Valheim server not working?
Start here.
Valheim ships with Public server off, so a perfectly healthy server shows OFFLINE in the in-game list and still joins fine by IP — that one answer covers most “can’t connect” messages. After that it’s mods that don’t match on every player’s PC.
# what fixes most Valheim problems 1 Shows OFFLINE in the server list → Join by IP, or turn Public on 2 Kicked or can’t join with mods → Same mods, same versions, everyone 3 Started a fresh world → Set World name back to the old one
My server shows OFFLINE in the server list and nobody can find it
Join by IP — it works
In Valheim, use Join IP with the address on your server card, port included. With Public server off the in-game list paints a healthy server OFFLINE — even one added by IP — and the join still goes straight through.
Want it listed? Turn Public on
Settings → Identity & Access → Public server, then Apply & restart. It shows online in the list, and the panel gets its player count back.
Steam favourites want the other port
Adding the server under Steam → View → Game Servers uses the query port, which is your game port plus one.
Password
Players need the Join password from Settings. We generate one per server. It has to be at least 5 characters and can’t contain the server name, or Valheim refuses to start — the panel won’t save one that breaks the rule.
Players updated Valheim today?
Check the game-build line at the top of Settings. If a newer build is ready on the node, Update now copies the world and restarts onto it.
Why: With Public off, Valheim receives the server-list queries and never reads them — we watched them pile up unanswered on the socket. Not a firewall, not a slow boot.
Mods are installed but nothing changed — or players get kicked when they join
Same mods, same versions, every player
Valheim mods load through BepInEx, which we install when you turn mods on. Every player needs the same mods at the same versions — Valheim mods are strict about it, and a mismatch usually shows as a failed connection rather than a message about mods.
Hand your players a code
Mods → Get an r2modman code. Players paste it into r2modman or Thunderstore Mod Manager (Profiles → Import / Update → From code) and start modded. Server-only mods are left out; a mod you uploaded yourself isn’t in the code, so send them that file.
Read the load report
Each installed mod on Mods says Loaded, Loaded with errors, Failed to load or Restart to load, with the log lines underneath. Mods load when the server next starts.
Check the game version before blaming the mod
Turning mods on pins the Valheim build the server was running. A mod built for a newer Valheim fails on an older pinned build; the Console prints Valheim Version: at boot. Update from the pin card on Mods when your mod list is ready.
Why: One of our own players was turned away for a single version step: Adventure Backpacks 2.0.4 on the server, 2.0.5 on the player’s PC.
Crossplay is on and the join code finds nothing
Hand out the code
With Crossplay on, the join code shows in the server header and on the Server tab, each with Copy. Valheim prints it about 50 seconds into a boot, and a world keeps the same code every boot.
“Join code not working right now”
Valheim’s crossplay listing failed when the server started, so the code and the address both find nothing. It’s a game bug: the listing left over from the previous start trips it.
Let it relist
We restart the server to list it again at 5, 10, 20 and 30 minutes — never with a player on — and the panel shows when the next try is. Restarting it yourself sooner usually hits the same snag.
Automatic relisting stopped?
Restart it yourself a little later, once the leftover listing has expired.
Why: Valheim only makes a crossplay lobby findable after a uniqueness check, and that check throws when last run’s lobby is still around. The session never activates and the game never retries.
My world is gone — the server started a fresh one
<world>.db.old file beside the folder is the copy frozen at the 1.0 upgrade, not your world.It’s on disk, under its old name
Valheim opens the world named in World name and makes a brand-new one when no world has that name. Your old world stays on the server — the list under the World name field shows every world that’s there. Set the name back and Apply & restart.
Capitals don’t matter; dates do
“acidworld” and “AcidWorld” are the same world. A name with 14 digits in it, like a date and time, is read as one of Valheim’s own backups and won’t load back, so the panel refuses it.
A seed on an existing world makes a new one
A world keeps the seed it was made with. Type a seed on a world you already have and you get a new world named after the seed; your old one stays. The Apply prompt says so before anything happens.
