How to set up a Palworld server: memory appetite and version matching

This guide builds a working Palworld dedicated server from scratch: choosing the operating system, installing through SteamCMD, editing PalWorldSettings.ini, opening ports, and the two habits that keep the server standing — scheduled restarts and regular backups. What separates Palworld from other survival games is this: memory use grows with session length and the number of simulated bases, not with player count.

Before you start: what you need

• More RAM than you expect. An 8-player friends server starts at 8 GB; an active 16-player community wants 16 GB, and 32 players with long sessions want 32 GB. That can look like a lot for 32 players, but the Palworld server simulates every Pal, every base structure and every task assigned to them in memory. The general logic of the calculation: how much vCPU and RAM does a server need?
• Storage headroom for backups. The save file grows quickly as players progress, so size storage for the accumulating backups, not just the installation.
• A restart plan. This is not a detail to add after setup; it is part of the setup decision. The reason is below.

To pick RAM, cores and storage headroom together and see the monthly total: server configurator

1. Operating system

Choose Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Run the server as a separate user created only for Palworld rather than under root.

SteamCMD needs 32-bit libraries; without those packages the first command fails with an error whose cause is not obvious at all. The Palworld server also allocates memory quickly at boot, so defining swap on the machine — not as a substitute for RAM, but to stop the process being killed during a sudden peak — is a practical precaution.

2. Installing with SteamCMD

Server files are downloaded with an anonymous Steam session:

./steamcmd.sh +force_install_dir /home/palworld/server +login anonymous \
  +app_update 2394010 validate +quit

2394010 is the Steam application ID of the Palworld dedicated server (the value in the game's official server documentation). Do not mix it up with the game's own ID: a wrong ID does not throw an error, it silently downloads a different package.

Define the server as a systemd service with Restart=always. In Palworld that is more than a convenience: when the process hits its memory ceiling, it comes back up on its own.

3. Configuring PalWorldSettings.ini

Start the server once and stop it. You will find two separate settings files in the install directory: the example file DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini, which should not be edited, and the real Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini the server reads (the WindowsServer folder on Windows). The second one is what you edit. Editing the wrong file is the most common configuration mistake in Palworld, because it produces no error at all — your settings simply are not applied.

What you set here: server name, server password, admin password, player cap and game rates (experience, gathering speed, Pal capture rate). Decide the rates before the server opens; changing them after players have progressed leaves an unfair world behind.

Set the player cap against your hardware, not your ambitions. Opening a 32-slot server on 8 GB means it crashes on the first evening it is actually full.

4. Ports

Palworld carries game traffic over UDP, so opening TCP only means players cannot connect. If you have not enabled RCON in the settings file there is no point opening 25575 — an unnecessary open port is always extra exposure. If you do use RCON, allow only your own IP address in the firewall.

Version matching: the real cause of connection failures

Palworld updates frequently, and when the server version does not match the client version, connections are blocked entirely. What the player sees is a generic connection error, so nothing anywhere says the problem is a version gap.

The correct order is: when you hear the game has updated, back up the save directory first, then re-run SteamCMD with validate, then start the server and join once yourself. The reason for backing up before updating is that updates can break save compatibility, and when they do, that backup is the only thing you can return to.

Restarts and backups

A Palworld server's memory use rises with session length. That is not a fault but a consequence of how the server works: as simulated objects accumulate, so does memory. The practical fix is not bigger hardware but a daily scheduled restart. Pick the quietest hour and keep the restart at a fixed time; a predictable interruption is far better than a random crash.

On backups, the right approach is not copying the save directory while the server runs; it is stopping the server briefly, moving the directory to a remote target, and actually testing a restore once. An untested backup is not a backup: server backup strategy

The most common first-boot mistakes

1. Editing the wrong settings file. You change the default file, the server never reads it, no setting is applied, and you see no error.
2. Looking for the settings file before ever starting the server. The real file is generated on first boot.
3. Sizing RAM by player count. The load is set by how many bases and Pals are being simulated.
4. Opening 8211 for TCP only. Players see the server but cannot connect.
5. Updating without a backup first. Early-access updates can break save compatibility.
6. No restart plan. The server slows over days, then falls over at an unexpected moment.

On DDoS

Because the game port runs over UDP and a UDP source address can be forged, floods cannot be blocked at the application layer; the traffic has to be filtered at the network layer. We have written up how the protection works: what is DDoS protection?

On Datafex servers, layered Fexwall DDoS protection is included free on every plan. Palworld's memory profile makes this matter more than usual: a server already running near its memory ceiling has no resources left when an attack lands, and goes down completely. Virtual server plans that genuinely reserve the resource ceiling make a visible difference here compared with a shared environment.

Official sources

The official documentation behind the ports, app IDs and configuration details in this guide:

• Palworld Server Guide: Deploy dedicated server — SteamCMD app ID 2394010
• Palworld Server Guide: Configuration parameters — where PalWorldSettings.ini lives and the RCON settings

Next step

We have put the recommended plans by player count, the processor options and the Palworld-specific questions on one page: Palworld server plans.