How to host a Valheim server: RAM, BepInEx mods, crossplay and setup

Valheim is a game you play for months. A group of friends starts in the Meadows, builds a longhouse, and a few hundred hours later has portals across half the map and a base in every biome. A dedicated server keeps that world online when the host is asleep, and keeps it from slowing down as it grows. This guide covers how much memory Valheim needs, how mods and crossplay work, and the launch options worth knowing, then shows how to launch a server on GGHOST Cloud.

How a Valheim dedicated server works

The Valheim dedicated server is a free, separate program from the game, installed through SteamCMD. It loads one world from the worlds_local folder in its save directory and keeps it running for everyone. Unlike many survival games, Valheim has no main settings file: the server name, world, password and options are passed as launch arguments, which on our panel you set as startup settings.

Valheim worlds grow as you explore. A fresh seed is small; a well-travelled one, with explored biomes, bases and thousands of placed pieces, is far heavier to load and save.

How much RAM does a Valheim server need?

These are the figures we size Valheim servers at:

• Up to 10 players: 4 GB. Comfortable for a normal group, even on a mature world.
• 10 to 20 players: 8 GB. For larger groups, or a long-running modded world.

Vanilla Valheim allows up to 10 players on a server, so the larger plan is mostly for heavily modded worlds and for groups running a mod that raises the player limit. The number of explored areas and placed build pieces matter as much as player count. If your world is years old and memory sits above about 80% at peak, size up.

On GGHOST Cloud you pay for memory, not player slots. The player limit is a setting you choose, not a line on the invoice.

Vanilla, BepInEx and Valheim Plus

We support three builds, which you choose in the panel and can change later with a restart.

Vanilla

The game exactly as Iron Gate ships it. Choose it if you want crossplay with players on other platforms, or simply the game as designed.

BepInEx

BepInEx is the mod loader almost every Valheim mod is built on. With the BepInEx build enabled, mods are .dll files that go into BepInEx/plugins, and their settings appear in BepInEx/config after the first start. Many Valheim mods also need to be installed on every player’s game, so check each mod’s description and share a mod list with your group.

Valheim Plus

Valheim Plus is a long-standing mod that bundles many quality-of-life changes into one configurable file, including the player limit. Every player needs it installed too. Check that the version you use supports your game version before switching.

Launch options worth knowing

Because Valheim is configured through launch arguments, these are the settings you change from the panel:

• -name, -world and -password: the server name, which world to load and the join password.
• -public: whether the server appears in the community server list. Turn it off for a private world joined by address.
• -crossplay: runs the server on the crossplay backend so players on other platforms, such as Xbox, can join. Without it, only Steam players can connect.
• -preset and -modifier: world modifiers. Presets include Casual, Easy, Normal, Hard, Hardcore, Immersive and Hammer; modifiers adjust single categories such as combat, death penalty, resources, raids and portals. Put any -modifier after the -preset, because a preset overwrites earlier modifiers.
• -setkey: toggles options such as nobuildcost, passivemobs and nomap.
• -saveinterval: how often the world saves, in seconds. The default is 1800, every 30 minutes.

Admins, bans and allow lists

Permissions are three plain text files in the save directory: adminlist.txt, bannedlist.txt and permittedlist.txt. Add one platform user ID per line, such as a Steam_ prefixed ID. Be careful with permittedlist.txt: once it has any entries, everyone not on it is refused, which is useful for a private server and confusing if you add one person and forget.

Performance tips that help

• Restart regularly. A scheduled restart from the panel, with an announcement before it, keeps a long-running world fresh.
• Do not set the save interval too low. Saving a large world causes a short hitch, so saving every few minutes makes the game feel worse, not safer.
• Spread out huge builds. Very large bases with thousands of pieces are the most common cause of lag near them. Consider several smaller bases over one enormous one.
• Keep mods current. After a Valheim update, outdated mods are the usual reason a modded server will not start.

Mods: installing them safely

Upload mods through the file manager or over SFTP, one or two at a time, and check the console when the server starts. Keep a list of the exact versions you run so players can match them, and take a backup before every new mod or game update.

Backups and saves

Valheim has its own backup options (-backups, -backupshort and -backuplong), which keep copies alongside the world. They are useful, but they live on the same server. On GGHOST Cloud, backups run on a schedule you set and restore from the panel without a ticket, which covers your world and mod configs together. Take a manual backup before every update.

Launching your Valheim server on GGHOST Cloud

1. Pick a plan on the Valheim 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.
2. 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).
3. Set your options in the panel: server name, world name, password, build and crossplay. Start the server, or upload your existing world first.
4. Share the address. The address and port are shown in the panel. Players choose Join Game, then Add server, and enter the address.

You get our Pterodactyl panel: live console, file manager, SFTP, scheduled tasks for restarts and announcements, sub-users 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 4 GB for a normal group and 8 GB for a big or heavily modded world. Choose Vanilla for crossplay or BepInEx for mods, set the world options as launch arguments, use permittedlist.txt with care, and back up before every update. A Valheim world built over months deserves that much.