How to Export Worlds and Compendium Modules from The Forge

[Kevin]

The Forge supports the exporting of user worlds, custom/user uploaded compendium modules, and asset files. We have an article on exporting asset files here.

Most of the time, Forge users will want to export worlds and compendium modules from The Forge when making a backup. For details on how to move almost everything on The Forge to another installation, we have instructions here.

How to Export Worlds

To export your worlds out of The Forge, you will need to take the following steps:

1. Login to The Forge, if you are not already logged in.
2. Navigate to your account’s My Foundry page.

From here, the steps differ depending on if Game Manager is enabled or not.

Without Game Manager Enabled

1. Select the grey “Export Worlds” button under Game Tools, as shown below:

2. You will be shown a menu with every world, as well as a blue “Export All” button. Select the worlds you want to download. It should automatically export that world as a .zip file for you to download. If you wish to download every world, select “Export All”.

3. Extract these worlds into your personal (non-Forge) Foundry VTT instance, and make an additional backup somewhere safe! This last step is very important, if you wish to retrieve your images properly as well!
4. Restart this non-Forge Foundry VTT instance if it is currently online, and confirm that the worlds are displaying properly in the setup menu.

With Game Manager Enabled

1. Select the world you wish to backup.
2. Select the grey “Export World” button under Game Tools, as shown below:

It will automatically export that world as a .zip file for you to download.
3. If you wish to download every world, navigate to the Game Manager button, and select it.

You should see the following change to the Game Tools menu:

4. Select the grey “Export All Worlds” button. It should automatically export every world as a .zip file for you to download.
5. Extract these worlds into your personal (non-Forge) Foundry VTT instance, and make an additional backup somewhere safe! This last step is very important, if you wish to retrieve your images properly as well!
6. Restart this non-Forge Foundry VTT instance if it is currently online, and confirm that the worlds are displaying properly in the setup menu.

How to Export Compendium Modules

The Forge supports exporting custom/user created compendium modules. Modules in the default package listing of Foundry VTT (free modules available from the package browser) must be re-downloaded outside The Forge. If you want to download Bazaar purchases, we explain how to do so
here.

How to export compendium modules:

1. Login to The Forge, if you are not already logged in.
2. Navigate to your account’s My Foundry page.
3. Select the grey “Export Compendium Modules” button to the left.
4. Select the module in question to be exported. You will then begin downloading the compendium module.

After Exporting

When worlds and compendium modules are downloaded, they are downloaded as a .zip file- a file format meant for packing a lot of files conveniently together, in an easier-to-download manner. Programs such as 7zip can extract these .zip files into a usable format.

Once downloaded, you can store/backup the worlds and modules in a safe place of your choosing, and edit the world if required (please make a backup before editing).

How to Re-Upload a World or Compendium Module

Warning: if you re-upload a world or compendium module, any changes made on The Forge since exporting that world will be overwritten. We only recommend doing this when restoring from a backup.

Once you’re done editing a world/module, or simply want to restore from backup, simply use our Import Wizard, choosing the zip file or folder containing your worlds or modules.

Troubleshooting

Can’t see the exported module/world in Foundry VTT

If you’ve moved the compendium module/world into Foundry VTT and cannot find it, this may indicate an issue with the folder- either because a folder name was edited, or the worlds/modules were placed in the wrong area. The default file location of a world in your data folder will be /worlds/world-name-here, while a module will be in /modules/module-name-here.

Another common issue is if a world.json or module.json are edited incorrectly, it will not display within Foundry VTT. We recommend using a JSON validator, as well as checking with customer support where possible, in these situations.

Finally, if a world or module has just been pasted into a Foundry VTT data folder while the program is open, Foundry VTT will need to be restarted before it displays properly.

[xaos]

Is there a way to export a single scene with all the elements? For example I created this scene with all the walls, lighting, specific sounds, etc. I’ve got tiles and tokens set up along rhe map as well. I want to share this work with a friend so he may use it in his campaign. Can it be done?

[kakaroto]

You can create a shared compendium, copy the scene to it, then export the module it created.

EDIT: Actually, @XaOs, ignore what I just said. The simplest method is to right click on the scene from the scenes panel, then click ‘export scene’, it will download a json file that you can use to import in another game.

[xaos]

Wow! So easy! Thanks a lot!!

[miromonti794399]

How do I export a world as JSON? I’d like to import it into the standalone Foundry app and I can’t feed the Zip file via its installer.

[kakaroto]

The manifests to install worlds can only be used for hosted releases of worlds/modules/systems, they can’t be used to import your own world into Foundry. Right click on the foundry icon in your task bar and open your local foundry data folder :

You can then unzip the exported zip file into the Data/worlds directory and restart Foundry.

[phant0mtim]

This article mentions that a feature to keep local and hosted game data synced is coming in the future. Any update on when we can expect to see that? I’d gladly upgrade my subscription for this feature!

Thanks!

[geant14]

I’m trying to export out of the forge and importing in the foundry. But I’m a darn Mac Os user. I cannot Right click on the foundry icon in your task bar and open my local foundry data folder. any help would be amazing…

[miromonti794399]

You’ll find Foundry’s local data folder via ~/Library/Application Support/FoundryVTT/Data

In there, place the unzipped modules and worlds in their respective folders.

Hope that helps!

[kakaroto]

Note by the way, that in the local Foundry’s “Configuration” tab of the setup page, the path is also shown (in that 3rd field) here :

This info might be worth adding to the tutorial if the right click isn’t a universal solution