How to set up a Palworld dedicated server

With your own Palworld dedicated server, the world stays online even when you are not playing. This guide covers the whole setup, from ordering to your first login.

What you need

• A Headpat Space account with a verified email address and your billing details filled in.
• Palworld on Steam. Everyone who joins needs the same game version as the server.

1. Order the server

1. Sign in to the panel, open Game Servers in the sidebar and click New server.
2. Under 1. Pick a game, choose Palworld.
3. Under 2. Pick a variant, choose the variant. If there is only one, the panel selects it for you.
4. Under 3. Pick a location, choose the location closest to your players.
5. Under 4. Configure resources, set CPU, RAM and disk. The recommended values are already selected.
6. Under 5. Name and finalize, give the server a name.
7. Check Game settings: Server Name, Max Players (32 at most), an optional Server Password and the Admin Password. The admin password is required, you need it for admin commands. Use only letters, numbers, - and _ in passwords.
8. Click Continue to checkout and pay. You land on the page of your new server, where the installation starts on its own.

2. Start the server

The server does not start by itself after the installation. Watch the Console until the installer is done, then click Start under Server actions.

The server is ready when the status shows Running.

3. Connect

The Address card on the server page shows the Host and the Port of your server.

1. Start Palworld and open Join Multiplayer Game.
2. In the field at the bottom of the screen, enter host and port together, like 203.0.113.10:20015.
3. Click Connect. If you set a server password, tick the password option next to the field first, so the game asks for it.

Always use the port from the Address card.

4. Make yourself admin

Palworld admin commands are typed into the in-game chat. Open the chat with Enter and log in with your admin password first:

/AdminPassword YourAdminPassword

After that you can use commands such as:

Command	What it does
/ShowPlayers	Lists the players that are online, with their IDs
/Save	Saves the world right now
/KickPlayer ID	Removes a player from the server
/Shutdown 60 Text	Shuts the server down after 60 seconds with a message

The field below the console in the panel accepts the same commands without the slash, for example Save. You do not need AdminPassword there.

5. Change the server settings

In the panel. Open Startup. Under Variables you find the same fields you saw when ordering. Change a value, click Save next to it and restart the server.

In the settings file. Everything else lives in PalWorldSettings.ini.

1. Click Stop on the server page. Palworld overwrites the file when it shuts down, so changes made while the server is running get lost.
2. Open Files and go to Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer.
3. Click PalWorldSettings.ini, change the values you want and click Save. Keep everything inside the brackets on one line.
4. Click Start.

Settings people change most often:

Setting	What it does
ExpRate	How fast players and Pals gain experience
PalCaptureRate	How easy it is to catch Pals
DeathPenalty	What you drop when you die

Server name, description, player limit and passwords come from Variables. Change them there: the panel sets them again on every start, whatever the file says.

6. Use an existing world

The world of your server is stored in Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0, in a folder with a long code as its name. To move the world of another dedicated server:

1. Click Stop on the server page.
2. Upload the world folder of your old server into Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0. Folders are best uploaded with SFTP: see Upload files to your game server with SFTP.
3. Open GameUserSettings.ini in Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer and set DedicatedServerName to the name of the folder you uploaded. Click Save.
4. Click Start.

Make a backup before you replace anything: see Back up and restore your game server.

7. Update the server

After a Palworld update, players can no longer join until the server runs the new version too.

1. Make a backup first.
2. On the server page, click Restart under Server actions. While Auto Update under Startup is set to 1, the server fetches the newest version on every start.
3. Still the old version? Click Reinstall and leave Also delete all files switched off. Your world stays where it is. Start the server again afterwards.

If something does not work

• Players cannot connect: check that the status is Running, that host and port match the Address card, and that the game version of the players matches the server.
• Lag or crashes after a while: look at Live usage on the server page. If RAM stays close to the limit, give the server more memory under Change plan.

Ready to start? Order your Palworld server.