Palworld Dedicated Server Docker

Important

This is a fork

This is a fork which has stricter dependency verison pinning enabled with Renovate managing them. If you've stumbled upon this repository, you probably want the upstream repository which can be found at https://github.com/thijsvanloef/palworld-server-docker.

How is it different?

This fork also disables Discord messages, always runs as user steam (PID/GID 1000), and disables auto updates. Additionally, it also does not require the game files be stored in a Docker volume, instead requiring only saves to be stored. This fork uses an ARM64 + AMD64 unified SteamCMD located at https://github.com/USA-RedDragon/steamcmd/

Player shutdown warning

By default this fork will wait up to 5 minutes for players to exit before terminating. This includes when Kubernetes terminates the pod, when you run docker compose down, docker stop, or when using automatic reboots (daily reboots in the Helm chart). During this time it will broadcast via rcon once a minute to warn players that a shutdown is imminent.

Persistence

This fork places saves at /saves and backups at /backups in the container.

Chart changes

A fork of the Helm chart is hosted at https://charts.mcswain.dev/charts/palworld/. This fork takes advantage of the persistence changes and uses a readiness and liveness probe by default to check the health of your deployment.

Server versions

The Palworld server is packaged into this image and only updates to the image change the Palworld server version. This is accomplished by https://github.com/USA-RedDragon/palworld-server containing an hourly CI job to check for new Palworld build IDs and publishing the relevant files to GitHub Releases. This avoids issues where Palworld releases an update that breaks the way the Docker image expects it to behave, like as seen in the v0.1.5.0 update.

---

Tip

Unsure how to get started? Check out this guide thijsvanloef wrote!

This is a Docker container to help you get started with hosting your own Palworld dedicated server.

This Docker container has been tested and will work on the following OS:

• Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)
• Windows 10,11
• MacOS (including Apple Silicon M1/M2/M3).

This container has also been tested and will work on both x64 and ARM64 based CPU architecture.

Important

At the moment, Xbox GamePass/Xbox Console players will not be able to join a dedicated server.

They will need to join players using the invite code and are limited to sessions of 4 players max.

Server Requirements

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	4 cores	4+ cores
RAM	16GB	Recommend over 32GB for stable operation
Storage	8GB	20GB

How to use

Keep in mind that you'll need to change the environment variables.

Docker Compose

This repository includes an example docker-compose.yml file you can use to set up your server.

services:
   palworld:
      image: ghcr.io/usa-reddragon/palworld-server-docker:latest
      restart: unless-stopped
      container_name: palworld-server
      stop_grace_period: 30s # Set to however long you are willing to wait for the container to gracefully stop
      ports:
        - 8211:8211/udp
        - 27015:27015/udp
      environment:
         PORT: 8211 # Optional but recommended
         PLAYERS: 16 # Optional but recommended
         SERVER_PASSWORD: "worldofpals" # Optional but recommended
         MULTITHREADING: true
         RCON_ENABLED: true
         RCON_PORT: 25575
         TZ: "UTC"
         ADMIN_PASSWORD: "adminPasswordHere"
         COMMUNITY: false  # Enable this if you want your server to show up in the community servers tab, USE WITH SERVER_PASSWORD!
         SERVER_NAME: "World of Pals"
         SERVER_DESCRIPTION: "palworld-server-docker by Thijs van Loef"
      volumes:
         - ./saves:/saves/

As an alternative, you can copy the .env.example file to a new file called .env file. Modify it to your needs, check out the environment variables section to check the correct values. Modify your docker-compose.yml to this:

services:
   palworld:
      image: ghcr.io/usa-reddragon/palworld-server-docker:latest
      restart: unless-stopped
      container_name: palworld-server
      stop_grace_period: 30s # Set to however long you are willing to wait for the container to gracefully stop
      ports:
        - 8211:8211/udp
        - 27015:27015/udp
      env_file:
         -  .env
      volumes:
         - ./saves:/saves/

Docker Run

Change every <> to your own configuration

docker run -d \
    --name palworld-server \
    -p 8211:8211/udp \
    -p 27015:27015/udp \
    -v ./saves:/saves/ \
    -e PORT=8211 \
    -e PLAYERS=16 \
    -e MULTITHREADING=true \
    -e RCON_ENABLED=true \
    -e RCON_PORT=25575 \
    -e TZ=UTC \
    -e ADMIN_PASSWORD="adminPasswordHere" \
    -e SERVER_PASSWORD="worldofpals" \
    -e COMMUNITY=false \
    -e SERVER_NAME="World of Pals" \
    -e SERVER_DESCRIPTION="palworld-server-docker by Thijs van Loef" \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    --stop-timeout 30 \
    ghcr.io/usa-reddragon/palworld-server-docker:latest

