Palworld 1.0 Mods: What Broke, What to Delete, and How to Run Mods on a Dedicated Server

Palworld 1.0 shipped on 10 July 2026, and every mod written before it was written against a different game. Pocketpair’s own mod guidance is unusually blunt about what that means: mods have to be removed, not switched off. Their wording is worth reading twice, because it is the whole reason this guide exists. “Simply turning mods ‘off’ or ‘disabling’ them is not enough. Mod files and mod loaders that remain in the game folder may still be loaded when the game starts, even if they have been disabled, and can cause issues.” The issues they name are crashes, corrupted save data, and quest and event progression that silently stops working.

Nearly every article answering this right now is written for the game client: unsubscribe from your Workshop items, delete two folders, verify your files, done. None of that translates cleanly to a dedicated server. A server has no “Verify Integrity” button, its folder layout is not identical to a client’s, and one of the folders the client instructions tell you to empty contains the server executable itself. This guide is the dedicated-server version: what actually broke, exactly which paths to clear on a Linux server, what you must not touch, and how modding works on a Palworld 1.0 server once you are clean again.

Warning: Back up your world before you delete anything. A world that contains items or Pals added by a mod can fail to load once that mod is gone, and there is no undo for a save you did not keep.

What Actually Broke in 1.0

Three separate things changed at once, and most “my mods stopped working” reports are one of them.

Every pre-1.0 mod was built against the old game. 1.0 is not a patch, it is a rework: a new main storyline, reworked progression, revamped Partner Skills, two new regions, a raised level cap. Mods that patch game logic or replace assets that have moved or changed will either fail to load or take the server down with them. Assume nothing you had installed before 10 July is compatible until its author says it is.

1.0 introduced an official mod system, so the old install layouts are now legacy. In 1.0 the game reads mods from a Mods folder at the root of the install, with a per-mod descriptor file and its own settings file. The hand-dropped layouts that early-access mods used (loose .pak files in a ~mods folder, script loaders unpacked next to the game binary) still exist on disk if you used them, and they are exactly the leftovers Pocketpair is warning about.

Disabling does not unload. This is the part people get wrong. Both the new loader’s own on and off switches and the old practice of renaming a .pak leave the files sitting in a folder the engine scans at startup. A loader that is present gets loaded. Pocketpair’s guidance is explicit that a disabled mod is not an unloaded mod, and that the failure mode includes save corruption, which is the one failure you cannot walk back.

Note: Pocketpair also states that issues occurring with mods or modified game data are not covered by their support. A clean, unmodded server is the only baseline anyone will help you debug from, including us.

Back Up Your World First

This is the section that saves someone’s world, so do it before you read the rest.

Everything that makes your server yours lives under Pal/Saved: the world saves and the server’s PalWorldSettings.ini. The mod files you are about to delete live elsewhere, which is good news, because it means a correct removal never touches your save. A mistake, though, can, and a world that was built with content-adding mods may refuse to load once those mods are gone regardless of how carefully you delete them.

On a LoafHosts server:

1. Stop the server from the Console tab. A backup taken while the server is running can catch a save mid-write.
2. Open Backups in the sidebar and take an on-demand snapshot. Label it so you know what it is, for example “pre-1.0 mod removal”.
3. Use Lock on that backup so retention cannot age it out from under you.
4. If you want a copy off the host as well, download Pal/Saved from the File Manager. It is small, and it is the only thing that is irreplaceable.

On a self-hosted box, copy the entire Pal/Saved directory somewhere off the machine before you continue.

Tip: Take the backup with the server stopped, then start it again only after the removal is finished and you have read the console output.

Warning: If your world used mods that added custom items or custom Pals, that world may fail to load after those mods are removed. This is a known consequence of removing content mods, not a bug in the removal. Your backup is the only path back.

Where Mod Files Actually Live on a Dedicated Server

Paths below are relative to the root of your server install, the folder that contains PalServer.sh. In the LoafHosts File Manager, that is the directory you land in.

The 1.0 mod system, at the install root:

• Mods/Workshop/ holds each downloaded mod as its own folder with a descriptor file inside it.
• Mods/ManagedMods/ holds the loader’s record of what it deployed.
• Mods/NativeMods/ holds the script loader and anything installed underneath it.
• Mods/PalModSettings.ini is the loader’s own settings file, with a global on and off switch and one line per active mod. Deleting it is safe: the game regenerates it on the next launch.

Mod content that lands inside the game’s data folder, under Pal/Content/Paks/:

• ~mods/ is where hand-installed .pak mods went before 1.0.
• LogicMods/ is where blueprint-style .pak mods go.
• ~WorkshopMods/ is where the 1.0 loader deploys .pak-type mods it installs for you.
• The rest of Pal/Content/Paks is the game itself. Those files are not mods.

The binaries folder, under Pal/Binaries/:

• On a Linux dedicated server this is Pal/Binaries/Linux, and it contains PalServer-Linux-Shipping, the actual server executable. This is the folder the client-side guides tell you to empty. Do not empty it on a server.
• A clean Linux server has no Pal/Binaries/Win64. If one exists on yours, someone copied a Windows-style mod layout onto the server, and everything inside it is a leftover.

