How to create a dedicated Valheim server, invite friends and join

Playing Valheim with friends is the best way to enjoy viking survival game. To do this, you will need to either create servers in the game so that other players can join you, or join them on their servers. Valheim’s menus can be a bit confusing to navigate, however, especially if you don’t really know much about local hosting or dedicated servers. And even joining games can be a bit wonky, forcing you to use Steam’s menus to find servers using IP addresses.

Check out the guide below for everything you need to know about setting up your own servers or joining someone else in Valheim. It’s also worth noting that if you’re looking for new co-op Viking friends, you can check out the community server list and join other people you don’t know – although you should do so at your own risk. , because you never know if your new friends might be upset. It is also recommended to check if the Discord servers are compatible with your Valheim servers so that you can talk to other players.

We have even more Valheim cover, so be sure to check out our guides on upgrading your Workbench, crafting armor, hunting down iron, and defeating the Ancient One.

Join a server

The Join feature for Valheim can be a little weird. We had trouble finding the servers created by our friends through the game client. You should be able to join a friend’s Valheim server from the main menu using either the server name or the IP address. If the server is configured correctly, it should appear in the Community Server list by name; use the “Filter” text box to search for it. You will need the password to enter. If that doesn’t work, use the “IP” button to search for the server by its IP number and enter the password.

If none of these options work, there is another way to use Steam. Exit Valheim and navigate to the Steam window you use to launch the game. Find the menu at the top of the window and select “View.” Go down the list in “Servers” and click on it to open a new window.

In the servers window, go to the “Favorites” tab and click the “Add Server” button in the lower right corner. This will bring up another menu window where you can enter the IP address of the server you want to join. Do that and enter the password when prompted. Steam will automatically launch Valheim and allow you to choose your character; you will have to re-enter the password to access the server, but you shouldn’t load it from there.

This should add the server to your “Favorites” list, so it will now appear in the Servers window. You can enter it again in the same way, from the View menu. Simply double click on the server of your choice and enter the password to access the game.

Create a local game

It’s a relatively straightforward option for players who want to spend time in small groups and don’t plan on playing alone. Creation

Start the game and choose a character. When you click Start, you’ll have the option to create a random world, create a custom one based on a specific seed, or join a game created by someone else. If you are creating your own world, you can start a server that other players can join by clicking the radial “Start Server” button. This will allow other players to connect with you – just set a password and name for your server and you are good to go. The other people you provide with this information should be able to find your server and join you while you play.

Creating a local server uses the computer you’re playing Valheim on to host any other players who play with you, which has some drawbacks. First, the number of people you can host is somewhat limited. Valheim’s game worlds can support up to 10 players at a time, but chances are your computer will have a hard time getting more players in, so try to keep your groups closer to four or five.

Also note that since a local server uses your computer to host the game, it is not available when you are not playing. If you log out of Valheim while other players are playing on your local server, they will also be logged out of the game and will have to wait for you to log back in to play on your server again. With that in mind, it’s best to use a local server when you’re going to be playing reliably with the same small group at predictable times.

Create a dedicated server

You can also create a dedicated Valheim server that won’t require you to be logged into the game to play. You’ll either need a computer that can stay online so your party can connect to it, or consider paying for a service to rent a server that you can use for the game.

Before doing anything, you need to configure port forwarding on your internet router to make sure other players can access the server from the internet. Check the website of your Internet service provider and router for more information on how to do this. Write down the port number you use for this step, as you will need this information later. By default, Valheim servers use ports 2456-2458.

To start a dedicated Valheim server, you will need to download a tool from Steam that came with the game when you purchased it. Find it by clicking on the drop-down menu on the left side of your Steam interface, titled “Games”, and select “Tools.” Searching for “Valheim” will bring up the Valheim Dedicated Server Tool, which you will need to download.

From there, the steps for setting up a server are fairly straightforward, although you will need to make a few quick text edits to get up and running.

1. On the Valheim Dedicated Server page on Steam, click the gear icon for Settings in the upper right corner. Go to “Manage”, then “Browse local files”. You can also get this same menu by right clicking on Valheim Dedicated Server under Tools.

2. In the local files window, search for “start_headless_server.bat”. You will need to edit this file using a text editor like Notepad, but first make a copy of the file to serve as a backup in case something goes wrong.

3. Right click on start_headless_server.bat and choose “Edit” to open it in Notepad. Scroll down to the last line of the file, which begins with “valheim_server”. You will need to make some changes to this line to configure your server settings

4. Find “-name“ My server ”” in the line and replace “My server” with the name you want to give the server. It can be anything, but it’s good to pick something your friends will recognize. Your name must be kept in quotes – so if you were to name your GameSpot server, the entry would look like this: -name “GameSpot”

5. Find “-port 2456” in the line and replace the number with the number of the port that you used for port forwarding on your router.

6. Find “Dedicated” world “in the row and give your game world a name instead of” Dedicated “. If you’ve already created a Valheim world (which you can do from the Start menu when you launch the game), you can use that world – just put its name in quotes. Otherwise, a new game world with the name you use here will be created instead.

7. Find ‘-password “Secret”‘ in the line and set your server password. Anything you put in quotes will be the server password, and it will be case sensitive. You’ll need to give this password to anyone else you want to be able to access the server, so it’s a good idea to write it down for quick reference.

8. Search for ‘savedir [PATH]’in the line. By default, Valheim saves your game worlds and various permissions files to a specific folder in the AppData folder inside your Windows username folder. If you want the game to save these files elsewhere, you can specify the path to the file.

9. Save “start_headless_server.bat” and run the file to start your dedicated server. You will know that other players are ready to connect when you see the message “Game server connected” in the server program window. If the server program triggers a pop-up from Windows Firewall, be sure to grant it all permissions by checking all the boxes so that other players can connect to your server.

10. Allow other players to join your server by adding it to the community server list from the Valheim menu when you launch the game – players should be able to find your server by the name you gave it. You can also enter the IP address of the server once it is up and running and give it to friends so that they can find the server that way. As mentioned in the Join section above, if Valheim’s server list and IP address lookup function is working, use the Steam “Server” page (under the Steam View menu) to find that server’s server. way. Make sure to give the server password to your friends, otherwise they won’t be able to join.

That’s all! If you need more information, you can find the PDF “Valheim Dedicated Server Manual” in the local files of the Valheim Dedicated Server, where you found start_headless_server.bat.