Wipes: when you need one and what actually disappears

What a wipe is – and what it is not

A wipe resets the game world. Depending on the kind, characters, bases, vehicles, supplies and money disappear, and the server starts as though nobody had ever set foot on it.

What matters is what a wipe is not: it is not cleanup and not maintenance. Abandoned bases vanish on their own through decay, unused vehicles through their inactivity deadline, and players who stop coming are deleted after half a year. If all you want is to get a full file system or a built-up map under control, you almost certainly do not need a wipe – you need stricter decay values.

A wipe is a decision about the community, not about the technology. Everything people built over weeks is gone afterwards. That can be right. Without an announcement it never is.

The three switches

ServerSettings.ini holds three boolean values for this, and all three ship as off.

FullWipe is the harshest. Set it true at server start and everything is gone: characters, skills, fame, bases, vehicles, chests, money and gold. The server begins as on day one.

PartialWipe resets part of the world. It is the tool for a server that is built shut or economically derailed but whose community should not start from zero.

GoldWipe takes only the gold. That sounds small and is the most effective of the three when the real problem is the economy: when some players have accumulated so much gold after months that prices no longer matter to them, a gold wipe restores the balance without taking anyone's base.

That order is also the order to try them in: gold first, then partial, and only when neither is enough, full.

The mistake that turns every restart into a wipe

The three values look like settings but are one-shot commands in switch form. The server reads them at startup, performs the wipe – and afterwards the switch is still set to true.

Fail to reset it and you wipe again on every subsequent restart. On a server with a nightly restart that means: every morning everything is gone, and nobody understands why. It is one of the few mistakes in this configuration that empties a server within days.

So the procedure always includes the step reset the switch, right after the first start. Not “later” but in the same session.

The quiet variant: inactive players

Besides the three switches there is a mechanism running constantly in the background that most operators never notice. At startup the server deletes players who have not been around for longer than a configured period – 180 days by default, and enabled by default.

What gets deleted is not just a database row but the character with everything attached to it. Someone returning after a year starts over and does not find their base.

That is right, because the database grows with every character, every base and every vehicle. A server running for years without ever clearing up becomes noticeably slow.

Shortening the period is nonetheless rarely a good idea. SCUM players come back in waves, usually after major updates. Cut it to a few weeks and you delete exactly the people who meant to return after the next update – and they do not come back a second time.

When a wipe is genuinely needed

After a major SCUM update that renders old save data unusable. That is not the operator's call but the developers'; in such cases it is stated in the update notes.

When the economy has derailed. Recognisable by trader prices no longer mattering to part of the player base. A gold wipe usually suffices here.

When the map is built shut and newcomers cannot find anywhere to settle. Here too the alternative is worth a look: higher decay and stricter flag limits act more slowly but without a break.

When a season is planned to end. That is the most pleasant case, because everyone knows in advance. Servers running in seasons wipe on an announced date – and gain players rather than losing them, because a fresh start for everyone at once is an event.

The procedure, step by step

1. Announce it. At least a week ahead, with date and time. On a server without an announcement channel it belongs in the welcome message.

2. Back up. The whole Saved folder, not just the configuration. A backup is worthwhile even when you are certain – especially then.

3. Stop the server. Completely, not just a restart.

4. Set the switch. The appropriate one of the three to true, leave the other two false.

5. Start and check. Log in briefly and confirm that what should have happened actually did.

6. Stop the server, reset the switch, start again. This step is the most important one, and it is the one people forget.

7. Bring settings up to date. A wipe is the best moment for changes that would be unfair mid-season – different loot amounts, different raid protection, a different squad size. If you are starting over anyway, start properly.

What not to forget

The settings file survives the wipe. What gets wiped is the world, not the configuration. Anyone expecting a wipe to reset the settings too will spend a long time hunting a fault that is not one.

Admin and whitelist files remain too. That is convenient – but after a season change, check whether the lists are still correct.

Leave the file's version number alone. It tells SCUM what format the file was written in. It has no business in a wipe.

After a wipe the server is empty, not broken. The first hours look bleak because nobody has anything. That passes – but it is a good reason to schedule a wipe for a Friday evening rather than a Tuesday morning.