Use FTP to Upload, Download, and Edit Server Files

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SFTP

If your server shows SFTP instead you'll want to follow our SFTP Usage Guide instead.

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Stop Your Server

Before messing with any files on your server, make sure your server is stopped to prevent corruption. FTP still works when the server is off.

Logging into FTP lets you access your server files. If you don’t already have FTP client software, you’ll need to download and install one. We recommend FileZilla client. Make sure you’re using FileZilla Client and not FileZilla Server.

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These directions will feature FileZilla, but you can use other programs, such as WinSCP, instead.

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Hidden Files

To see hidden files and folders, such as ".config" for Valheim or ".local" for Terraria, click on Server > Force Showing Hidden Files in FileZilla's menu.

Get Your FTP Settings

  1. Login to Command Center.
  2. From the server list, choose the server that you need FTP information for and click Manage.
  3. Click Show FTP Information below the Start/Stop, Restart, and Force Stop buttons. Alternatively, click the gear icon and go to FTP Information.
  4. If you don’t have an FTP password, click the link to create a new one.

Connect to Your FTP Server

  1. Open your FTP client program.
  2. For Host, type the host in the previous section. The host is almost never your game server IP.
    Type the user or username in the previous section. It is in the form of your email address with a trailing . and digits. For example: [email protected]
  3. Type the password. It is the one that you created separately.
  4. Leave port blank or use 21. Do not use your game server port, 255nn.
  5. Set the encryption type to explicit FTP over TLS.
  6. Click connect.

Uploading

These instructions assume you are using FileZilla. Uploading is when you copy files from your computer to a remote server, in this case your game server.

  1. Connect to your server using FileZilla.
  2. On the left panel (Local site), navigate to the folder on your computer that has your desired files.
  3. On the right side (Remote site), navigate to the desired folder on the server. If you don’t see a folder, right-click, and then click Refresh.
  4. Drag and drop the desired files from the left pane (Local site) into the folder on the right (Remote site).

Downloading

These instructions assume you are using FileZilla. Downloading is when you copy files from a remote server, in this case your game server, to your own computer. For our purposes here, downloading a file is the reverse process of uploading.

  1. Connect to your server using FileZilla.
  2. On the right side (Remote site), navigate to the desired folder on the server. If you don’t see a folder, right-click, and then click Refresh.
  3. On the left panel (Local site), navigate to the folder on your computer that you want to store your files.
  4. Drag and drop the desired files from the right pane (Remote site) into the folder on the left (Local site).

Editing Files

These instruction assume you are using FileZilla. In addition to editing files through Command Center’s files section, you can edit files directly through FileZilla. We recommend using the Command Center file editor though. It highlights configuration file syntax, converts tabs to spaces when necessary, and checks for mistakes. To configure FileZilla to edit files:

  1. Start FileZilla.
  2. Go to Edit > Settings > File editing in the menu.
  3. For Default editor, select Use custom editor.
  4. For Windows, use NotePad: C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\notepad.exe or whichever editor you prefer.
  5. Click OK.

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Don't use a Word processor

You don’t want to use a word processing program like Word, Wordpad, or similar for editing low level text files. Word processors insert formatting information into the file that works for readability but will break it when it’s loaded by a program that isn’t designed to handle it. For instance, a Minecraft mod wouldn’t have any reason to have it’s configuration files formatted with a word processor using bold, italics, or other stuff, so if it is, it can’t load it.

Editing your File

  1. Right click a file and click View/Edit.
  2. When you finish editing the file, save it.
  3. In FileZilla, a dialog will ask you to reupload the file. Choose Yes.

Common FTP Errors

"530 Login incorrect."

That error means that your username, host, or FTP password are incorrect. Check your spelling and make sure you did not add any spaces before or after each of those. Change your FTP password if necessary to make sure it's correct.

"GnuTLS error -15 in gnutls_record_recv: An unexpected TLS packet was received."

If you get that error the moment you try to connect to the server, please contact support.

"Unknown protocol identifier", "wrong port", etc.

When connecting to your server FTP, you may receive the following message:

FileZilla Server version 0.9.41 beta
Copyright 2001-2012 by Tim Kosse ([email protected])
Connecting to server...
Connected, waiting for authentication
Protocol error: Unknown protocol identifier (0x50 0x50 0x48).
Most likely connected to the wrong port.
Connection to server closed.
Trying to reconnect in 5 seconds

It indicates that you’re logging in using FileZilla Server instead of FileZilla Client. Download FileZilla Client and try again. You should be able to log in now.