How To Setup A Valheim Dedicated Server
Setting up a Valheim dedicated server is a relatively quick and simple process. The installation of the Valheim server takes just 10 minutes and only a few configurations are required. This guide will help you to complete the task.
Why should you run a Valheim dedicated servers? Valheim dedicated server requirements
Choosing where to host your dedicated serverShared hosting servers
Dedicated servers
Why would you want to run a Valheim dedicated servers?
Setting up a Valheim server for your friends is a great way of creating a persistent gaming world. It allows you to maintain control of the game world and allow who you want to allow into it and when. When a dedicated server is online, it can be accessed by anyone, but only those with the password may be granted access to the game server.
Check out our complete list Valheim admin commands, if your server is already up and running.
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Valheim dedicated server requirements & minimum specs
Operating System: Windows 7, 8,8.1, Windows Server 2016/2019
Processor: Quad-core processor or greater (using 2 cores).
Memory: Minimum 2 GB
Hard Drive: Minimum 2GB of free disk space
Internet Connection: Minimum 100Mbps+, recommended 1Gbps
How to choose where to host your dedicated servers
Not all servers are created equal. You should be aware of the different types of server options available and make an educated decision.
There are many options for server hosting when it comes time to set up your server. It's not necessary to go into technical details, but there are two common server types.
1. Shared hosting servers
2. Dedicated servers
Hosting servers for shared use
A shared hosting server is generally provided by a game service provider (GSP) who professionally hosts dedicated servers across data centers across the world. GSPs offer shared hosting which is often the easiest way for people to get into the web hosting market. They also provide support surrounding the server's configurations, which makes this stand out from the standard dedicated solution.
Server admins can access shared hosting servers via a fully graphic user interface such as TCAdmin. This is arguably one of the best methods to enter into the world of game server hosting.
A few things to watch out for on shared hosting servers:
- Support SLAs can be very slow for shared hosting servers. It can take up to 24 hours to respond.
- Shared Hosts are a business model that allows multiple accounts to be hosted on one machine. This is to cover costs for investment and operation. This can lead to degraded experiences due to "noisy neighbors" consuming system resources. Be sure to choose a host who is trustworthy.
Dedicated servers
A dedicated server in the simplest form is a computer that has been dedicated to a specific purpose, in this context, hosting a Valheim game server. Its primary purpose is to host your game. If it does so, it would be optimized to do so.
There are managed dedicated servers in which you can purchase the rights to using the hardware and an allotted amount of resources, such as bandwidth. You can also request support or other services. Then there are self-hosted dedicated servers, where you may re-purpose a secondary computer or utilize your primary computer to be the "host."
Managed dedicated servers are typically built and run on professionally procured server hardware, hosted inside of a data center. Data centers are often connected to the internet backbone, and protected from both physical and network-bound threats.
Remotely managed dedicated servers provide a high level of technical assistance, flexibility, scalable capabilities, performance, reliability, and security. Managed dedicated servers are also designed to run at the most optimal capabilities while remaining accessible and online 24/7.
- Managed dedicated servers often carry a premium price for the services offered
- To take advantage of managed dedicated servers, you will need to be able to communicate well with technical experts.
There are limits to the support you can receive for the software that is installed on your dedicated machine.
- Dedicated servers are often prime targets of malicious actors and can suffer from DDoS outages
Self-hosted dedicated servers are typically run on laptops or desktop computers. These types of servers are ideal for when you want to quickly stand up a game server for offline casual play. This server type is also advantageous because it typically has no additional hard costs. There are many negatives to consider when you decide to host a dedicated server yourself.
They are subject to the internet provider's bandwidth and capabilities.
- They are limited to the physical resources inside the machine and unable to scale if needed.
- Consumer operating systems can be subject to multiple software updates, virus scans and hard drive backups.
- They are vulnerable to the surrounding environment, with such events as power outages and surges, internet outages, physical security (think kids, animals, circuit breakers, etc), and network security.
- If running the client simultaneously, it will share the available resources and is prone to additional issues that are raised because of the increased surface area home computers are subject to.
Now you can see the main server options available for your Valheim server. Let's get on with the installation!
Setting up & installing a Valheim game server
Because routers and firewalls are so diverse, this guide will not be able to cover all aspects of port forwarding on your local router. For the correct port forwarding of the required game ports, please refer the documentation for your hardware. These steps will allow you to create and manage a dedicated Valheim Server on a Windows-based system.
1. SteamCMD: Download and install
2. Login to Steam
3. Set up an install directory
4. Install the server
5. Modify the headless batchscript
6. You can customize server properties
7. Run the Valheim dedicated servers
8. Join the Valheim dedicated servers
Let's get on with it!
Step 1. Step 1.
SteamCMD is a Steam command-line utility used by many Steam games to update and install their server components. SteamCMD can be skipped if you already have it installed on your system. Otherwise, follow Steam’s instructions for installing it for your operating systems.
