Valheim puts players in the shoes of a dead Viking, trying to survive in purgatory and prove their worth to gain entry to Valhalla. However, players don't have to go it alone and can join their friends to explore and survive together. One of the best ways to do this is via a dedicated server. Players won't even need to rent a server to take advantage of this option, making it an even more attractive venture.
Valheim provides everything that players need to set up their own dedicated server, creating a persistent world that can be logged on to any time, allowing their friends to jump in and out when it suits them, and nobody will lose any progress on their journey to Valhalla. As long as the PC that the server is set up on is running, players can jump in and out any time they like.
To set up a dedicated Valheim server, follow the below steps carefully.
- Ensure that Steam is installed on the PC that will act as a dedicated server.
- Go to the Tools section of Steam, and type "Valheim" in the search bar. This will bring up the Valheim Dedicated Server tool that all players get when purchasing the game.
- Install the Valheim Dedicated Server tool.
- Open the Valheim Dedicated Server install folder.
- If players plan on playing Valheim on the same PC that will host the server, they do not need to create a world to play on. If the host PC is different, go to C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate\Valheim\worlds on the PC that is used to play the game and copy the files to the same folder on the host PC.
- Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Valheim Dedicated Server on the host computer and right-click on a batch file called "start_headless_server" and select Edit.
- Change the -name tag from "My Server" to something else, but do not give it the same name as the world name, and the quotation marks must be maintained, e.g., "ValhallaFriends"
- Change the -world tag from "Dedicated" to something else, but the name should not clash with the server name.
- Change the -password tag from "Secret" to the desired password, once again ensuring it doesn't clash with previous entries.
- If players wish the server to be publicly listed, they can set the number after "public" to "1." Otherwise, leave it at "0."
- Ports will need to be opened to allow direct connections to the PC. Using router software or documentation, forward the ports 2456-2458 TCP/UDP.
- To start the server, double click on the "start_headless_server" file. This will start the server, opening a window for server logs and another that facilitates stopping the server. It may take up to 15 minutes for the server to be recognized by the game client on Steam.
- The server IP address is the IP address of the host PC, plus the affix :2457.
Players can then join the server using the server IP address, forwarded ports, and the password set in the batch file through the community server list in the game. The server performance will be dictated by the host PC specs, although it should be noted the server hosting is more CPU than GPU intensive. Any players that are having trouble achieving good frame rates can take some basic steps to increase FPS and improve performance.
Now players can join their friends in Valheim and take on bosses, build settlements, explore the vast map, and try to figure out who the mysterious cloaked figure is as a group, which will make the difficulty level a bit more manageable.
Valheim is available in Steam Early Access on PC.