How to Set Up a Valheim Dedicated Server: The Complete Guide

Dedicated server, or hosting from the game menu?

Valheim gives you two ways to run a shared world. Hosting from the game menu means one player starts the world and friends join that player. It costs nothing, but the world only exists while the host is playing and the host's PC does all the work.

A dedicated server is a separate program from Iron Gate that runs the world without a game client, so nobody has to keep Valheim open and the world is there whenever someone logs in. Iron Gate publishes it for free and documents it in its dedicated server guide. A rented server is that same dedicated server, run for you in a datacentre with a control panel on top.

What Valheim 1.0 changed for servers

Valheim left Early Access on 9 September 2026 with version 1.0, adding the Deep North biome and launching on PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch 2 alongside PC. At the time of writing the latest patch is 1.0.17 (6 October 2026). These are the points that matter if you run or plan a server, taken from Iron Gate's 1.0 FAQ and Steam patch notes:

• Crossplay across every platform. PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 players can share one world. A dedicated server has to run on the crossplay backend for that (how).
• Up to 10 players. Iron Gate says Valheim 1.0 stays a game for 1 to 10 players.
• Old worlds keep working. Worlds from before the update stay playable and get the new content, but new biome generation only works properly in areas nobody has explored yet. Iron Gate still recommends a fresh world for the full experience.
• A new save system. 1.0 splits world data into chunks to cut how much is written at once and to survive a crash mid-write. A world is converted the first time it loads, and the game makes a backup at that moment. The patch notes warn that items on item and armour stands lost their levels in the conversion before patch 1.0.12, so keep the original files before you move a world.
• Mods are on their own. There is no official mod support, no Steam Workshop and no mods on console. Mods usually need an update after a big patch (mods).
• Patches reach platforms at different times. Iron Gate says some patches take a few days to reach every platform, while crossplay stays functional. Update your server after each Steam patch and tell players on other platforms to do the same.

Our Valheim server hosting page runs servers on the current version; the setup steps below are the same on any dedicated server.

Host it yourself or rent a server: an honest comparison

Running your own is free and a good way to learn. Iron Gate's guide covers the basics:

1. In your Steam library, tick Tools in the top-left filter and install Valheim Dedicated Server (app 896660), or run steamcmd +login anonymous +app_update 896660 validate +quit.
2. Copy start_headless_server.bat (Windows) or start_server.sh (Linux) and edit the copy: the original is reset every time Steam updates the server.
3. Set the server name, world name, password and visibility there with the launch arguments -name, -world, -password and -public.
4. Forward UDP ports 2456 and 2457 on your router (the server uses the port you give plus the next one) and allow it through the firewall. On the crossplay backend a relay server carries the traffic, so no port forwarding is needed.
5. Start it, wait for the Game server connected message, and stop it with Ctrl+C, not by closing the window, so the world is saved properly.
6. Repeat the Steam update after every Valheim patch, then restart.

Our view after hosting game servers since 2008: if you play with a few friends and have a spare PC, start at home. Rent one when the world must stay up while you are offline, when console friends join, or when the group and the mod list grow. A vanilla world for up to 10 players runs comfortably in the 10 GB of RAM that comes with every GTX Valheim plan. See our Valheim server hosting plans for current prices.

Setting up your server in the GTX game panel

Valheim servers on GTX run in our game panel and are online within minutes of ordering. This is the order we tell new customers to work in:

1. Log in to the game panel at gamepanel.gtxgaming.co.uk and open your Valheim server.
2. Stop the server with STOP before you change anything.
3. Open Configuration Files and edit Start.bat with the Config Editor: server name, server password, the world to load, and the world modifiers. Press Save.
4. Press START. Your IP and port are under Connection Info and the password under Connection Password in the Connection & Controls box.
5. Join it: in Valheim open Join Game, press Join IP, paste the IP and port, press Connect and type the password.

Joining and crossplay: PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Switch 2

There are three ways to find a Valheim server: the in-game server list, the IP and port, or a join code. The server list is the least reliable: our setup guide notes that it does not show every server, so a server missing from it is normal. Joining by IP and port with Join IP works on PC whether or not the list shows the server.

Crossplay is a switch on the server. Iron Gate's guide says the -crossplay launch argument runs the server on the crossplay backend (PlayFab), which lets players from any platform join. On that backend you can connect with the public IP and port, a join code or the server list, but not with a local or loopback address, and a relay server carries the data, so the server needs no port forwarding. Without the argument the server runs on the Steam backend and needs the port forwarded.

On GTX, crossplay is a server setting and the game panel has an XBOX Join Code button for the join code, so PlayStation, Xbox and Switch 2 friends can join the same world as your PC players. Our support team can switch crossplay on for you.

Worlds, seeds and world modifiers

A world is a pair of files with the same name: the .db file holds the world and the .fwl file holds its name and seed. The -world argument (the Load World field in our Start.bat editor) tells the server which one to load, and it creates the world if it does not exist. By default Valheim saves every 30 minutes (-saveinterval 1800) and Iron Gate's guide lists options to keep several automatic backups.

World modifiers

World modifiers set the rules of the world and are saved with it. They apply to everyone who joins, and players need no mods or extra settings. Choosing a preset overwrites any custom values, so pick Customize afterwards if you want your own mix.

On a dedicated server you set them in the start file with -preset, -modifier and -setkey, as Iron Gate's guide shows (-preset hard, -modifier raids none, -setkey nomap). In the GTX panel the same options are in the World modifiers dropdown of the Start.bat editor. An admin can also change modifiers while the server runs from the F5 console with commands such as setworldpreset and setworldmodifier; keep a backup before trying something drastic.

