Palworld is at its best with friends on a shared world, where everyone’s Pals work the same bases and the map keeps going when the host logs off. A dedicated server makes that possible, but Palworld has a reputation for servers that start well and slow down after a long session. Most of that comes down to memory, a regular restart and a few world settings. This guide covers what a Palworld server needs and how to keep it healthy, then shows how to launch one on GGHOST Cloud.
How a Palworld dedicated server works
The Palworld dedicated server is a separate program from the game, installed through SteamCMD. It runs one world, simulates every Pal and base on it, and saves the world to Pal/Saved/SaveGames. Players join it from the multiplayer menu by entering the server’s address.
Two things shape how a Palworld server behaves:
- Bases are the real load. Every working Pal at every base is simulated continuously. More players usually means more bases, and more bases means more Pals doing work at once.
- Memory climbs over long uptimes. A server that has been running for days uses noticeably more memory than one that has just restarted. A scheduled restart fixes this.
The server is also sensitive to single-thread speed, so it benefits from fast CPU cores rather than many slow ones.
How much RAM does a Palworld server need?
These are the figures we size Palworld servers at:
- Up to 8 players: 8 GB. A group of friends with a few bases each.
- 8 to 16 players: 16 GB. A larger group or a busy community world.
- 16 to 32 players: 24 GB. This is above the official recommendation, on purpose: a full server with many bases needs the headroom.
Because memory grows the longer the server runs, judge your plan by the memory graph just before a scheduled restart, not just after one. If it regularly sits above about 80% at that point, size up.
On GGHOST Cloud you pay for memory, not player slots.
ServerPlayerMaxNumis a setting you choose, not a line on the invoice.
Understanding PalWorldSettings.ini
Almost every world rule lives in one file: Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini. Two details catch out nearly everyone:
DefaultPalWorldSettings.iniis only a template. Editing it does nothing. Copy its contents intoPalWorldSettings.iniand edit that copy instead.- All settings are on one line. Under the
[/Script/Pal.PalGameWorldSettings]header, there is a singleOptionSettings=(...)line with every setting separated by commas. A missing bracket or comma can make the server ignore the whole line, so edit carefully.
Stop the server before you edit the file, then start it again so the changes load. You can edit it directly from the panel’s file manager.
Settings worth changing
Every world setting is editable, rather than locked behind a preset. The ones server owners change most:
ServerName,ServerDescriptionandServerPassword: what players see and what they need to join. Set a password for a private world.AdminPassword: the password that unlocks admin commands in game.ServerPlayerMaxNum: the player cap, up to 32.ExpRateandPalCaptureRate: how fast players level and how easily Pals are caught. Small groups often raise both.DeathPenalty: what players drop on death:None,Item,ItemAndEquipmentorAll.bIsPvP: turns player-versus-player on or off.BaseCampWorkerMaxNum: how many Pals can work at each base. Raising it is popular, but every extra worker is more for the server to simulate, so raise it gradually and watch performance.
Keeping a Palworld server healthy
The habits that make the biggest difference:
- Restart on a schedule. A daily restart from the panel scheduler keeps memory in check without anyone thinking about it. Add an announcement a few minutes before so players can get somewhere safe.
- Save before stopping. Run
/Saveas an admin before a manual restart, or let the scheduled restart handle a clean shutdown. - Keep bases reasonable. Huge numbers of Pals at a single base are the most common cause of a laggy world. A friendly rule about base size helps more than any setting.
- Restart after big setting changes. Settings load at start-up, so changes do nothing until the next restart.
Mods and custom files
Palworld updates regularly, and server-side mods can break whenever it does. If you choose to use them, you can upload files over SFTP or the file manager, but take a backup first and expect to remove them after a game update until their authors catch up.
Backups and saves
Your world lives in Pal/Saved/SaveGames. On GGHOST Cloud, backups run on a schedule you set and restore from the panel without a ticket. Palworld also has its own option, bIsUseBackupSaveData, which keeps rolling backups in a backup folder inside the save directory; it adds some disk activity, so our scheduled backups are usually enough on their own. Take a manual backup before every game update.
To move an existing world from another server, upload its save folder over SFTP and make sure the server is set to load that world.
Launching your Palworld server on GGHOST Cloud
- Pick a plan on the Palworld page: choose memory from the sizing above and the region closest to your players. Singapore and Europe (France–Germany border) are live today, with the United States (East, Central and West), the United Kingdom, India, Japan and Australia available on demand.
- Check out. Where a node in your region has room the server is created within seconds; in regions where we add capacity for you it is usually ready within 2 hours (24 hours at most).
- Set your options in the panel: server name, password, player cap and any world settings you want to change. Then start the server.
- Share the address. The address and port are shown in the panel. Players choose Join Multiplayer Game, enter the address and connect.
You get our Pterodactyl panel: live console, file manager, SFTP, scheduled tasks for restarts and announcements, sub-users for friends who help run the world, and database access. Every node is behind DDoS protection from our network providers, on every plan. There is no setup fee and no contract, and support comes from the people who run the servers, on Discord or at hello@gghost.cloud.
The short version
Start at 8 GB for a small group and 16 GB for a busy world, edit PalWorldSettings.ini (never the default file), keep the settings line intact, schedule a daily restart, and back up before every update. Those habits fix most of what people complain about on Palworld servers.
