Setting up a Valheim server

Valheim is light: for a group of friends without mods, 4 GB of RAM is fine.

1. Download it

# Windows
C:\steamcmd\steamcmd.exe +force_install_dir C:\valheim +login anonymous +app_update 896660 validate +quit

# Linux (as the steam user)
~/steamcmd/steamcmd.sh +force_install_dir ~/valheim +login anonymous +app_update 896660 validate +quit

2. The start script

The server ships with an example one, but every update overwrites it. Make a copy with another name and edit the copy.

Windows: copy start_headless_server.bat as start.bat and change the valheim_server line:

valheim_server -nographics -batchmode -name "My server" -port 2456 -world "MyWorld" -password "somekey" -public 1 -crossplay

Linux: copy start_server.sh as start.sh and change the ./valheim_server.x86_64 line the same way, leaving the surrounding export lines alone.

Option	What for
`-name`	The name in the list
`-world`	The world it loads (created if it does not exist)
`-password`	At least 5 characters, and it cannot be part of the server name
`-public 1`	Show it in the community list (`0` to hide it)
`-crossplay`	Lets Xbox and Game Pass players in. The server shows a join code

3. Ports

Valheim uses 2456 and 2457 on UDP:

# Windows (PowerShell as administrator)
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Valheim UDP 2456-2457" -Direction Inbound -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 2456-2457 -Action Allow -Profile Any

# Linux
ufw allow 2456:2457/udp

4. Worlds and admins

Worlds and admin lists live in:

Windows: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\
Linux: ~/.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/

To make yourself admin, add your SteamID64 (the 17-digit number of your profile) on a line of adminlist.txt and restart the server. In the game, F5 opens the console for kick, ban or save.

Want to upload your own world? On your PC it is in that same path, inside worlds_local: copy your world's .db and .fwl files into the server's worlds_local folder and put its name in -world.

5. Joining

In the game, Join Game → Add Server with YOUR_IP:2456. With -crossplay on, you can also join with the code the server shows.