Setting up a Valheim dedicated server it is recommended if you want to get divine bandwidth and enter Valhalla ping when playing with friends.
With more than two million copies sold and hundreds of thousands of simultaneous players on Steam in the weeks following its launch, Valheim already has many followers.
Although you can enjoy Valheim alone, it is playing with others where the game stands out. If you really want to be part of a group that wants to come and go from a single world with better accommodation, then a Valheim dedicated server configuration it may be for you.
We will see why you may need a dedicated server in Valheim, what it takes to get it up and running properly, the step-by-step configuration process and how to join a dedicated server when everything is ready.
And, if all of that seems a bit much for now, a quick explanation on how to host a multiplayer session on your current PC as well.
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How to host multiplayer Valheim with friends without a dedicated server
It is good to start this article by saying that you can play Valheim comfortably without having to struggle to set up a dedicated server.
If you have decent gaming equipment and a reasonable Internet connection and just want to play the game intermittently with a few friends, you can easily host a game. Here are the steps to follow:
- Boot Valheim and create or select an existing character.
- Click on ‘New’ to generate a world and select it.
- Check the ‘Start Server’ and ‘Community Server’ options if you want them to appear in the server’s browser.
- Set a password to share with your friends and click ‘Start’.
- Invite your friends via Steam or tell them to look under the ‘Join the Game’ tab and enter the password.
It is quite simple – but it may not be the best option if you have higher ambitions. Valheim supports up to 10 players in cooperative mode and, in our experience, local servers can experience delays and connection problems, even with only a handful of players in the same instance, especially when you venture out into multiple biomes.
If you are familiar with Minecraft, you may have seen similar problems with the locally hosted server when entering Nether or venturing away from the generation – which is why hosting a dedicated server can be an attractive option.
Valheim dedicated servers explained: Why host a dedicated server in Valheim?
A crucial benefit of a dedicated server over a local server is that it is persistent. It will work as long as you want, without the need for the host to be online and playing Valheim.
This means that your friends can cultivate resources and explore while you are away, so it is very useful if you are playing with a group of friends who have complicated schedules, perhaps in different time zones.
Hosting a server can be exhausting, so some players choose to have their dedicated servers running on a separate PC server, built for the sole purpose of hosting the game.
This means that it does not affect the performance of the main equipment and they can shut down the computer they are playing on without cutting off access for the rest of the group.
However, you should be aware that leaving a computer on at all times to host a dedicated server will drain your electricity and bandwidth – so be sure to clear this up with the bill payer before you start, especially if you are on a data limit.
Valheim dedicated server requirements
On the in-game store page, Iron Gate recommends playing co-op with 3-5 players, but there are no official server requirements for the developers.
Without this knowledge, it is not clear whether the server’s resources are controlled by the PC hardware, bandwidth or game code itself, but the more power you use, the better. Just keep in mind that the game is in early access and is still being optimized.
Also, if you are playing with a person who has a particularly bad internet connection, they (and by proxy, the rest of the group) will undoubtedly experience lag, regardless of their efforts.
Mainly, dedicated servers will need the following to get things done correctly:
- Decent Internet bandwidth
- Solid CPU power
- A good amount of RAM
For example, I download 50 Mbps and upload 10 Mbps to the internet, a Ryzen 5 3600 and 16 GB of RAM and my server worked well with two other players.
It looks like a decent entry level, but your mileage may vary. Given that Valheim is not very picky, Reddit players are anecdotally reporting that they are capable of hosting a server on modest dual-core CPU rigs, so if you have an old but not an old computer out there, you might want to see if you can use this to create a persistent world – but I wouldn’t expect a completely peaceful experience, regardless of your situation.
Elsewhere on the game’s store page, Iron Gate notes that if players want to run a dedicated server and don’t want to host it themselves, they can pay to rent one on a website called G-Portal, which provides dedicated servers for Valheim.
This is an option if you have money to spend and don’t want to go through any technical hurdles. Otherwise, let’s see how we can start preparing things for our own dedicated server.
How to transfer a pre-existing Valheim world to a dedicated server
This is an optional step, and you can skip it if you want to start from scratch, but if you’ve worked in a world in multiplayer or singleplayer mode and would like to use this on your dedicated server, here’s how to transfer everywhere.
Go to C: Users [USER] AppData LocalLow IronGate Valheim worlds and copy the .db, .db.old and .fwl files to the same folder on the system where you are hosting the game.
If you happen to host a dedicated server on the same system you’re playing on, you can leave the world’s files there. After doing this, just specify the name of the pre-existing world you want to use in the dedicated server’s start_headless_server ‘file to use it.
How to set up a dedicated server in Valheim
If you have Valheim, you also have the Valheim Dedicated Server tool. To find it on Steam, in the ‘Search Results’ widget, activate ‘Tools’ and type Valheim in the search box to find it.
Download and follow the steps below. These instructions assume that the user is trying to create a server on a Windows PC machine, which is what we are using:
1 Right-click the dedicated Valheim server on Steam, click Properties, Local files, and then click Browse.
two Right click, copy and paste the file ‘start_headless_server’ into another safe directory to be backed up if you make a mistake.
3 – Right-click on the original ‘start_headless_server’ file and click edit.
4 – Change the -name tag from “My server” to what you want to call a server, but keep the quote tags. Example: “friends of Valheim”.
5 Change the -world tag from “Dedicated” to something that doesn’t match the name of the server. Keep the quotes. Example: “Friendly Vikings”.
6 Change the -password tag from “Secret” to anything you like that doesn’t conflict with the above and save the file ‘start_headless_server’.
See how our file looks with the edits made:
7 Go to PortForward.com, find the brand of the router and log into your own router’s software and forward ports 2456-2458 TCP / UDP on the host PC. This process varies for each user, but the documentation is readily available online. Make sure that Valheim is also unlocked on your firewall.
8 Run the dedicated Valheim server on Steam. A CMD box will appear, and you need to wait until it appears [DATE] [TIME]: Connected game server.
9 After a while, your server should appear on the list of servers in the Valheim community.
Now we are ready to start! Now, see how to join the dedicated server that we just configured.
How to join a dedicated server in Valheim
If you want to join a dedicated server in Valheim – whether yours or someone else’s – perform the following steps:
1 Start Valheim, wait a while and check the list of community servers on the Log in game tab when the server is active.
two Click on the Community Server list, enter the password and connect.
3 – Ask the server host for the external IP address and forwarded port.
4 – With Steam open, click View in the upper left corner under Servers and open the Favorites tab.
5 Click on ‘Add a Server’ and enter the numbers in this format “IP ADDRESS: PORT”.
6 Click on ‘Bookmark this address’ and you can easily access it from Steam.
Here it is. With that, you will have everything you need to start and play on your own dedicated server in Valheim.
From here, you can summon an estate and start looking for Valhalla with your brave Nordic colleagues 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To enjoy!