Valheim server guides: playing with friends, setup, difficulty and mods
A Valheim dedicated server lets your friends keep building even when you're not online. Here are all our guides, in the order you're likely to need them: from choosing how to play to rescuing a broken world.
Start here
How to Play Valheim With Friends: Your Game, a Join Code or a Dedicated Server
The three ways to play as a group and which one suits you.
Valheim Dedicated Server: How to Set It Up and Join
What you need for a dedicated server and how you join it.
How Much RAM Does a Valheim Server Need (With and Without Mods)
How much RAM to get, with and without mods.
How to Move Your Valheim World to a Dedicated Server (Including Since 1.0)
Moving your world to the server (including 1.0 worlds, which are now a folder).
How to Join a Valheim Dedicated Server (IP, Join Code and Errors)
How you and your friends get in: IP, join code and the usual errors.
Hosting it yourself, for free
The dedicated server is free on Steam: what it costs you is keeping a PC switched on.
How to Make a Valheim Dedicated Server on Your PC (Free, with Steam)
Step by step to set up Valheim's free dedicated server on your PC: installing it on Steam, the startup file, ports or crossplay, and your world.
Valheim Server Ports: What to Open (2456 and 2457 UDP) and When You Don't Need To
Which ports a Valheim server uses, how to forward them on your router, why crossplay doesn't need them and what to do if it doesn't show in the list.
Free Valheim Server: The Real Options and Their Catches
How to get a free Valheim server: from your own game, with Steam's dedicated server or with a free server from a host. What each option can handle.
Valheim Server Always Online: Keep the World Open Without the Host
How to keep your Valheim server on all day so your friends can join without the host: your PC, an old computer, the cloud or a host.
Playing with more people
Valheim With Xbox, PlayStation 5, Switch 2 and Steam on the Same Server (Crossplay)
Valheim with friends on Xbox, PlayStation 5, Switch 2 and PC on a dedicated server: the 1.0 crossplay, the join code and the limit on mods.
Play Valheim with Friends Without Port Forwarding: Radmin VPN, Hamachi or the Join Code
How to play Valheim with friends without opening ports: the crossplay join code, Radmin VPN or Hamachi. When each fits, which IP to use and what if it fails.
Valheim Private Server: Password, Whitelist and Bans
How to make your Valheim server private: a password, keeping it off the public list, permittedlist.txt as a whitelist and bannedlist.txt for bans.
Your Valheim Character: Where It's Saved, How to Recover It and Take It to Another Server
Where Valheim saves your character (.fch), what carries over between servers, how to go back to a backup if it has vanished and how to move it to another PC.
Valheim Server for More Than 10 Players
Valheim allows 10 players per server. How to raise the limit with a BepInEx mod, what to check first, what happens with Xbox and how much RAM you need.
Valheim Boss Order: How to Summon and Beat Each Boss With Friends on a Server
The Valheim 1.0 bosses in order: where they are, what each altar asks for, what they unlock and what changes when you fight as a group on a dedicated server.
Sleeping on a Valheim Server: Why the Night Won't Skip and How to Fix It
Why the night won't skip on a Valheim server: what the bed needs, why everyone has to lie down, how to see who's missing and mods to sleep with fewer.
PvP on a Valheim Server: How to Turn It On, the Ward and the Rules
How PvP works on a Valheim server: each player's toggle, protecting your base with a ward, the map and the rules that keep the peace.
Difficulty and world rules
Combat, death penalty, resources, raids, portals and the map, without mods.
Valheim World Modifiers: Difficulty, Portals, Raids and Map on a Dedicated Server
How to set Valheim world modifiers on a dedicated server: -preset, -modifier and -setkey, what each value does and how to undo them.
Raids on a Valheim Server: Why Your Base Gets Attacked and How to Control It
How often Valheim raids happen, what decides which one you get, why on a server they hit the player who joined late, and how to reduce or turn them off.
Mods
How to Install Mods on a Valheim Server (BepInEx and Thunderstore)
Mods on a Valheim server step by step: BepInEx, Thunderstore, r2modman, which mods every player needs and how to fix version errors.
Valheim Mods for Playing with Friends on a Server (Updated for 1.0)
Valheim mods that make group play on a server better: shared chests, portals, a shared map and networking. Checked on Thunderstore for 1.0.
Running it
Running a Valheim Server: Admins, Kicks and Bans
How to make yourself admin on a Valheim dedicated server: adminlist.txt, your SteamID64, the F5 console, kick, ban and a list of allowed players.
Valheim Commands: The Console, Cheats and What Works on a Dedicated Server
How to open the Valheim console (F5), the admin commands, the devcommands cheats (god, fly, spawn...) and why they don't work on a dedicated server.
Valheim Backups: How to Restore a Lost or Broken World
Your Valheim world has vanished, loads empty or broke after an update: where the game keeps its automatic backups and how to roll back to one step by step.
Valheim Server Seed: How to See It, Choose It and Change It
How to find your Valheim world's seed, how to use a specific one on a dedicated server (it has no option for it) and what happens if you want to change it.
New World on Your Valheim Server: Start Over, Pick a Seed and Switch Worlds
Create a new world on your Valheim server without losing the old one or your characters: change the world name, pick the seed and keep several worlds.
When something goes wrong
Valheim Server Not Starting: Errors and Fixes
Why a Valheim server closes on startup or loads an empty world: password, world name, ports, BepInEx mods, old worlds and disk space.
Valheim Server Lag: Why It Happens and How to Fix It
Enemies teleporting and bases stuttering in Valheim: who “owns” each zone, the data rate limit, huge bases, and when it really is the server.
By version
Valheim 1.0
Since 1.0 (9 September 2026) each world is a folder inside worlds_local, no longer a loose .db and .fwl pair (that's for older worlds, which the game converts when it loads them). To upload one to a server, you zip the folder and unzip it there. On top of that there's crossplay with PlayStation 5 and Switch 2, achievements that cheats block, player IDs with V_ in front in the lists, and lots of mods that had to be updated.
Explained in: Valheim 1.0 on a Dedicated Server: What Changes and What to Check · How to Move Your Valheim World to a Dedicated Server (Including Since 1.0) · Valheim Backups: How to Restore a Lost or Broken World · Valheim Mods for Playing with Friends on a Server (Updated for 1.0)
Frequently asked questions
How many players can a Valheim server have?
Up to 10 at once: that's the game's own limit, not the server's, and it still applies in 1.0.
Can PC and console players play together?
Yes: since 1.0 there's crossplay between every platform (Steam, Microsoft Store, Xbox, PlayStation 5, Switch 2…), with crossplay turned on in the server (how it works). With mods that the player needs too, console players can't join.
Which ports do I need to open for a Valheim server?
Its port and the next one, over UDP (2456 and 2457 by default). With crossplay (-crossplay) you don't need to open any: the ports guide explains why.
How do I change the difficulty of a Valheim server?
With world modifiers, which on a dedicated server are set at startup (-preset, -modifier, -setkey). On NapNodes, in “Settings” → “World difficulty and modifiers”; to undo one, set it back to “Normal” and restart. What each one does is in the world modifiers guide.
Can I get a Valheim server for free?
Yes: on your own PC with Steam's dedicated server, or on NapNodes, which gives you a free server that starts when you want to play and stops by itself when nobody's on.
Create your free Valheim serverNo card needed. Or see the Valheim plans.