World saves and mod removal on a server

Placed buildings belong to a world save; inventory items and many quest records belong to a character save. Protect both before removing a gameplay mod. A world-safe cleanup must leave unrelated vanilla structures alone even if a removed station once stood on them.

Before disabling a building or station mod

1. Stop the server completely.
2. Copy the server's RSDragonwilds/Saved/SaveGames folder to a separate backup location. Preserve its file names and backup files together.
3. Keep a copy of the old mod folder and its PAK triplets for rollback.
4. Change only that mod's line to 0 in runeschema.txt.
5. Restart and read the startup log before letting players enter the world.

Do not assume the current downloadable release will remove a placed building when its mod is disabled. A world save is separate from a character save, and character-ID cleanup is not a promise of world-building cleanup. Dismantle modded structures in a backed-up world before removing their content when possible.

After startup

Check the server log for:

• whether the remaining mods and their PAKs mounted;
• whether the expected buildings still appear in the live building registry;
• whether any save-cleanup warning concerns a character or a world;
• whether the affected world still loads with unrelated structures intact.

Test a copy of the affected world with one client before returning to normal play. Verify placed vanilla pieces, unrelated mod pieces, and world re-entry. If the log reports an incomplete registry, fix registration or restore the old mod set before trusting any cleanup decision. If a placed mod building cannot be removed safely, keep the matching mod installed until you have a verified repair path for that save.

Character cleanup is a separate path. Read save cleanup and safe removal for its timing and limits. A server and client must not race to write the same save file; always stop the server before an external backup or restore.