How to Set Up a Vintage Story Dedicated Server: The Complete Guide

What you are setting up: Open to LAN, a dedicated server or a rented one

Anego Studios' own multiplayer and self-hosting page lists the ways to play Vintage Story together. The quickest is Open to LAN: start a single-player world, open it to your network and others connect to your address. The world is only online while you are playing. A dedicated server is a separate program, VintagestoryServer.exe, that runs the world on its own with no game window open, so friends can play whenever they like. A rented server is that same dedicated server, run for you in a datacentre with a control panel on top.

The dedicated server costs nothing extra. On Windows it is installed next to the game itself; for Linux, Anego offers a server-only download. Anego's page also describes an "Open to Internet" option that tries to open a route through your router automatically (UPnP) and gives it about a 50% chance of working; when it fails, you forward the port on your router by hand.

Every player needs their own game account

Vintage Story is sold on vintagestory.at, not on Steam, and the game runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. By default a server checks that every player who joins is a registered, logged-in buyer of the game (VerifyPlayerAuth in serverconfig.json), so each friend needs their own account. There is no console version: Anego's FAQ says it hopes to bring the game to consoles some day.

The server and every player need the same version

A player's game and the server must run the same version, or the player cannot join. When we checked on 13 October 2026, the current stable release was Vintage Story 1.22.7, released on 16 August 2026. Anego builds a major update roughly every 5 to 9 months, and mods made for an older version may not work with a new one, so updates are something you plan rather than click past (how to check the version and update safely).

Host it yourself or rent a server: an honest comparison

Running your own Vintage Story server is free if you have a spare machine, and it teaches you how the server works. The official dedicated server guide on Anego's wiki covers Windows step by step:

1. Log in at account.vintagestory.at and install the game with the recommended download. VintagestoryServer.exe sits next to Vintagestory.exe, by default in %AppData%\Vintagestory.
2. Give the server its own data folder: make a shortcut to VintagestoryServer.exe and add --dataPath="C:\path\to\VSserverData" to its target, so server saves and settings stay apart from your single-player ones.
3. Allow VintagestoryServer.exe through the Windows firewall with an inbound rule for that program.
4. Forward port 42420 on your router for TCP and, since version 1.20, for UDP as well. Anego's troubleshooting page advises separate rules for each protocol.
5. Start the server. A console line like Dedicated Server now running on Port 42420 and all ips! means it is ready. Friends add your public IP address in the Multiplayer menu.
6. Make yourself admin and whitelist your friends from the server console (the commands).

On Linux the same guide runs the server as a background service: install the .NET runtime the game version needs (.NET 10 for 1.22, .NET 8 for 1.21), create a separate user (Anego strongly recommends never running the server as root), download the vs_server_linux-x64 archive from your account's downloads page, set USERNAME, VSPATH and DATAPATH in server.sh, open port 42420 for TCP and UDP, and start it with server.sh start. Anego's self-hosting page adds that a Linux server which crashes from running out of memory may need sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144.

Hardware is the other half. Anego's "rough, conservative estimate" for a normal survival world where players spread out is 1 GB of RAM plus 300 MB per player, 4 CPU threads, and a CPU frequency of 1 GHz plus 100 to 150 MHz per player (the wiki guide and the self-hosting page give slightly different per-player figures). Running the game on the same machine means both share it.

Our view after hosting game servers since 2008: if your group always plays together with the host, Open to LAN is fine. Run a dedicated server when the world should keep going while the host is away, when friends play at different times, or when you want mods, roles and a whitelist that do not depend on one player's PC. Every GTX Vintage Story server includes up to 5 GB of RAM; see our Vintage Story server hosting plans for current prices and locations.

