Where tModLoader Saves Worlds, and How to Share a Modpack

tModLoader keeps its worlds, characters and mods in a completely separate folder from vanilla Terraria, which is why so many people go looking for them. This guide gives you the exact paths, explains which files have to travel together, and covers the part most guides skip: sharing a mod pack gets everyone on the same mods, but it does not move the world.

Where Are tModLoader Worlds Saved?

On Windows, tModLoader worlds live here:

Documents\My Games\Terraria\tModLoader\Worlds\

The whole modded save tree sits under one root:

%UserProfile%\Documents\My Games\Terraria\tModLoader\

Paste that into the Win+R Run box and press Enter to land in it. Worlds holds your worlds, Players holds your characters.

Vanilla Terraria uses a different folder - Documents\My Games\Terraria\Worlds - and tModLoader never writes to it. That separation is deliberate: your vanilla saves stay untouched and stay playable when you switch back. It is also why a world you built in vanilla does not show up in tModLoader’s world list until you copy it across.

What Files Make Up a tModLoader World?

Each world is two files that must stay together:

Copy the .wld on its own and the world will still load, but every modded item, boss flag and structure in it is gone. Always move the .wld and .twld as a pair. That single mistake accounts for most of the “my modded world opened empty” posts.

Where Are tModLoader Mods Stored?

Under the same tModLoader folder in Documents, not in the Steam install directory. Mods you subscribe to on the Workshop are managed by Steam; your enabled list and any saved mod packs live with the saves. If you are backing things up, backing up Documents\My Games\Terraria\tModLoader covers all of it.

Does tModLoader Save Your Character With the World?

No. Worlds and characters are separate, and each player keeps their own character on their own PC. That is normal Terraria behaviour, not a tModLoader quirk - and it means sharing a world never risks overwriting anyone’s character.

How Do You Share a tModLoader Modpack With Friends?

tModLoader has this built in:

1. Enable exactly the mods you want in the Mods menu.
2. Go to Workshop → Mod Packs and save the current list as a pack.
3. Choose Open Mod Pack Folder to find the file on disk.
4. Send that file to your friends. They drop it into their own Mod Pack folder, restart, and enable the pack.

Everyone now has the same mods in the same load order, which is the requirement for joining each other at all. tModLoader distinguishes between a pack that is a frozen copy of specific mod versions and one that is a list that always pulls the latest - the frozen kind is what you want for a long co-op run, because a mid-playthrough mod update is a common way to break a world.

Does Sharing a Modpack Share the World Too?

No. A mod pack is a list of mods and nothing else. There is no world data in it.

This is the gap people hit after doing everything right: the whole group is on an identical modded setup, and still nobody but the original host can load the actual world, because the .wld and .twld only exist on one machine. When that person is busy, the run stops.

How to Share the Modded World Itself

The manual version:

1. Close tModLoader on both machines. The game writes on exit, so copying while it runs loses the transfer.
2. Open Documents\My Games\Terraria\tModLoader\Worlds\ and take both the .wld and the .twld.
3. Send them over.
4. Your friend drops the pair into their own Worlds folder.
5. They launch tModLoader and start it with Host & Play.

It works, and it is fine once. The problem is doing it after every session in both directions - and the moment two people play separate copies you have two divergent worlds and no way to merge them.

How SaveSync Does It Automatically

SaveSync copies the world file pair to every PC in your group, puts them in the right folder on each machine, and tracks which copy is newest so nobody hosts from a stale save.

1. Install SaveSync from Steam on every PC that might host.
2. Close tModLoader completely. SaveSync only works while the game is not running.
3. Open SaveSync and pick tModLoader from the game list on the left.
4. Click + New Save, choose your world, then Create Save.
5. Wait for the green checkmark - that means the world has finished uploading.
6. Click the share icon, search your friend’s Steam username, and hit Share.
7. Your friend clicks Activate, launches tModLoader, and the world is in their list.

Characters stay local to each player, exactly as Terraria works normally. Keep using Mod Packs for the mods; SaveSync handles the world.

Why Not Just Run a Dedicated Server?

tModLoader does support one, and for a large always-on community it is the right answer. For a group of friends it usually is not:

• Server-side mod management is its own job. Every mod has to be installed and updated on the server too, and a mismatch locks everyone out until someone fixes it. With SaveSync each player runs mods locally through the mod browser they already use.
• Modded Terraria is heavy. World generation, Calamity boss fights and large events need real hardware. A host machine scales with whoever is playing; a cheap server plan does not.
• It costs money every month for something four people use two evenings a week.
• Discord file passing loses the .twld or the version tracking, and that is how worlds get corrupted.

Keep the Modded Run Moving

A Calamity or Thorium playthrough is weeks of work, and none of it should stall because one person has plans. Share the pack so the mods match, share the world so anyone can host, and the run continues on whoever’s schedule is free.

New to the tool? Start with Getting Started with SaveSync. For the vanilla folders see the Terraria save sharing guide, how to share a modpack with friends covers the same job across Minecraft launchers, and how to play co-op when the host is offline is the general version of this problem.