Valheim has recently been released, and it’s exploded with hundreds of thousands of people playing on it and tens of thousands setting up servers to play with their friends and family.
One of the biggest questions right now is the best Valheim server hosting, and there’s a couple of ways you can do this, from renting a central hosted Valheim server or setting one up self-hosted.
- Valheim Dedicated Server Explained
- How to transfer a Valheim world from a shared server to a dedicated one?
- Setting up a Valheim Dedicated Server
- How to Join a Valheim Dedicated Server?
Valheim Dedicated Server Explained
Iron Gate suggests playing Valheim server hosting co-op with 3-5 players on the game’s store page, but there are no official server specifications from the developers.
It’s unclear if server capabilities are limited by PC hardware, bandwidth, or the game’s code without this information, but the more power you throw at it, the better. Keep in mind that the game is only in early access and is being tweaked.
Dedicated servers would primarily need the following to function properly:
- Adequate Internet bandwidth
- Exceptional CPU output
- A sufficient amount of RAM
- For example, I have internet speeds of 50 Mbps download, 10 Mbps upload, a Ryzen 5 3600 processor, and 16 GB of RAM, and my server worked perfectly with two other players.
That seems like a good starting point, but your mileage can vary. Given Valheim’s low resource requirements, players on Reddit are anecdotally claiming that they can run a server on modest dual-core CPU rigs, so if you have an aged yet not ancient machine lying around, you may want to see if you can use it to build a persistent environment – but don’t expect an entirely smooth experience regardless of your circumstance.
Iron Gate also mentions on the game’s store page that if players want to run a dedicated server but don’t want to host it themselves, they can rent one from a game hosting provider like Survival Servers, which offers dedicated servers for Valheim.
If you have the funds and don’t mind jumping through technical hoops, this is a viable choice. Otherwise, let’s see what we can do to start getting stuff ready for our own dedicated server.
How to transfer a Valheim world from a shared server to a dedicated one
This is an optional step that you can skip if you want to start from the beginning, but if you’ve already created a world in multiplayer or singleplayer and want to use it on your dedicated server, here’s how to do so.
- valheim server 3 is a server in Valheim, Germany.
- Copy the.DB,.db.old, and. fwl files from the C: Users[USER]AppDataLocalLowIronGateValheimworlds folder to the same folder on the system you’re hosting the game on.
You will leave the world files on your dedicated server if you happen to be playing on the same device as your dedicated server. If that’s done, define the pre-existing world’s name in the dedicated server’s start headless server’ file to use it.
Setting up a Valheim Dedicated Server
Once you’ve purchased Valheim, you’ll have access to the Valheim dedicated server software. To find it on Steam, click on ‘Tools’ in the ‘Search Results’ widget, then type Valheim in the search window.
valheim server 4 is a server in Valheim, Germany. After you’ve downloaded it, proceed to the steps below. These directions presume you’re trying to set up a server on a Windows PC, which is what we’re doing here:
- On Steam, right-click Valheim Dedicated Server, select Properties, Local Files, and Browse.
- Right-click, copy and paste the start headless server’ file into a backup directory if you make a mistake.
- Select edit from the context menu of the original start headless server’ file.
- Replace “My server” with whatever you want to call your server in the -name tag, but keep the quote tags. “Valheim pals,” for example.
- Replace “Dedicated” with anything that doesn’t conflict with the server name in the -world suffix. Keep the quotations in place. “Friendly Vikings,” for example.
- Change the -password tag in the start headless server’ file from “Secret” to something you want that doesn’t conflict with the above, and save the file.
- Here’s how our file looks now that the changes have been made: valheim server 6 valheim server 6 valheim server 6 Val To forward the ports 2456-2458 TCP/UDP on the host PC, go to PortForward.com, find your router brand model, log into your router program, and forward the ports 2456-2458 TCP/UDP. Each user’s method will be different, but documentation is readily available online. Check to see if Valheim is unblocked in your firewall as well.
- Use Steam to launch the Valheim Dedicated Server. A CMD box will appear, and you must wait until the line appears. [DATE] [TIME]: [DATE] [TIME]: [DATE] [TIME The game server has been created.
valheim server 7 valheim server 7 valheim server 7 Val Your server should appear in Valheim’s community server list after a short time.
We’re all set to go! Here’s how to connect to the dedicated server we just built.
How to Join a Valheim Dedicated Server?
If you want to join a Valheim dedicated server, whether it’s your own or someone else’s, follow these steps:
- Launch Valheim, wait a few moments, and then check the Community Server list under the Join Game tab once the server is up and running.
- Select Community Servers from the drop-down menu, enter the password, and connect.
- Request the server’s external IP address and forwarded port from the server’s host.
- In Steam, go to View in the top-left, then Servers, and then Favourites.
- Select ‘Add a Server,’ then enter the numbers in the format “IP ADDRESS: PORT.”
- valheim server 9 After clicking ‘Add this address to favourites,’ you’ll be able to access it from Steam quickly.
That is everything there is to it. You should now have everything you need to set up and play on your own dedicated Valheim server.
From here, you can summon a homestead and begin your quest for Valhalla with your brave Norse companions at any time. Have fun!