Warning: The most common way to break a server while cleaning it is to follow client instructions literally and clear the binaries folder. On the client that is harmless, because the game restores its own files afterwards. On a server, you have just deleted the thing that boots.

Removing Pre-1.0 Mods, Step by Step

Server stopped, backup taken and locked. Now work through the list.

1. Stop the server and confirm the console shows it fully stopped. Files held open by a running process delete inconsistently, which leaves you with half a mod on disk, which is precisely the state Pocketpair warns about.
2. Write down what you had installed before you delete it. You will want the list when you go looking for 1.0-compatible replacements, and you will not remember it in a week.
3. Delete the entire Mods folder at the install root. That takes Workshop, ManagedMods, NativeMods and PalModSettings.ini with it in one go. The game recreates what it needs on the next boot.
4. Delete these folders under Pal/Content/Paks, if they exist: ~mods, LogicMods, ~WorkshopMods. Delete the folders themselves, not just the files inside them.
5. Remove any loose mod file you added to Pal/Content/Paks yourself. Mod .pak files that were dropped in loose, without a folder, sit alongside the game’s own data files. If you know which ones you added, remove those and nothing else. If you do not know, stop and read the next section rather than guessing.
6. Clean the binaries folder carefully. In Pal/Binaries/Linux, remove any loader files or Mods-style subfolders that a pre-1.0 install left behind. Leave PalServer-Linux-Shipping and the folder itself alone. If a Pal/Binaries/Win64 folder exists on a Linux server, delete that whole folder.
7. Start the server and watch the console. A clean 1.0 boot has no mod loader lines and no missing-asset warnings. If you see either, something is still on disk.
8. Have one player join and confirm the world loads and you can move, open the Palbox, and save. That is the point at which the removal is actually finished.

Note: Deleting through the LoafHosts File Manager moves files to the Recycle Bin rather than destroying them, and they are restorable from there for a few days. That is your undo if you cut too deep in step 5 or 6.

Tip: Do the removal in one sitting with the server stopped. A half-cleaned server that gets started “just to check” is how a modded save gets written back over a clean one.

What You Must Not Delete

Short list, worth being exact about.

• Anything under Pal/Saved. That is your world and your server settings. No mod removal requires touching it.
• PalServer-Linux-Shipping and the Pal/Binaries/Linux folder. That is the server.
• The game’s own data files in Pal/Content/Paks. Only the mod folders named above, and files you personally added, come out of there.
• PalWorldSettings.ini. It lives under Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer and it is not a mod file.

If you removed something from Pal/Content/Paks or Pal/Binaries and you are no longer sure it was a mod, do not try to fix it by reinstalling on top. Restore it from the Recycle Bin in the File Manager, then work out what it was. A routine update pulls the current build; it is not the same thing as a full file validation, and it will not necessarily put back a file you removed by hand.

On a self-hosted box, the equivalent repair is a validating update through SteamCMD against the dedicated server app, 2394010, which re-checks every file and restores anything missing:

steamcmd +login anonymous +app_update 2394010 validate +quit

Warning: A validating update restores game files. It does not restore your world. That is what the backup in step 2 is for.

How Modding Works on a Palworld 1.0 Dedicated Server

Once you are clean, the useful question is what you can actually run. Three facts decide it, and they explain almost every “it works in single player but not on my server” report.

A mod has to be built to run server-side, and most are not. In 1.0, each mod carries a descriptor file that declares how it installs and, critically, whether it is server-capable at all. If a mod does not declare itself server-capable, it does not belong on the server: it either does nothing there or it breaks the boot. Cosmetic, interface and client-visual mods are the obvious examples. They change what one player sees, they never needed to be on a server, and copying them onto one is a way to create a problem you did not have.

Server-side mods change the world; client mods change the view. Anything that alters items, Pals, balance, drops or world content has to run on the server, because the server owns the world. And in almost every case, every connecting player needs the same mod installed as well, or their client and your world disagree about what exists. A mod list is something you distribute to your group, not something you install once and forget.

Single player is not a dedicated server. A single-player session runs the game client, which loads mods through a script loader that injects itself into the game process on Windows. A dedicated server is a different binary. Pocketpair’s own documentation states plainly that server-side mods work only on the Windows edition of the dedicated server. Linux dedicated servers, which is what most hosts run and what LoafHosts runs, cannot load script-based mods at all. Asset-type .pak content is the part that works on Linux. A script mod that runs perfectly in your single-player world will simply never load on a Linux server, and no amount of putting the files in the right folder changes that.

Note: If a mod’s page says it needs a script loader, it is a Windows-server mod. That is a limitation of the game’s dedicated server, not of your host, and it is the honest answer rather than a folder you have not found yet.

Warning: Modded clients connecting to your server are governed by a server setting, and a modded server that expects client-side mods only works if your players actually install them. Publish your list.

Adding Mods Back After 1.0

Pocketpair’s guidance on the way back in is as specific as their guidance on the way out, and it is good advice regardless of who wrote it.

