How to Roll Back your Conan Exiles Server
A Conan Exiles server will continually make auto-saves while it is running, and it is possible to "roll" the server back by using one of these auto-saves.
This is a fairly simple process, requiring only re-naming an auto-save, and restarting the server. It will load the re-named file and your entire server will be restored to a previous save point.
The save files (and the auto-saves) store the entire server's state, so rolling the server back will affect all players, pets, thralls, and structures. If you want to change only a single player's information, that is actually a much much more complex process involving editing the database itself, and that is NOT covered in this guide.
Where are the Save Files, and the Auto-Saves?
The saves files, and all the auto-saves made by the game, are kept in the folder /ConanSandbox/Saved
. The main save file is called game.db
The auto-saves are called game_backup_##.db
, where the ##
is a number generated by the game.
NOTE: These "backups" are just copies of a single file, the game's main save. They are different from the entire server backups made on the "Backups" tab on the Nodecraft control panel, which are copies of every single file on the whole server.
Rolling the Server Back:
Find the auto-save to restore back to
Pick one of the game_backup_##.db
files in the /ConanSandbox/Saved
folder.
They are in order by the ##
in the file name, and you can also check the date and time stamps shown in the file manager. The server will normally make auto-saves 5 minutes apart.
(Optional) Rename the existing game.db
File
At the end of this process, you will be renaming the auto-save file to game.db
. When you do that, it will erase the existing game.db
file and you won't receive any warning about it being erased. If you want to keep a copy of the original game.db
file then re-name it first, just in case you change your mind or it turns out you didn't really need to roll back the server at all.
To rename the file, select it in the file manager, and click the "rename" button. Just tack something onto the end or beginning, like "old". As long as it doesn't have the same exact name it won't be erased.
Make a copy of the auto-save, and re-name the copy
If you're not sure exactly which auto-save to roll back to, you might have to perform this operation several times a row. If you're renaming the auto-saves one by one as you go, you're basically erasing them as you go.
We highly recommend you make a copy of each file, and then rename the copy. Leave the original files there, just in case you made an error deciding on which auto-save you needed, and have to start all over from the beginning.
On the Nodecraft control panel, you can select one of the auto-saves, and then click the "copy" button. Select "up one folder" and it will be moved to the ConanSandbox
. Then click the "rename" button, and change the file name to game.db
.
Restart the server
When the server starts up next time, it will load the game.db
file that you re-named, and restore the entire server to that point. If it wasn't restored to the correct point you wanted (ie, it didn't fix whatever was so bad it made you want to roll back the server), then just repeat this whole procedure but with a different auto-save file.
Once you have it all restored correctly, the game will start making new auto-saves from that point on. You can choose the leave the other auto-saves on the server, and they will overwritten as the server continues to run.