Game Server Autosave Interval Settings: How Often to Save, by Game

Every game server saves the world on a timer, and most let you change it: Rust uses server.saveinterval (seconds, default 600), Valheim the -saveinterval launch option (seconds, default 1800), ARK AutoSavePeriodMinutes (default 15), Palworld AutoSaveSpan (seconds, default 30) and Factorio autosave_interval (minutes, default 10). Shorter intervals mean less lost progress after a crash. Longer intervals mean fewer of the short freezes that big worlds get while saving. Five to fifteen minutes suits most servers.

The trade-off

Saving a big world takes real work. On large Rust maps, busy ARK servers or old Minecraft worlds, each save can cause a short hitch where the server pauses, players freeze and then catch up. Save too often and players feel it every few minutes. Save too rarely and a crash or power cut throws away a lot of play.

Small worlds save in a blink, so they can save often. Huge worlds benefit from longer gaps plus a clean save before every restart.

Settings by game

Rust

+server.saveinterval 600

Rust saves the whole map at once, and on big modded servers that can mean a noticeable pause. Many admins leave it at 600 seconds (10 minutes) or raise it to 900 on very large maps, then run server.save in the console before restarts. Rust also keeps older copies (.sav.1, .sav.2), which can rescue you after a bad save.

Valheim

./valheim_server.x86_64 -name "My Server" -world "Dedicated" -saveinterval 900 -backups 4 -backupshort 7200 -backuplong 43200

-saveinterval is in seconds. The -backups options control Valheim's own automatic world backups: how many to keep, and how long between the first and later ones. The default 30 minute save interval is long for a crash prone modded server, so many groups lower it to 10 or 15 minutes.

ARK: Survival Ascended

[ServerSettings]
AutoSavePeriodMinutes=15

ARK saves can cause a hitch on busy servers with many tames and structures. 15 minutes is a reasonable middle. Use the saveworld admin command before restarts. More in best ARK: Survival Ascended server settings.

Palworld

AutoSaveSpan=30.000000

Inside OptionSettings in PalWorldSettings.ini. The default of 30 seconds is aggressive, and each save is a small CPU spike. Raising it to a few minutes smooths performance on busy servers, at the cost of a little more lost progress after a crash. See Palworld server lag and memory fix for related tuning.

Minecraft

Vanilla Minecraft saves automatically every 6000 ticks, which is five minutes at 20 TPS. There is no vanilla setting for it. On Paper and Spigot, change it in bukkit.yml:

ticks-per:
  autosave: 6000

Paper spreads chunk saving over several ticks to avoid one big pause. You can force a save any time with /save-all, and pause saving during a backup with /save-off and /save-on.

Factorio

"autosave_interval": 10,
"autosave_slots": 5,
"non_blocking_saving": false

Factorio rotates through _autosave1.zip to _autosave5.zip. On Linux, non_blocking_saving lets the server keep running while it saves in the background. It is marked experimental, so test it first.

Project Zomboid

In servertest.ini (or your server name's .ini), SaveWorldEveryMinutes sets the interval. Project Zomboid also has backup settings in the same file, BackupsOnStart, BackupsPeriod and BackupsCount, which make copies in the Zomboid/backups folder.

Games without a setting

7 Days to Die saves on its own schedule and when the server shuts down cleanly. Use the saveworld console command before restarts. Some other games also give no control, so a clean shutdown and regular backups matter more for them.

Always save before stopping

The interval only covers crashes. For planned stops, run the save command, then stop the server cleanly. Killing the process, pulling the power or letting a host stop it hard can lose everything since the last autosave, or damage the save mid write. If that happens, see how to recover a corrupted game server world.

Autosaves are not backups either. They overwrite the same files. Keep separate copies with regular backups.

Setting it on a hosted server

On a GamezServers server some of these are fields in the control panel, such as Rust's save interval and the number of rotating autosaves for Satisfactory. Others you can edit through the file manager or SFTP, and one click backups give you real restore points on top of the game's own saves. It works the same for Factorio, Palworld and the rest.

FAQ

How often should a game server autosave?

Every 5 to 15 minutes suits most servers. Save more often on small worlds or unstable modded servers, less often on huge worlds where saves cause lag.

Why does my server lag every few minutes?

Often it is the autosave. If the hitch lines up with the save interval, raise the interval a little and make sure the disk is not the bottleneck.

Does autosave replace backups?

No. Autosaves overwrite the same files, so a corrupted save can overwrite a good one. Keep separate, dated backups.

What is the Rust save interval command?

server.saveinterval followed by seconds, for example server.saveinterval 600 for every 10 minutes. Use server.save to save immediately.