Palworld Dedicated Server Setup Guide — Settings, Admin Commands & Optimization

Why Run a Dedicated Palworld Server?

Palworld's built-in co-op caps at 4 players and ties the world to the host's session. A dedicated server raises the cap to 32 players, runs 24/7 regardless of who's online, and gives you full control over world settings, difficulty, and who can join. If you're playing with more than a handful of people or want your base progress to persist around the clock, a dedicated server is the way to go.

Check out the Palworld server hosting page to see what plans and features are available.

Server Requirements

Palworld is more resource-hungry than most game servers. The Pal AI calculations, base automation, and world simulation all consume significant CPU and RAM. Here's what you actually need:

RAM Requirements by Player Count

• 1-8 players: 4 GB minimum. This is tight — expect some hitching during busy base activity.
• 8-16 players: 8 GB recommended. Comfortable for most community servers.
• 16-32 players: 16 GB. Large player counts with multiple active bases need this headroom.
• 32 players with heavy building: 16-32 GB. Worlds with dozens of complex bases push memory usage hard.

CPU Requirements

Palworld uses significant CPU for Pal AI pathfinding and base task assignment. You need at least 2 dedicated cores at 3.0 GHz or higher. Shared hosting with oversold CPU will cause rubber-banding even if you have enough RAM. This is the resource most people underestimate.

Disk and Network

• Disk: 25 GB minimum. Save files grow as players explore and build. After a few weeks of active play, expect 5-10 GB for the world save alone.
• Network: A stable connection with low latency is critical. Players notice anything above 80ms. Choose a host with servers geographically close to your player base.

Key PalWorldSettings.ini Settings Explained

The PalWorldSettings.ini file is where you configure everything about your server's gameplay. It lives in Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/ (or WindowsServer on Windows). Here are the settings that matter most:

Difficulty and Progression

• ExpRate=1.0 — XP multiplier for all players. Set to 2.0 or 3.0 if you want faster leveling. Most casual servers run 2x-5x.
• PalCaptureRate=1.0 — Multiplier for catch success rate. At 1.0, high-level Pals are very difficult to catch. Bump to 1.5 or 2.0 for a less grindy experience.
• DeathPenalty=All — What players lose on death. Options: None (keep everything), Item (drop items only), ItemAndEquipment (drop items and gear), All (drop everything including Pals in party). Most PvE servers use Item or None.
• PalDamageRateAttack=1.0 — How much damage your Pals deal. Increase for easier PvE content.
• PalDamageRateDefense=1.0 — How much damage Pals take. Lower means Pals are tougher.

World and Time Settings

• DayTimeSpeedRate=1.0 — How fast daytime passes. Higher values make days shorter. Set to 0.5 for longer days.
• NightTimeSpeedRate=1.0 — Same for nighttime. Set to 2.0 to make nights fly by — popular for servers where players dislike the dark.
• PalSpawnNumRate=1.0 — How many wild Pals spawn. Higher means a more populated world, but also more server load. Don't go above 1.5 unless you have CPU headroom.
• PalEggDefaultHatchingTime=72.0 — Time in real-world minutes to hatch an egg. Default is 72 minutes. Set to 10.0 or 5.0 for faster hatching.

PvP and Social Settings

• bEnablePlayerToPlayerDamage=false — Toggle PvP on or off. Set to true for PvP servers.
• bEnableFriendlyFire=false — Whether guild members can damage each other.
• GuildPlayerMaxNum=20 — Maximum players per guild. Reduce for more competitive servers.
• BaseCampMaxNum=128 — Maximum number of bases per guild. Lower this to reduce server load.
• BaseCampWorkerMaxNum=15 — How many Pals can work at a single base. This directly affects server performance — lower it if you're seeing lag.

Essential Admin Commands

You'll need these to manage your server day-to-day. Open the chat window in-game and type these commands:

Authentication

• /AdminPassword YourPasswordHere — Authenticate yourself as an admin. You must do this every time you join. The password is set in your server's startup configuration.

Player Management

• /KickPlayer {SteamID} — Remove a player from the server immediately.
• /BanPlayer {SteamID} — Permanently ban a player. They cannot rejoin until unbanned.
• /UnBanPlayer {SteamID} — Remove a ban.
• /Broadcast {message} — Send a server-wide message that all players see. Useful for maintenance warnings.

Server Management

• /Save — Force an immediate world save. Always run this before shutting down or restarting.
• /Shutdown {seconds} {message} — Graceful shutdown with a countdown. Example: /Shutdown 300 Server restarting in 5 minutes
• /ShowPlayers — List all currently connected players with their SteamIDs.

Performance Optimization

Palworld servers degrade over time as worlds grow. Here's how to keep performance stable:

Reduce Pal and Entity Load

• Lower PalSpawnNumRate to 0.8 if you're seeing lag. Fewer wild Pals means less AI computation.
• Reduce BaseCampWorkerMaxNum from 15 to 10. Base workers are the single biggest source of server-side lag because each one runs pathfinding and task assignment every tick.
• Set BaseCampMaxNum to a reasonable limit. Servers with dozens of sprawling bases per guild struggle.

Scheduled Restarts

Palworld's server has known memory leaks that cause performance to degrade over long sessions. Schedule automatic restarts every 6-12 hours. Most hosting panels support this natively. Before each restart, the server should run /Save to prevent data loss.

View Distance and Rendering

• Reduce the server's object draw distance if your host supports custom startup parameters. This reduces the number of entities the server tracks per player.
• If your server has an Engine.ini override, you can tune garbage collection intervals with gc.TimeBetweenPurgingPendingKillObjects=60 to reduce GC stutter spikes.

Monitor Resource Usage

Watch your RAM and CPU usage through your hosting panel. If RAM consistently sits above 90%, upgrade your plan before it starts swapping to disk — that causes catastrophic lag. CPU spikes above 80% sustained mean you need either better hardware or lower entity counts.

Common Issues and Fixes

Players Can't Connect

• Wrong port: Palworld uses port 8211 by default (UDP). Make sure this is the port your players are connecting to.
• Firewall: If self-hosting, ensure UDP port 8211 is open in your firewall and router.
• Server not fully started: Wait until the console shows "Setting breakance to 0" — the server isn't ready until then.
• Version mismatch: Both client and server must be on the same game version. Update both when a patch drops.

Server Lag and Rubber-Banding

• Too many base workers: This is the #1 cause. Lower BaseCampWorkerMaxNum.
• Memory pressure: Check RAM usage. If it's maxed, upgrade or reduce PalSpawnNumRate.
• No scheduled restarts: Set up 6-12 hour restart cycles.
• Insufficient CPU: If you're on shared hosting, your CPU might be contended. Look for a host with dedicated cores.

Save Corruption

• Always use /Save before shutting down. Hard kills during a save operation can corrupt the world file.
• Keep at least 3 rotating backups. If a save corrupts, you can roll back to a recent one.
• If a world won't load, check if there's a .bak file in the save directory — the server keeps one automatic backup.

Pals Stuck or Not Working

If Pals at your base stop working or get stuck in geometry, this is usually caused by pathfinding failures in complex base layouts. Simplify your base design (avoid tight corridors and stacked floors) or restart the server to reset Pal states.