Saving a Server to Your Vault

Three ways to save

Only the account owner and administrators see Save to Vault and Keep in Vault. The question when you delete a server is for the account owner only, because only the owner can delete a server. A save goes into your account's Vault, not into the server, so it stays when the server is deleted.

Save to Vault

Press Save to Vault. Before anything starts, the dialog checks your Vault and the server and shows what the save will be: the server, the game, its expected size ("about <size> at the last backup": measured on the server's newest backup, and scaled by what an earlier save of the server kept when there is one, since logs and old world backups are left out; the save takes a fresh backup, so the exact size is checked after that backup and can be larger if your world grew since), the free space in your Vault, and the date it will be kept until. Give it a Name and a Note if you like; without a name it is called "<server name> · <date>".

The server can be running or stopped. Saving works like a backup: GameGrid takes a fresh backup of the server the normal way, then copies it into your Vault and checks the copy. The dialog says what is happening:

1. Taking a fresh backup of the server…

2. Copying into your Vault…

3. Checking the copy…

You can close the window: the save carries on, and your Vault page shows its progress. When it is done the dialog says "Saved to your Vault" with the name, the size and the date it is kept until, and Open my Vault takes you to the save.

The fresh backup is an ordinary manual backup of the server. It appears in the server's Manual Backups list and counts toward the server's backup storage, like any backup you take yourself. If the storage has no room for it, the save is refused; the oldest automatic backups are removed to make room first, so only your own manual backups and the safety copies can keep it full.

A running server

What happens to a running server depends on the game, and the dialog says which applies:

• Games the platform can ask to save: "The server is running. The game is asked to save first, as it is for a backup."
• Games with no save command: "This server is running: the save captures its files as they are right now." The world is whatever the game last wrote to disk.
• DayZ: DayZ writes its world only on its own schedule, and an idle server may not write it until it stops, so a save of a running DayZ server can be as old as the server's last restart. The dialog offers Stop and save (it stops the server, waits until it has stopped, then saves) and Save anyway. If the server does not stop within 3 minutes, nothing is saved.

A stopped server always gives you the exact moment it stopped. Your game's own Backups article says which kind of game it is.

Keep in Vault

Every verified backup on the Backups page has Keep in Vault, manual and automatic backups alike. It copies that backup into your Vault and keeps it for 12 months, even if the server is deleted. Name and Note work as above.

A backup you uploaded yourself cannot be kept in the Vault: the Vault only holds worlds saved from GameGrid servers.

When you delete a server

When you delete a server from My Servers and you can save to the Vault, the panel first asks: "Do you want to move the save into your Vault? It keeps the world, its settings and its setup for 12 months. The server is deleted only after the save is safely in your Vault."

• Save to Vault, then delete saves the server (named "Before deleting <server name>") and deletes it only once the save has been checked. Keep the page open until it says Deleted. If you close it, your save still finishes but the server is not deleted: My Servers then shows a note for that server, "Your Vault save ... is ready, but the server was not deleted. Delete it now?", with Delete now (it deletes the server without saving again) and Not now (hides the note in this browser).
• Delete without saving deletes the server only, exactly as before.
• Cancel does nothing.

If your Vault has no room, you are told how much the save needs and how much is free, with Open my Vault (to delete older saves first) and Delete without saving. If the save fails, the server is not deleted, and you choose Delete anyway or Keep the server.

The question is not asked for a deactivated server: it cannot be saved without an active plan.

Deleting a server to put another game in its slot? Save it this way, and when you come back to that game you can start its new server from the save: Switching Games and Keeping Your World.

When a save is refused

The dialog says why before anything starts. The reasons, in the words you will see:

When a save fails

Sometimes a save is started and then fails: the fresh backup failed, what the save would keep was over 2 GB or 10,000 files, the backup held no world files, the copy could not be read back correctly, or your Vault filled up in the meantime. The dialog and the Vault page then say "The save failed:" and why, and nothing is kept: the space it reserved is free again at once. Try again in the dialog checks again and starts a new save. A failed save stays on your Vault page so you can see what happened; Remove clears it, and it is removed by itself after 30 days.

Where to go next

• What a save holds and who can use it: Your Vault
• Putting a save back on a server: Loading a Vault Save onto a Server
• Sizes, space and expiry: Vault Space, Limits and Expiry
• Changing the game in a slot and coming back later: Switching Games and Keeping Your World