As an alternative, you can copy the .env.example file to a new file called .env file. Modify it to your needs, check out the environment variables section to check the correct values. Change your docker run command to this:

docker run -d \
    --name palworld-server \
    -p 8211:8211/udp \
    -p 27015:27015/udp \
    -v ./saves:/saves/ \
    --env-file .env \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    --stop-timeout 30 \
    ghcr.io/usa-reddragon/palworld-server-docker:latest

Kubernetes

The Helm chart for this fork can be found at https://charts.mcswain.dev/charts/palworld/

Environment variables

You can use the following values to change the settings of the server on boot. It is highly recommended you set the following environment values before starting the server:

• PLAYERS
• PORT

Variable	Info	Default Values	Allowed Values
TZ	Timezone used for time stamping backup server	UTC	See TZ Identifiers
PLAYERS*	Max amount of players that are able to join the server	16	1-32
PORT*	UDP port that the server will expose	8211	1024-65535
MULTITHREADING**	Improves performance in multi-threaded CPU environments. It is effective up to a maximum of about 4 threads, and allocating more than this number of threads does not make much sense.	false	true/false
COMMUNITY	Whether or not the server shows up in the community server browser (USE WITH SERVER_PASSWORD)	false	true/false
PUBLIC_IP	You can manually specify the global IP address of the network on which the server running. If not specified, it will be detected automatically. If it does not work well, try manual configuration.		x.x.x.x
PUBLIC_PORT	You can manually specify the port number of the network on which the server running. If not specified, it will be detected automatically. If it does not work well, try manual configuration.		1024-65535
SERVER_NAME	A name for your server		"string"
SERVER_DESCRIPTION	Your server Description		"string"
SERVER_PASSWORD	Secure your community server with a password		"string"
ADMIN_PASSWORD	Secure administration access in the server with a password		"string"
RCON_ENABLED***	Enable RCON for the Palworld server	true	true/false
RCON_PORT	RCON port to connect to	25575	1024-65535
QUERY_PORT	Query port used to communicate with Steam servers	27015	1024-65535
BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION	Setting affects frequency of automatic backups.	0 0 * * *	Needs a Cron-Expression - See Configuring Automatic Backups with Cron
BACKUP_ENABLED	Enables automatic backups	true	true/false
DELETE_OLD_BACKUPS	Delete backups after a certain number of days	false	true/false
OLD_BACKUP_DAYS	How many days to keep backups	30	any positive integer
AUTO_REBOOT_CRON_EXPRESSION	Setting affects frequency of automatic updates.	0 0 * * *	Needs a Cron-Expression - See Configuring Automatic Backups with Cron
AUTO_REBOOT_ENABLED	Enables automatic reboots	false	true/false
SHUTDOWN_WARN_SECONDS	How long to wait to reboot the server, after the player were informed.	300	integer
SHUTDOWN_EVEN_IF_PLAYERS_ONLINE	Restart the Server even if there are players online.	false	true/false
DISABLE_GENERATE_SETTINGS	Whether to automatically generate the PalWorldSettings.ini	false	true/false
BACKUP_BEFORE_EXIT	Backup the world data before the server stops	true	true/false

*highly recommended to set

** Make sure you know what you are doing when running this option enabled

*** Required for docker stop to save and gracefully close the server

Game Ports

Port	Info
8211	Game Port (UDP)
27015	Query Port (UDP)
25575	RCON Port (TCP)

Using RCON

RCON is enabled by default for the palworld-server-docker image. Opening the RCON CLI is quite easy:

docker exec -it palworld-server rcon-cli "<command> <value>"

For example, you can broadcast a message to everyone in the server with the following command:

docker exec -it palworld-server rcon-cli "Broadcast Hello everyone"

This will open a CLI that uses RCON to write commands to the Palworld Server.

List of server commands

Command	Info
Shutdown {Seconds} {MessageText}	The server is shut down after the number of Seconds
DoExit	Force stop the server.
Broadcast	Send message to all player in the server
KickPlayer {SteamID}	Kick player from the server..
BanPlayer {SteamID}	BAN player from the server.
TeleportToPlayer {SteamID}	Teleport to current location of target player.
TeleportToMe {SteamID}	Target player teleport to your current location
ShowPlayers	Show information on all connected players.
Info	Show server information.
Save	Save the world data.

For a full list of commands go to: https://tech.palworldgame.com/server-commands

Creating a backup

To create a backup of the game's save at the current point in time, use the command:

docker exec palworld-server backup

This will create a backup at /backups/

The server will run a save before the backup if rcon is enabled.

Restore from a backup

To restore from a backup, use the command:

docker exec -it palworld-server restore

The RCON_ENABLED environment variable must be set to true to use this command.

Important

If docker restart is not set to policy always or unless-stopped then the server will shutdown and will need to be manually restarted.

