." There is no confirmation prompt.

Autosaves

serverAutoSaveInterval controls the cycle. Endnight's official parameter list gives "Set the autosave interval in minutes, default is 15", and the shipped config on your server is set to 15. The wiki notes 15 is also the floor: "The minimum time is 15 minutes, the default time is 30."

It is a config-file setting, not a Startup field, and it is not panel-managed — so a change sticks. Stop the server, edit the line, start it again.

Fifteen minutes is a reasonable floor for a reason. The Forest writes the whole world state, and on a heavily built map that is a noticeable pause for everyone connected. Shortening it below the documented minimum is not an option the server accepts.

The console prints Game autosave started when the server comes up, which doubles as your confirmation that saving is working at all.

The Steam Account Token and Player Progress

The token is not only about server listing identity. Your panel's own field description is specific: "The Steam Account Token is required for the server to save player progress."

Generate one at steamcommunity.com/dev/managegameservers. Endnight's guide gives the app ID to use, and it is the game's, not the dedicated server's: "The appid for The Forest is 242760." Paste it into Steam Account Token on the Startup tab and restart.

Without it the server runs and people can play. What suffers is players returning to find their own progress intact.

Everyone Should Be Online When You Save

This is a co-op quirk rather than a server setting, and it costs people inventories. The official wiki, on multiplayer saving:

"When the host saves the game, it takes all current players and their inventories and remembers it. If you play with anyone, be sure to have them all online with you when you save as they can lose their data."

It adds: "So its ALWAYS important to save the game before leaving an online server if you wish to return and have all the same items."

On a dedicated server the practical version is: an autosave that fires while half your group is offline records the half that is present. Tell players to log off after a save rather than before, and run /save at the end of a session.

Note also that players save at structures — shelters, cabins, tree houses, beds, tents and the yacht. Admins can force a save anywhere with /save <slot>.

Backups

The autosave cycle overwrites itself and /save overwrites slots without asking. Neither is a backup.

Save files live under the server's TheForestDedicatedServer_Data folder, set by the -savefolderpath launch parameter Endnight documents as "Allows defining a custom folder for save slots". Open the File Manager, find the slot folder, and download it to your own machine.

Do that before any of the following:

• Changing Init Type back to New
• Changing the slot value
• Any /save onto a slot you might want back
• Any server update

/restart is not a reboot

The wiki lists it as "Restarts the server, resets save game (WARNING: SAVE DATA WILL BE DELETED)". Use the panel's restart button for a routine reboot. /restart is a wipe with a misleading name, and it is available to anyone holding your admin password.

Common Questions

Why does my world reset every restart?

Init Type is on New. Change it to Continue on the Startup tab and restart. The world from your last session is still in the slot.

I changed Init Type to Continue and the server won't load my world

Check slot in the config file matches the slot the world was written to. Continue loads the configured slot, and if that slot is empty there is nothing to continue.

Can I upload a single-player save to my server?

The wiki notes save files can be moved "in between single player and multiplayer" by copying them, and gives the local path as %appdata%\..\LocalLow\SKS\TheForest. It is not a supported migration and it carries the wiki's own blanket advice: "ALWAYS back up your saves before doing any modifications."

How do I wipe and start fresh?

Download the current save, set Init Type to New, restart, then set it back to Continue and restart again.

Does the server save when it shuts down?

Do not rely on it. The wiki's own note on /shutdown is "Shuts down the server, unknown if it will save prior." Run /save <slot> first.

How many saves does it keep?

Five slots, and the server uses one. Autosaves write over the active slot rather than accumulating.

What to Read Next

• How to Set Up a The Forest Dedicated Server — the config file and which lines the panel owns
• The Forest Console Commands: Full List and Setup — /save, /restart and the rest of the admin set
• How to Play The Forest with Friends — getting your group onto the server

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