Setting up your Vintage Story server in the GTX game panel

On a GTX server the dedicated server is installed for you the moment you order, with the slots, RAM and location you picked. Everything else happens in the game panel at gamepanel.gtxgaming.co.uk, with the login from your welcome email:

1. Find your address. The Connection & Controls box on your server's page shows CONNECTION INFO (IP and port, ready to copy) and SFTP INFO. Server Details lists the rest (server details).
2. Pick your playstyle first. Standard is installed by default; the Mod Manager switches to Exploration, Wilderness Survival, Homo sapiens or Creative Building in one click. Do it before the world is generated, or start a fresh world to change it.
3. Edit the settings. Press STOP, open Configuration Files and edit serverconfig.json in the Config Editor or Text Editor, save, then START (the settings that matter). Larger files, such as a world or a mod pack, go in with the File Manager or SFTP.
4. Make yourself admin. Open the Web Console and type /op yourname, then whitelist each friend with /player friendname whitelist on.
5. Join. In Vintage Story open Multiplayer, add a new server and paste the address from CONNECTION INFO.
6. Plan the upkeep. Add a Scheduled Restart in Scheduled Tasks (automatic backups run alongside restarts), check the backups in the Backup Manager, press Update Server when Anego releases a new version, and give a co-admin a sub-user rather than your password.

serverconfig.json: the settings that matter

Every server setting lives in one file, serverconfig.json, in the server's data folder; the world's own rules sit in its WorldConfig section. Anego's wiki keeps the full list of keys with their defaults for version 1.22. Changes to the file take effect when the server starts again, and many settings can also be changed while it runs with /serverconfig in the console. The ones most server owners touch:

• ServerName and ServerDescription: what players see in the public server list. The name must be 4 to 80 characters if you advertise the server.
• WelcomeMessage: shown to each player on joining; {0} becomes their name. Never set it to null (the wiki warns that clients crash); use "" to switch it off.
• Password: null means no password. Or run /serverconfig password yourpassword (no spaces) and /serverconfig nopassword to remove it.
• WhitelistMode: 0 is the default (on for dedicated servers), 1 off, 2 on (details).
• MaxClients: the player limit, 16 by default. On a GTX server your slot count comes with your plan: change it in the Client Area and restart (slots guide).
• DefaultRoleCode: the role new players get, suplayer (survival player) by default.
• AdvertiseServer: off by default since 1.20; switch it on to appear under "Browse public servers".
• AllowPvP, AllowFireSpread and AllowFallingBlocks: player combat, fire spread and block gravity, all on by default.
• PassTimeWhenEmpty: false by default, so the in-game calendar stops while nobody is online. Set it to true if crops and seasons should move on without players.
• MaxChunkRadius: the highest view distance a player may load, 12 by default. Higher values need more RAM.
• ModPaths: where the server looks for mods. Keep the first entry, "Mods": it loads the base game.

Leave ConfigVersion alone: the game uses it to migrate the file between versions. The file is JSON, so every text value needs quotation marks and every line but the last in a block ends with a comma; one missing comma is enough to stop the server reading it.

Playstyles and world settings

A playstyle is a preset for a whole world. Anego's wiki describes the five presets as follows:

• Standard: the default survival experience, balancing exploration, building and survival.
• Exploration: more exploring and building, less survival, and no temporal stability or temporal storms.
• Wilderness Survival: harder combat and survival; players respawn at a random spot within 5,000 blocks when they die.
• Homo sapiens: no lore content and no trace of past civilisations, with a stronger focus on realistic survival.
• Creative Building: flat, empty terrain with unlimited blocks, flying and world editing tools.

The playstyle and the world generation settings apply when a world is created. The official World Configuration page recommends the easy route for a custom world: create it in single player with the Customize button, then copy the save file to the server (how). Setting the world up in serverconfig.json works too, but only before the world exists.

Changing an existing world with /worldconfig

Most rules can still be changed later with /worldconfig name value (and /worldconfig name shows the current value). Commands are case-sensitive, and the server should be restarted after a change. Some useful ones from the official list:

• /worldconfig temporalStorms sometimes: how often temporal storms come, from off and veryrare to veryoften.
• /worldconfig deathPunishment keep: players keep their inventory on death (drop is the default).
• /worldconfig playerlives 3: lives before a player can no longer respawn; -1 is unlimited.
• /worldconfig daysPerMonth 12: longer months make the seasons pass more slowly.
• /worldconfig creatureHostility passive: aggressive, passive or off.
• /worldconfig foodSpoilSpeed 0.5 and /worldconfig toolDurability 2: food lasts twice as long, tools last twice as long.
• /worldconfig allowMap false: switch off the world map for a harder server.