Step 2. Step 2.
Once SteamCMD has been installed on your system (Windows), you can open the utility by double-clicking its executable (Windows). SteamCMD will check for updates and download them if you've already installed it. Once the prompt is up and ready, log in to Steam using the following command:
Step 3. Step 3.
Many servers are running in multiple dedicated server environments, so you will want to ensure that your Valheim server directory clearly labels. I will be naming my server Valheim, and I will install it to my C partition. Set the install directory in SteamCMD to your server's intended directory:
Step 4. Install the server
Now that you have set your install directory, all you need to do is to install Valheim server with the following SteamCMD command.
The server is about 1GB at the time this article was written. The download should take around 30 seconds depending on your download speeds. SteamCMD will inform you that downloading is complete. If this happens, you can exit the command prompt and enter 'quit.
Step 5. Step 5.
The development team has provided a great script to start the server in headless-mode. You can find this script in the root directory of the server labeled 'start_headless_server.bat.'
This default script will be made even more useful by including the SteamCMD commands that we used in this guide. It will automatically check Steam for new server files every time we run our batch file.
To edit the batch file first, right-click > edit. This will open the file in your default text editors. Rename the file by saving it as start.bat. We want to change the name of the file so that it doesn't get overwritten by updates.
Next, add the following lines to the start.bat file:
When you are done, your end product should look this way:
Please note that you will need to edit the drive and directory name of your SteamCMD installation to match your setup. Edit the drive directory name and the Valheim server directory name to match your setup.
To keep things simpler and more neat, I have removed all comments from the file.
These additions will log you in to Steam and check for Valheim server updates every time you run start.bat. It combines two actions into one file.
Step 6. Step 6.
The batch file contains a few server parameters that you can customize in order to help players find your server. Crucial is the 'name' parameter, which will be the name that appears in the server listing. Here's a quick overview of the important parameters.
The 'port' setting is the designated port for Valheim to use. You will get the best results if you use the default port settings. However, be sure to create firewall exceptions in the bat files for the requested port range. If you prefer to use a different port value, set it for this parameter and make sure to create firewall exceptions.
Set a password to your server so that only the people you give out the password can join. If the password isn't set, anyone can access your server. It is recommended (required), that you set a password. It should be at least five characters long. The password must not be the same as your server name or else you may experience problems when trying to find your server on the server list.
A save directory allows you to keep your world map in an easily accessible location. You can also keep them separate if there are multiple Valheim installations.
Step 7. Step 7.
Start your Valheim server by double-clicking the start.bat file and allowing the batch script to run through the update check. Once the SteamCMD portion has run, the batch file will automatically start the Valheim executable, and the server will begin booting up. Once you see "Game server connected" in the console output, you know that your server has finished loading and can accept player connections.
Step 8. Step 8.
Check that your server appears in the Server Select tab by loading into Valheim. After logging in, click the Join Game tab. The server listing will take a while to load all discovered servers, so you can speed up your discovery by using the filter to search for your server's name. For faster discovery, ask your friends to use search filters to find your server name.
If you need more assistance on joining or need to help walk someone through the process, be sure to check out our post that walks through a few different methods of joining a Valheim dedicated server.
Wow Wiki
Due to the nature of the game being in early access, there are still many bugs in how dedicated servers connect and display on the server list. If your server is not showing up in the listing, use the filter option. If you are still having trouble seeing your server after refreshing the listing using the filter option, we recommend joining the Valheim Discord and checking their #valheim_server_help channel. Many players have had similar problems and provided solutions. It's worth checking out the #valheim-server-help channel to see if they have any suggestions.
I can't find my server in the server listing, what do I do?
This seems to have been the main problem we've encountered when users try to set up dedicated Valheim Servers. Because the in-game server listing is only showing a small fraction of the total servers, it is difficult to say if your server is or isn't correctly configured based on that fact alone. To verify that your ports are opened and properly sending and receiving traffic, test the steam query with this tool: https://southnode.net/steamquery.php.
Enter your server's IP and hit submit. If you see the Valheim server, you are good. If your ports are not accessible, then you have problems. There are many pins on the #valheim-server–help channel that can help you troubleshoot and solve firewall and port forwarding issues.
If you do see your server show up, but still cannot find it in the Valheim server listing, you'll need to server connect via Steam. Steam will allow you to view servers and click "add a new server". Enter the IP address and port number (use the query ports) and click "find more games at this location." Your server should appear. In some cases, you may need to refresh your server listing once, twice, or multiple times before you are able to see your server display. In my example above, we called the test server "_uber". The map name will display the server name. Although the server will allow 10 players, the player count is still 0/64.
Once you're able to connect, the server password you created in your bat file will be required. Once you are in-game, and have chosen a character to connect to the server, you may be asked for the password again. You'll be eager to add an administrator on your Valheim server.