How to set up a Valheim server

A Valheim dedicated server keeps your world running even when the person who usually hosts is offline. Your Valheim server is created with the game already installed, so this guide covers the settings worth changing, adding admins, bringing over an existing world, mods and getting your friends in. Everything is done in our game panel.

How much RAM does a Valheim server need?

Valheim is fairly light for a small group, but memory use grows as your world gets bigger and more built up, and mods add to it. As a guide:

• 4 GB: a small group of friends on a fresh world. This is where most servers start.
• 6 to 8 GB: a well-explored world with large bases, or a handful of mods.
• 12 to 16 GB: busy community servers and heavier modded setups.

Valheim allows up to 10 players on a server at once without mods. You can upgrade your plan at any time from your client area.

1. Set your server name, world and password

Valheim reads its main settings when it starts, so you change them in the Startup tab of our game panel rather than in a config file. Stop the server first, then start it again to apply your changes.

• Server name: how your server appears in the server list.
• World name: the save to load. If no world with that name exists, a new one is created.
• Password: Valheim expects a password of at least five characters, and it cannot contain your server name.
• Public: whether the server shows in the community server list. Turn it off to keep it out of the list and share your address directly instead.
• Crossplay: lets Xbox and Microsoft Store players join alongside Steam players. It changes how players connect, so only turn it on if you need it.

2. Make yourself an admin

Admins can kick and ban players and use admin commands. Valheim keeps its admin, ban and allowed player lists as plain text files in its save folder, next to the worlds_local folder.

1. 1Find your SteamID64, the 17-digit number that identifies your Steam account. Free sites such as steamid.io will look it up from your profile link.
2. 2Stop the server.
3. 3Open adminlist.txt in the file manager. It sits alongside bannedlist.txt and permittedlist.txt.
4. 4Add your SteamID64 on its own line, save, and start the server.

permittedlist.txt works as a whitelist: once it has at least one ID in it, only the players listed can join. To use admin commands in game, press F5 to open the console. Valheim only enables it when the game is launched with the -console launch option, which you can add in the game's properties in Steam.

3. Upload an existing world

1. 1On your PC, find your world files. Worlds you played locally are in your user folder under AppData, then LocalLow, IronGate, Valheim and worlds_local.
2. 2You need two files with your world's name: one ending in .db and one ending in .fwl.
3. 3Stop the server and take a backup from the panel.
4. 4Upload both files into the worlds_local folder on the server with the file manager or SFTP.
5. 5Set the world name in the Startup tab to match the file names exactly, without the extension, then start the server.

4. Adding mods

Most Valheim mods run on BepInEx, a mod loader for Unity games, and many are shared on Thunderstore. Server-side mods go in the BepInEx plugins folder on the server. Many mods also need to be installed on every player's game, at the same version as the server, or players will have trouble joining. Each mod's page says where it needs to go.

Add mods one at a time and restart after each one. If something breaks, you will know which mod caused it.

Inviting friends

1. 1Find your server's IP and port at the top of the panel.
2. 2In Valheim, choose Start Game, pick your character and open the Join Game tab.
3. 3Choose Add server, enter the address in the form IP:port, and connect.
4. 4Enter your server password when asked.

If Public is on, friends can also search for your server name in the Community list. New servers can take a few minutes to appear.

Backups and updates

Valheim saves the world every so often and when the server shuts down cleanly, so always stop it from the panel rather than killing it. Daily backups are included, and you can take your own from the panel any time. Take one before game updates, big mod changes or swapping worlds.

Troubleshooting

• Incompatible version: the server and the player are on different game versions. Update the game, restart the server so it can update too, and check any mods match.
• Server not in the list: give it a few minutes, check Public is on, or connect by IP instead.
• Wrong password: Valheim passwords are case-sensitive.
• World did not load: check the world name matches your .db and .fwl files exactly.

Still stuck? Ask us on live chat or Discord and we will take a look.