A few settings only work while a world is being created, among them the starting climate, the grace timer before hostile creatures spawn, the climate distribution and the world size. To change those, create a new world.

Whitelist, admins and player roles

Since version 1.20 a Vintage Story dedicated server whitelists players by default: only people you add can join. So on a brand new server, the whitelist is the first thing to check when a friend cannot get in. The usual order:

1. Make yourself admin. In the server console (the Web Console on GTX) type /op yourname, using your game account name. It is short for /player yourname role admin.
2. Add your friends. /player friendname whitelist on for each player, spelled exactly as their account name. No restart is needed.
3. Or open it up. /serverconfig WhitelistMode off lets anyone with the address (and the password, if you set one) join. Anego's guide calls the whitelist significantly more secure than a password.

The nine roles

Every player has a role, set with /player name role rolecode. The defaults in serverconfig.json:

• suvisitor and crvisitor: can visit and chat but not use, place or break anything (the creative visitor can also fly).
• limitedsuplayer and limitedcrplayer: can build only in areas they are permitted to.
• suplayer: the normal survival player and the default role; can build in unprotected areas and claim up to 8 chunks of land.
• crplayer: a creative player who can build everywhere and fly.
• sumod and crmod: moderators who can build everywhere and kick and ban players.
• admin: all privileges, including making other players admin.

For a public server, set DefaultRoleCode to suvisitor so newcomers can look around but not touch anything until you promote them with /player name role suplayer. Give helpers a moderator role rather than admin.

Moderation commands

• /kick name reason, /ban name reason and /unban name.
• /list clients shows who is online; /list banned shows the ban list.
• /announce message sends a message to every player, for example before a restart.
• /land manages land claims, the game's own protection against griefing.

Anego's wiki notes its command list is not re-checked on every update and points to the in-game command handbook, opened with .chb, as the most current reference.

How to add mods to a Vintage Story server

Vintage Story was built with modding in mind, and the official Mod DB listed 10,507 mods when we checked on 13 October 2026. Each mod on it is marked as client side, server side or both. There are two ways to put one on your server.

The quick way: /moddb install in the console

1. Start the server and open its console (the Web Console in the GTX panel).
2. Find the mod's ID. On the mod's page on the Mod DB, open the Files tab: the file name holds it, so toolsmith_1.0.12.zip means the ID is toolsmith. If the website does not show the right ID, search from the console with /moddb search keyword.
3. Install it with /moddb install toolsmith. The server downloads it straight from the Mod DB; nothing to upload or unzip. To install one particular release, add its version number after the ID.
4. Restart the server if the mod needs it, join and test it before you add the next one.

Two more commands keep the list tidy: /moddb list shows what is installed and /moddb remove modid uninstalls a mod (restart afterwards). The official command list also has /moddb searchcompatible modid, which only shows releases that fit your server's game version. Our support article has the same steps with a short video (install mods on your Vintage Story server).

The manual way: upload the zip

Download the mod's zip from the Mod DB and put it, still zipped, into the server's Mods folder: on GTX with the File Manager or SFTP. Anego's wiki says this is best done while the server is offline; the mod loads when the server starts. On your own server, the folders the server reads are listed under ModPaths in serverconfig.json.

What your players need to do

Usually nothing. When a player joins a modded server, the game offers to download the server's mods into a folder for that server (ModsByServer). That covers mods marked server side or both; purely client-side mods, such as some interface mods, each player installs for themselves if they want them.

Rules that save worlds

• Back up first. Anego's wiki advises a backup before adding a mod, before removing one and before updating the game.
• Add a few at a time and test them, so you know which one broke something if the server will not start.
• Read the mod's page. Some mods need extra configuration, and a warning after installing usually means the release does not fit your game version.
• Expect mod updates after big game updates. Version 1.22 moved the game to .NET 10 and changed engine code mods rely on; mods made for an older version may not work until their authors update them.

