Why Your Palworld Server Settings Aren’t Applying

Customizing your Palworld server is a wonderful way to personalize your experience. Whether you want the adventure to be harder or easier, you have various options to edit. However, sometimes you might run into some issues. The most common one is that settings do not save properly on the server. In this Nitrado guide, we’ll break down reasons why that could be happening and explain the fix.
 
Review each section to see which one applies to you.

Web Interface Overriding Manual Edits

The Cause: If you’ve manually edited the PalWorldSettings.ini file via the File Browser, then it’s getting overwritten by the General Settings area from your Web Interface. Any manual changes to this file will be reverted back to the options saved in the settings menu, upon every restart.
 
How to Resolve: Make all adjustments directly inside the General Settings menu whenever possible. Every option is found and accessible in that menu, making it easier for you to make changes. However, you can also create/upload the WorldOptions.sav file in your main save folder to force the server to use those settings instead.

Binary Save File Priorities

The Cause: Palworld enforces a strict rule where binary save data overrides standard configuration files. Importing a world save that includes a WorldOptions.sav file forces the server to read game rules exclusively from that binary file. As a result, modifications made to PalWorldSettings.ini are completely ignored by the game engine.
 
How to Resolve: Open the File Browser and navigate into your active save directory (/Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/Your_Save_Folder/). Remove WorldOptions.sav to force the server to read your PalWorldSettings.ini file, or edit the binary file using an online save editor tool before re-uploading it.

Editing Config Files on Running Servers

The Cause: Updating the settings while the server is online prevents anything from taking effect. All the current options are stored in the memory of your server, so anytime you shutdown or restart the server will read any new changes – then apply them accordingly.
 
How to Resolve: Always press the Stop button in the Web Interface and wait until the server status reads offline before modifying any configuration files. Once your edits are saved, launch the server using the Start button.

Unchanged Status on Existing World Objects

The Cause: Certain parameters apply only at the moment an object or entity is initially spawned or created. Adjusting variables like incubation speed will not retroactively update entities that were already active in the game world prior to the server restart.
 
How to Resolve: Have players interact with affected world items to force a refresh. For instance, removing an egg from an incubator and placing it back inside after the server update will force the game to calculate the timer using the updated rate.

Broken Single String Formatting Rules

The Cause: Configuration files require all settings to exist on a single continuous line, e.g. OptionSettings=(...). For those who manually edit, accidentally pressing enter to create a line break, missing a closing bracket, or inputting values beyond supported limits can cause issues that revert to default values.
 
How to Resolve: Review PalWorldSettings.ini in the editor to ensure the entire configuration block remains strictly on line one. Ensure no return keys or accidental line wraps split the text block across multiple lines. We recommend against manually editing this file and instead using the General Settings menu from your Web Interface to make changes.

Conclusion

We hope that these solutions helped you save recent changes to your Palworld server. Anytime you do run into a situation where nothing is being saved, revisit these sections above to see how you can fix it. Keep in mind that these are the most common issues and reasons for it to be happening. If you have any further problems, we suggest contacting our Support Team for extra assistance. Here are some helpful resources:

Palworld Server Settings Guide
Palworld Death Penalty Server Settings
How to Move a Palworld Co-op World to a Dedicated Server
How To Upload Palworld Save Games (Local)