Seeds and moving a world

A seed only decides how a new world is generated, so an existing world cannot get a different seed. In our panel the World Manager generates a new world with the seed you type, and our guide lists ten seeds for Valheim 1.0. To bring a world you already have, move it from the Valheim cloud to local in Start Game, Manage Saves, then upload the .db and .fwl files (Windows keeps them in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds_local) with the Valheim World Uploader or over SFTP. Xbox worlds can be reached from a Windows PC through the Xbox app, because Iron Gate lets Xbox and Microsoft Store PC share cloud saves. Keep a copy of the original files: Valheim 1.0 converts an old world to its new save format on first load.

Admin, passwords and banning

Valheim keeps three plain text lists next to the world files: adminlist.txt for admins, bannedlist.txt for bans and permittedlist.txt for a whitelist. Each holds one player ID per line, case-sensitive and written as the platform and the ID, for example Steam_1234567890. Iron Gate warns that adding anyone to the permitted list bans everybody else from the server.

1. Join your server and press F2 to open the player list. Copy your player ID.
2. Stop the server, open adminlist.txt (in Configuration Files on GTX) and add the ID on its own line.
3. Add -console to Valheim's launch options in Steam, join, and press F5 to open the console. Type help to list the commands.
4. Use kick, ban and unban with a name, IP or user ID, banned to see the ban list, and save to save the world.

Passwords: Valheim needs a server password of at least five characters and refuses one that appears in the server name. In our editor use letters and numbers only, and the world name cannot be the password. The vanilla game cannot run without a password; a mod such as Valheim Plus can remove that requirement. Fancy server names work too: wrap the name in a colour tag with a hex code, for example <color=#FF0000>My Server</color>. To let a co-admin into the panel without sharing your login, create a sub-user. The full console command list is on our Valheim console commands page.

Mods: BepInEx, Thunderstore and Valheim Plus

Valheim's mods run on BepInEx, a plugin loader. Iron Gate offers no official mod support, so what works depends on each mod's author. The routes on a GTX server:

• Thunderstore installer: install BepInEx from the Mod Manager, list each mod as author/name/, one per line, in Valheim.mods (Configuration Files), then press ThunderStore.io Mods. Never add BepInExPack_Valheim or HookGenPatcher as mods: they are loaders and installing them as mods breaks the server.
• By hand: download a mod from Nexus Mods or elsewhere and upload the folder that contains the plugin .dll to BepInEx\plugins\ over SFTP. Config files appear in BepInEx\config\ after the first start.
• Valheim Plus: a popular quality-of-life mod that installs from the Mod Manager with one click. Its GitHub page lists a build for Valheim 1.0.15 (20 September 2026), so check that it supports your game version before you install it.

Install one mod at a time and test it before the next; thirty mods at once make a broken one almost impossible to find. Most mods must be installed on the server and on every player's PC in the same version. If players see an incompatibility error, download the server's BepInEx ModPack from the panel and extract it into their Valheim folder. A scheduled Update ThunderStore.io Mods task keeps mods installed with the installer up to date. After a Valheim patch, outdated mods are the usual reason a server stops loading plugins: remove them until their authors release a fix.

Backups, restarts and updates

Valheim saves the world as you play, by default every 30 minutes and when players sleep. On GTX the server also backs itself up daily and on every restart and keeps the last three days; a manual backup in the Backup Manager is a good idea before you install mods, change modifiers or change the server version.

• Restarts: in Scheduled Tasks create a Scheduled Start/Stop/Restart task, recur every 1 day, repeat every 6 hours for 24 hours. It saves the world, backs up and restarts. Valheim cannot receive in-game messages from the server, so unlike some games there is no ten-minute warning.
• Updates: a Steam Update task, repeating every 12 hours with Update only if a new version is available ticked, keeps the server on the current version and only restarts when there is a patch. Warnings can go to a Discord channel through a webhook in Service Settings, with no mod needed.
• Other versions: the Server version dropdown in Service Settings runs an older version or a public test beta, then press Steam Update. Worlds generated on a newer version will not load on an older one, so back up first.

Performance, RAM and player count

A vanilla world for up to 10 players runs comfortably in the 10 GB of RAM every GTX Valheim plan includes. Memory use grows with big bases, widely explored worlds, more players and mods. Iron Gate has also been fixing performance in 1.0: patch 1.0.15 fixed a bug that duplicated terrain and cost performance, so run the current version before you blame the hardware.

These are our own sizing notes for the plans we sell, not an official figure; Iron Gate's guide does not publish hardware requirements. If a world gets slow, the order we try is: update the server and mods, remove the newest mod, schedule a restart every six hours, then add RAM or CPU priority. Both can be changed later without losing the world.

Troubleshooting a Valheim server

• The server is not in the list: normal, the Valheim server list misses servers. Use Join IP with the IP and port from Connection Info, or the join code on a crossplay server.
• Cannot join after a patch: the game version must match the server. Run a Steam Update on the server and update the game. Console patches can arrive a few days after Steam.
• Incompatibility error on a modded server: your mods do not match the server's. Download the server's BepInEx ModPack and extract it into your Valheim folder.
• The server will not start after a password change: the password is too short, uses characters the editor does not allow, or appears in the server name or equals the world name.
• Your uploaded world is missing: upload both the .db and the .fwl file, and type the exact world name in the Load World or World Name field of Start.bat.
• Mods are not loading: check BepInEx is installed from the Mod Manager, each Valheim.mods line reads author/name/ and every dependency is installed, then read the Log Viewer: BepInEx logs each plugin it loads and any error.
• Restarts at the wrong time: tasks follow the server machine's clock, not yours.

Playing on your server: game guides

Once the world is running, these guides help your group play it: bosses and the weapons to beat them, and the console commands for admins. We keep only the guides readers use and check them against Iron Gate's patch notes, but the in-game numbers always win. They are in one list: browse the play guides.