There are many things to fear in Valheim: angry trolls, rampaging demon deer, treacherous desquitos, etc.

But nothing is scarier than logging in and finding that your world and character have vanished, and all your progress has been lost. According to the developer, Iron Gate, this bug is a real and dangerous possibility.

But even if it is unlikely, back up your world and character files to make sure you don't lose all of your progress.

First, locate your game files: C:UsersUsernameAppDataLocalLowIronGateValheim

The AppData file may be hidden, so in Windows 10, use the search bar to find %appdata%

The AppDataRoaming folder will open, so step back and select the AppData folder, then LocalLow, IronGate, and Valheim. There you will find folders for characters, worlds, and screenshots. Copy and paste them to a safe place on your PC, such as a folder on your desktop.

Now you have a backup if you need to restore a world or character.

If you have already lost a world or character, you may be able to restore it since the old version of the file is stored in the same folder. Look for .db.old and .fwl.old files. If you want to restore these versions, you will need to remove the .old from the end of the file name and replace it with these folders.

If you are using a dedicated server, the server administrator can also backup world. I rent a server and when I access it via FTP, I can look in the 'save' directory where the 'worlds' folder is located, find the worlds files, download them and create a backup.