Updating your server and choosing the game version

When we checked on 13 October 2026, the current stable version of Vintage Story was 1.22.7, released on 16 August 2026 (Anego called it "Auction house upgrades"). It followed two server safety patches in July 2026, 1.22.4/1.22.5 and 1.22.6, which Anego recommended server owners install to prevent griefing. The next major update, 1.23, focuses on combat; Anego's June 2026 development update gave no release date.

How to check the current version

• Anego's news: every release is posted on the official Vintage Story news page, and each post says whether the release is stable.
• The official wiki: the Version history page names the latest stable and unstable release.
• Anego's download service: api.vintagestory.at/lateststable.txt answers with just the latest stable version number.
• Your server: the first lines of the server log name the version it runs, in a line like Game Version: v1.22.7 (Stable). On GTX, open the Log Viewer (view your server logs).

Updating safely

1. Tell your players. Everyone has to update their game at the same time as the server, or they cannot join.
2. Back up the world and download the backup (how).
3. Check your mods. On a major update, look on each mod's Mod DB page for a release that supports the new version.
4. Update. On GTX, press Update Server in the panel. On your own machine, install the new version (on Linux, the new server archive). Anego's multiplayer setup guide advises removing the old installation files first, but never the data folder that holds your saves and settings.
5. Start and read the log. Anego's 1.22 notes say the block remapping a world needs after a version update is now applied automatically the first time it runs on the new version.

Staying on an older version

You do not have to update the moment a release comes out. If a mod your world depends on is not ready yet, the server can stay on its current version as long as your players run the same one: Anego's troubleshooting guide notes that players can download an earlier version of the game from the downloads in their account at vintagestory.at. Do not wait too long on a public server, though: patches such as 1.22.4 to 1.22.6 closed exploits that griefers use.

World saves, uploading a world and backups

A whole Vintage Story world is one file with the extension .vcdbs in the server's Saves folder. The server uses default.vcdbs unless SaveFileLocation in serverconfig.json points somewhere else. Anego's troubleshooting guide says a save can grow to a few GB, depending on how much of the map has been explored.

Moving a single-player world to your server

1. Find the world in your own game's Saves folder (%AppData%\VintagestoryData\Saves on Windows).
2. Stop the server. On GTX, press STOP and wait until it has fully stopped.
3. Upload the .vcdbs file to the server's Saves folder: on GTX with the File Manager or, for big worlds, SFTP (connect with SFTP).
4. Rename it to default.vcdbs, or set "SaveFileLocation" to its name, for example "./data/Saves/MyWorld.vcdbs" as in Anego's guide.
5. Start the server and join. If you used mods in single player, install the same mods on the server first.

Saving and backing up

The server saves the world automatically every few minutes; Anego's troubleshooting guide notes each autosave can cause a second or two of lag and strongly recommends keeping it. Before you stop a server by hand, /autosavenow saves straight away. The official command list also includes /genbackup, which writes a full copy of the save to the server's backups folder without pausing the game.

On GTX, automatic backups are stored offsite and run alongside your server's restarts, so keep at least one Scheduled Restart a day (set up restarts). We normally keep backups for up to 6 months. The Backup Manager, which has its own password shown on its button or under Server Details, lets you download a dated backup to your PC (download your backups) and restore one.

Server performance, RAM and player slots

Anego's estimate of 1 GB of RAM plus 300 MB for every player online works out like this for a normal survival world:

• 10 players: about 4 GB.
• 20 players: about 7 GB.
• 40 players: about 13 GB.
• 100 players: about 31 GB.

Anego calls these conservative, but mods and a well-explored world add to them. Every GTX Vintage Story server includes up to 5 GB of RAM, which covers about 10 players in a normal survival world. Our sizing advice beyond that: 8 GB for 20 players or a modded world, 12 GB for around 30 players or a big mod list, 16 GB for 40 players and well-explored worlds, 24 GB for public servers with 60 or more players, and 32 GB for a full 100-slot server or the biggest modded worlds. Plans run from 10 to 100 slots; pick one slot for each player online at the same time.