Bringing a world in
A Valheim 1.0 world is a folder: zip it, upload the zip to valheim/save/worlds_local/ in Files, press Extract, then set World name to the folder’s name. An older .db + .fwl pair is converted the first time it loads.
Loading a saved world sets the name for you
Load a saved world onto the server and World name is set to that world, so the server opens it instead of starting fresh.
I changed a setting and nothing happened
There is no config file
Valheim has no config file — every setting is a launch argument, which is why they only take at boot. Apply, restart, then check: Apply & restart on Settings does the first two.
Presets win their own fields
Picking a World preset fills combat, death penalty, resources, raids, portals and the world switches, outlined. Change any of them and it becomes Custom. A field another choice already writes is greyed with the reason — Death penalty Casual sets skill loss to 15 whatever that box says.
The panel is the source of truth
World modifiers are cleared and rewritten from Settings every time you apply. A setworldmodifier change made in game is gone at the next restart.
Raid timer runs backwards
On Raid timer, lower means more raids: 50 is much busier than 100, 200 much quieter, and 0 turns raids off.
Why: Leaving a launch argument out never removed a world modifier — they live in the world file. So every apply leads with a reset, then writes exactly what Settings says.
How do I make myself admin, and how do I kick someone?
Add your SteamID64
Players → Admins, whitelist and bans → Admins: one SteamID64 per line. Roster rows carry each player’s id with a copy button, yours included. How fast Valheim picks up an admin-list edit isn’t measured, so restart if it doesn’t seem to apply.
Turn on F5 on your PC
Valheim’s admin commands live in its F5 console. If F5 does nothing, add -console to Valheim’s launch options in Steam (right-click the game → Properties). That’s on your PC, not the server.
Kick, ban and save from F5
As an admin you get kick, ban, unban, banned and save. They’re network commands, not cheats, so they don’t cost achievements. unban <name> misses a ban made while the player was online: that one is stored by SteamID64.
Ban from the panel — no restart
The Banned list on Players is live: a saved ban dropped a connected player in about 7 seconds, and clearing the line let them straight back in.
Want a Kick button here?
Mods → add-ons → ValheimRcon, then set its password in the box that appears. The Players tab gains Kick, and Console gains Save world now. It needs mods on.
We turned mods on and achievements stopped
Mods flag the game by being there
Valheim stops achievements on a modded game, and the files merely being in the folder is enough — you don’t have to use them. The Mods tab says so before you switch mods on.
Each player runs Iron Gate’s own command
In game, press F5 and run yesiuseddevcommandsbutiwantmyachievementsanyway 1. It works with mods running, and it’s per character, so every player runs it once on their own.
F5 does nothing?
Add -console to Valheim’s launch options in Steam. That’s on your PC, not the server.
Hammer is a temporary cheat
The Hammer world preset blocks some achievements while it’s on; they resume when you switch it off. The ordinary world-modifier fields on Settings don’t cost achievements — we read the game’s own check to be sure.
The server crashed and we lost progress. Did it save?
Valheim saves on a timer
World save interval (Settings → Saving & Backups) defaults to 1800 seconds, so up to half an hour of play is unwritten at any moment. Lower it to keep less at risk.
A stop does save
Valheim exits cleanly on a stop, in about 3 seconds, and writes the world on the way out. A crash is what costs you the interval.
Saving on demand
Save world now only appears once the ValheimRcon add-on is installed with a password. Without it, an admin can type save in F5.
Roll back
Worlds & backups → Restore. Valheim also keeps its own backups beside the world (Automatic backups kept, default 4); those are separate from our restore points.
None of these, or still stuck?
Check the problems every game shares
Connections, settings that will not take, where your world is, lag: the answers that hold on every game are on the support page.
Write to us
The form arrives with Valheim already set; tell us what you tried and it saves a round trip. Pressing Need help? in your panel does the same and attaches your server, so there is nothing to look up.