server.saveinterval (Rust server ConVar)

server.saveinterval is how often the server writes the world to disk, in seconds. The server's help text, which Facepunch marks as generated: "How often (in seconds) the server automatically saves the game world to disk; default is every 600 seconds (10 minutes)".

What a save looks like on disk

The save lives in server/<identity>/ as a .sav file named after the map, for example proceduralmap.4000.1420068679.289.sav. On our test server, running with 600, the journal logged a save every 10 minutes, the first one about 10 minutes after the process started:

17:02:33  Saved 69,396 ents, cache(0.11), write(0.04), disk(0.02), navmesh(0.00).
17:12:33  Saved 69,544 ents, cache(0.05), write(0.03), disk(0.01), navmesh(0.00).
17:22:34  Saved 69,690 ents, cache(0.06), write(0.03), disk(0.01), navmesh(0.00).

Each save rotates the older saves down to .sav.1, .sav.2 and so on: after a later restart, the .sav.1 and .sav.2 files carried the times of the two saves before the newest one. How many are kept is a separate ConVar, server.savebackupcount, which was 2 on that server, and there was no .sav.3. These rotated files are only a few saves deep; they are not a backup plan on their own.

Choosing a value

The interval is the most progress players can lose if the process dies between saves. A shorter interval loses less, at the cost of saving more often. The 600 second default is what we run on our test server.

To save right now, for example before a restart or an update, run the command server.save ("Force save the current game") instead of lowering the interval.

Setting it

It can be set on a running server, with no restart:

server.saveinterval 600

We have not timed whether a new value reschedules the next save at once or after the current interval ends. server.writecfg does not save it; our test server's serverauto.cfg had no line for it, so keep it in server.cfg.

In Panelra

Save interval is under Settings. Panelra writes it to server.cfg and runs server.readcfg, so it applies without a restart. The panel accepts 60 to 3600 seconds. Before a graceful stop or restart, Panelra also sends a save, so the last few minutes of play are on disk. For copies that outlive the server folder, use Panelra's backups, which are separate from Rust's own .sav rotation.