Valheim Patch 0.221.13 (Public Test) Notes (6th May 2026)

⚠️ Note: This update is for the Public Test branch of Valheim only, and may therefore be unstable!

Prior to launching this update to the Default version of the game, we want to have a chance to discover bugs and fine-tune the balancing to ensure the best game experience.

• ACCESS: Right-click Valheim in your Steam library, then select ‘Properties’. In the new window, select ‘Betas’ and type in the code “yesimadebackups”. The Public Test branch should now be available for you to select. The PTB FAQ can be found here.
• FEEDBACK: Please leave any feedback in the “#valheim-public-test” channel in our Discord or through the form on our website.

Please remember to be considerate towards players who are not participating in the Public Test, as some may prefer to avoid spoilers. As indicated by the access code, please ensure to create backups of your save files before playing.

In this update we’re introducing a new save system for your Valheim worlds! The purpose of this is to make the game save faster, and to decrease the risk of corrupt save files. What the new system means in practice is that the game now saves your world in smaller chunks, and only the chunks that have been modified since the last save will be affected. Worlds will no longer be saved with a .db and a .fwl file, but will instead be saved and stored in separate folders, with the .db file broken down into smaller pieces. Backups will also have their own separate folders. Please note that if you intend to switch between the PTB and the Live branch of the game, it is not advisory to move your files around manually.

If this sounds overly technical, don’t worry – unless you’re frequently moving your files around manually, you won’t notice any difference beyond faster saving times!

For users who are running Valheim with mods, please note that this system has not been tested with mods. While we don’t believe there should be any issues relating to this, modding the game is always done at your own risk.

Detailed Patch Notes:

* Introducing a new world save system

* The new save system only affects world saves, character saves remain the same.

* When saving, only the chunks that have been modified are saved.

* Instead of saving a world with the .db and .fwl files it’s now stored in folders and the world (.db) is split up in multiple files (chunks).

* Backups are stored in separate folders.

* When loading a world that is not chunked, a backup is made first so no data is lost in case of potential new bugs.

* The save system performs extra checks after saving to make sure it saved properly, which reduces the risk of a corrupt save.

* There is a new limitation in cloud storage, up until now it was only the total size of all saves. Some platforms have a limit in how many files can be saved, this was previously not a limitation but now there will be way more files saved.