Valheim Dedicated Server: How to Set It Up and Join

What you need to know

A game allows 10 players at once: it's a limit of the game, not the server, and still is in 1.0. Each player needs their own copy of the game, on whatever platform: since 1.0 there's crossplay between PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5 and Switch 2. The server uses UDP ports 2456 and 2457 and, for 10 players, 4 GB of RAM works well; with heavily explored worlds, 6 GB.

The server program is free on Steam. If you have a PC that can stay on, you can run it yourself at home; if not, you rent one.

With NapNodes

1. Choose the plan

   Meadows (4 GB) is enough for the game's 10 players; Mountain (6 GB), for mods and heavily explored worlds. If you just want to try it, there's a free server that you start when you're going to play.

2. Wait for the install

   It installs and starts by itself; the first time it takes about 5 minutes. We email you when it's ready.

3. Find the password

   It's generated automatically and you'll see it in “Settings” → “Password to join”, with “Copy”. You can change it there whenever you like.

4. Join

   In the game: “Join game” → “Add server”, with the address and port from the “Address to play” card. Console players join with the game's join code. The world is created the first time someone joins. All of it, in how to join a Valheim server.

Mods (Thunderstore and BepInEx)

Valheim mods are loaded with BepInEx and almost all of them are on Thunderstore. In the panel, your server's “Mods” searches Thunderstore and installs the mod and its dependencies in one click (plus BepInEx, the first time). There are whole modpacks too. Restart the server for them to load.

Almost every Valheim mod is also needed by each player. When you install, we give you a code: in r2modman, when choosing a profile, “Import / Update” → “Import new profile” → “From code”, and every player has exactly the same mods as the server. Which ones are worth it for group play, in Valheim mods for playing with friends.

Your world, kept safe

The game itself saves the world every 30 minutes and keeps a few automatic backups of its own. On top of that, every night we make a daily backup of the whole server, and you can make your own whenever you like: all in the panel's “Backups”, where you download or restore them. We explain it in Valheim backups: restoring a lost world.

Frequently asked questions