The memory and CPU cards and the live graphs on your panel's main page show what the server really uses (server statistics), and /stats in the console shows tick rate and memory use. If memory keeps climbing towards your limit, add RAM in the Client Area (change your RAM).

What else keeps a server fast

• View distance. MaxChunkRadius caps how far players can load the world; a lower value saves RAM on a busy server.
• CPU. Anego recommends 4 threads, with more clock speed as the player count grows. On GTX, CPU priority and hardware packages can be changed in the Client Area.
• Restarts. A scheduled restart every 6 to 24 hours clears memory a long-running server builds up.
• Mods. A long mod list costs memory and CPU; trim mods you no longer use.
• Distance. Anego's troubleshooting guide notes latency problems when players connect from another continent, so host close to most of your players.
• The latest version. Anego keeps optimising the server: 1.22 brought less memory pressure and lower CPU cost on large multiplayer servers.

Troubleshooting a Vintage Story server

Start with the server log: the Log Viewer on GTX shows why a server stopped or refused a player. Common problems and what to check:

• A friend cannot join a new server. Check the whitelist first: add them with /player name whitelist on.
• A player cannot join after an update. The player's game and the server must run the same version: check both and update the older side (how).
• Wrong password. Players save the password in the server's entry in their Multiplayer list: the pencil icon next to the server name opens it.
• "Host has failed to respond" or "actively refused" on a home server. Anego's troubleshooting page points to port forwarding (make separate TCP and UDP rules), the firewall, or a home IP address that has changed. On GTX, copy the address again from CONNECTION INFO and check the server is running.
• The server crashes after adding a mod or updating. Remove the last mod you added (/moddb remove modid, or delete its zip from Mods while the server is stopped) and start again. Anego's guide notes that a crash report whose top line mentions patch usually points to a mod. If the world itself is damaged, restore the last backup from before the change.
• Your settings changed back. Most likely the server was running while you edited serverconfig.json: stop it, edit, save, start.
• The server will not start after editing the config. Look for a missing comma or quotation mark, or a WelcomeMessage set to null.
• The first mod download hangs. Anego's tip: if the first kilobyte takes more than 30 seconds, cancel and try again.
• Lag. Short spikes at each autosave are normal. For more, see performance; on GTX, open a ticket while the lag is happening so we can look at the machine live.

Running a public or community server

A Vintage Story dedicated server is private by default (whitelisted and not advertised), but opening yours to a community is a few settings away:

1. List it. Set AdvertiseServer to true with a ServerName of 4 to 80 characters and a ServerDescription; the server then appears under "Browse public servers" in the game. Anego said in June 2026 that it is also building a web version of the public server list.
2. Open the door carefully. Switch the whitelist off, set DefaultRoleCode to suvisitor and promote players you trust (roles). MaxClientsInQueue lets players wait in a queue when the server is full.
3. Protect it. Land claims keep players' builds safe, moderators handle the rest, and /serverconfig antiabuse switches on the game's anti-abuse checks. Since 1.22.6 the anti-abuse system can also ban players who break blocks in suspicious bursts, unless anti-abuse is off. Install Anego's safety patches promptly.
4. Give it a name people remember. An A record such as play.yourdomain.com pointing at your server's IP (without the port) lets players type the name instead of the IP; if your port is not the default 42420, they add it after the name. Anego's wiki also shows an SRV record (_vintagestory._tcp) that lets players leave the port off.

Donations and Anego's rules on making money

Anego Studios' FAQ sets out what server owners may charge for. Donations are fine, and so are subscriptions for access to a server. Paid perks are fine only if they are purely cosmetic: anything that gives a player an in-game advantage is not allowed unless it benefits all players equally. Ads outside the game are fine, in game only within reason. Anego says it may delist servers that ignore the guidelines. If your community wants to chip in for the server, GTX's Clan Pay gives you a donation link (set up Clan Pay).