1. Boot the server clean, unmodded, and confirm the world loads and plays. If it does not, no mod goes back on until it does.
2. Add mods one at a time, and only mods whose author has confirmed 1.0 support. A mod that has not been updated since 10 July has not been tested against the game you are now running.
3. Take a backup between each one. Two mods installed together is one boot and no information about which one broke it.
4. Boot and play after each addition before adding the next.
5. Keep the list somewhere you will find it again, because the next content patch will make this a repeat performance.

Tip: Server settings that touch mods are worth knowing before you need them. Whether modded clients may connect is a server setting, and so is whether Pals may be imported into your world from a player’s account-wide storage, which defaults to off on a dedicated server. Both live in PalWorldSettings.ini, which you can edit from the Config Editor in your server’s sidebar rather than by hand.

Should You Just Start a Fresh 1.0 World

Worth asking honestly, because for a lot of servers the answer is yes.

Early-access saves do carry over. There is no forced wipe, and your world, bases and Pals survive the update. But 1.0 reworks the main storyline, progression and world generation and adds two new regions, so an old world misses a large part of what people are actually turning up for, and a legacy world that was previously modded is the highest-risk save you can be running. Pocketpair’s own head of publishing put it about as clearly as a developer can: you do not need to wipe, but you probably should.

If your community is going to start a fresh world anyway, do the mod removal on a clean install and skip the risk entirely. Take the backup of the old world first, keep it locked, and let people visit it later if they want to.

Note: Tamed Pals can be moved between your own worlds through the account-wide storage 1.0 added, so a fresh start does not have to mean losing everything you bred. Note that importing Pals into a dedicated-server world is a server setting that is off by default, so an admin has to turn it on deliberately.

What LoafHosts Gives You for This

None of the above needs a host. All of it is easier with one, and the parts that matter here are the parts that undo a mistake.

• Backups, on demand and scheduled, with a Lock so retention cannot age out the snapshot you actually care about, and a one-click Restore that puts the world back exactly as it was.
• A File Manager with a Recycle Bin, so a deletion is reversible for a few days rather than final the instant you click it. That is the difference between a mistake in step 5 and a lost weekend.
• The Console, where you read the boot after the removal and find out whether the server is genuinely clean.
• The Palworld Config Editor (BETA), a grouped, validated form over PalWorldSettings.ini, so the settings that govern modded clients and world behaviour are a control rather than a comma you have to place correctly inside one very long line.

To be straight with you about the one thing we do not have: LoafHosts ships mod managers for some games, both currently BETA features, and Palworld is not one of them today. The reason is the same one in this guide. Most of what is published for Palworld right now needs a Windows dedicated server, and the developer’s own advice is to wait for authors to confirm 1.0 support before reinstalling anything. When there is a Palworld mod manager worth shipping, it will be here, and it will not be an excuse to skip the backup.

Tip: Take the backup before the removal, not after you notice the problem. Every part of this guide is recoverable except that one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I really have to delete my mods before running Palworld 1.0?

Yes. Pocketpair’s guidance is that leftover mod files and mod loaders are still loaded at startup even when disabled, and can cause crashes, corrupted save data, and quest and event progression that stops working. Removal means removal from disk, on the server as well as on every player’s client.

Is disabling my mods enough?

No, and this is the whole point of the developer’s advisory. A disabled mod is still a file in a folder the game scans when it starts. The new mod system’s on and off switches, and the old trick of renaming a file, both leave the files where the engine can still find them.

What do I delete on a Linux Palworld server?

The Mods folder at the install root, and the ~mods, LogicMods and ~WorkshopMods folders under Pal/Content/Paks, plus any mod file you added there yourself. Leave Pal/Saved, the game’s own data files, and the server binary in Pal/Binaries/Linux completely alone.

Will my world survive removing the mods?

Usually. A world that only used balance or cosmetic mods is fine. A world that contains custom items or custom Pals from a content mod can fail to load once that mod is gone, which is why the backup comes first. If the world will not load clean, restore the backup and decide whether to start a fresh 1.0 world.

My mods work in single player. Why do they not work on my server?

Single player runs the game client, which loads mods through a script loader injected into the game process on Windows. A dedicated server is a different program. Pocketpair’s documentation states that server-side mods work only on the Windows edition of the dedicated server, so script-based mods do not load on a Linux server at all.

Do my players need the mods too?

For anything that changes the world, yes. The server owns the world, and a client that does not have the same content will disagree with it. Publish your mod list to your group and update it whenever you change it, or expect join failures and missing content reports.

I deleted the wrong file. How do I get it back?

If you deleted it through the LoafHosts File Manager, open the Recycle Bin and restore it; items are recoverable there for a few days. If a game file is genuinely gone, a validating update against the dedicated server app restores game files, but it will not restore your world. That is what the backup is for.

When should I install mods again?

After the server boots clean and unmodded, and only for mods whose author has confirmed 1.0 support. Add them one at a time, take a backup between each, and boot and play after every addition. Two mods installed at once tells you nothing about which one broke the server.