The example docker run command and docker compose file in How to Use already uses the needed policy

Manually restore from a backup

Locate the backup you want to restore in /backups/ and decompress it. Need to stop the server before task.

docker compose down

Delete the old saved data folder located at saves/SaveGames/0/<old_hash_value>.

Copy the contents of the newly decompressed saved data folder SaveGames/0/<new_hash_value> to saves/SaveGames/0/<new_hash_value>.

Replace the DedicatedServerName inside saves/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini with the new folder name.

DedicatedServerName=<new_hash_value>  # Replace it with your folder name.

Restart the game. (If you are using Docker Compose)

docker compose up -d

Configuring Automatic Backups with Cron

The server is automatically backed up everynight at midnight according to the timezone set with TZ

Set BACKUP_ENABLED enable or disable automatic backups (Default is enabled)

BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION is a cron expression, in a Cron-Expression you define an interval for when to run jobs.

Tip

This image uses Supercronic for crons see supercronic or Crontab Generator.

Set BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION to change the default schedule. Example Usage: If BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION to 0 2 * * *, the backup script will run every day at 2:00 AM.

Configuring Automatic Reboots with Cron

To be able to use automatic reboots with this server RCON_ENABLED enabled.

Important

If docker restart is not set to policy always or unless-stopped then the server will shutdown and will need to be manually restarted.

The example docker run command and docker compose file in How to Use already use the needed policy

Set AUTO_REBOOT_ENABLED enable or disable automatic reboots (Default is disabled)

AUTO_REBOOT_CRON_EXPRESSION is a cron expression, in a Cron-Expression you define an interval for when to run jobs.

Tip

This image uses Supercronic for crons see supercronic or Crontab Generator.

Set AUTO_REBOOT_CRON_EXPRESSION to change the set the schedule, default is everynight at midnight according to the timezone set with TZ

Editing Server Settings

With Environment Variables

Important

These Environment Variables/Settings are subject to change since the game is still in beta. Check out the official webpage for the supported parameters.

Converting server settings to environment variables follow the same principles (with some exceptions):

• all capital letters
• split words by inserting an underscore
• remove the single letter if the setting starts with one (like 'b')

For example:

• Difficulty -> DIFFICULTY
• PalSpawnNumRate -> PAL_SPAWN_NUM_RATE
• bIsPvP -> IS_PVP

Variable	Description	Default Value	Allowed Value
DIFFICULTY	Game Difficulty	None	None,Normal,Difficult
DAYTIME_SPEEDRATE	Day time speed - Smaller number means shorter days	1.000000	Float
NIGHTTIME_SPEEDRATE	Night time speed - Smaller number means shorter nights	1.000000	Float
EXP_RATE	EXP earn rate	1.000000	Float
PAL_CAPTURE_RATE	Pal capture rate	1.000000	Float
PAL_SPAWN_NUM_RATE	Pal appearance rate	1.000000	Float
PAL_DAMAGE_RATE_ATTACK	Damage from pals multipiler	1.000000	Float
PAL_DAMAGE_RATE_DEFENSE	Damage to pals multipiler	1.000000	Float
PLAYER_DAMAGE_RATE_ATTACK	Damage from player multipiler	1.000000	Float
PLAYER_DAMAGE_RATE_DEFENSE	Damage to player multipiler	1.000000	Float
PLAYER_STOMACH_DECREASE_RATE	Player hunger depletion rate	1.000000	Float
PLAYER_STAMINA_DECREASE_RATE	Player stamina reduction rate	1.000000	Float
PLAYER_AUTO_HP_REGEN_RATE	Player auto HP regeneration rate	1.000000	Float
PLAYER_AUTO_HP_REGEN_RATE_IN_SLEEP	Player sleep HP regeneration rate	1.000000	Float
PAL_STOMACH_DECREASE_RATE	Pal hunger depletion rate	1.000000	Float
PAL_STAMINA_DECREASE_RATE	Pal stamina reduction rate	1.000000	Float
PAL_AUTO_HP_REGEN_RATE	Pal auto HP regeneration rate	1.000000	Float
PAL_AUTO_HP_REGEN_RATE_IN_SLEEP	Pal sleep health regeneration rate (in Palbox)	1.000000	Float
BUILD_OBJECT_DAMAGE_RATE	Damage to structure multipiler	1.000000	Float
BUILD_OBJECT_DETERIORATION_DAMAGE_RATE	Structure determination rate	1.000000	Float
COLLECTION_DROP_RATE	Getherable items multipiler	1.000000	Float
COLLECTION_OBJECT_HP_RATE	Getherable objects HP multipiler	1.000000	Float
COLLECTION_OBJECT_RESPAWN_SPEED_RATE	Getherable objects respawn interval - The smaller the number, the faster the regeneration	1.000000	Float
ENEMY_DROP_ITEM_RATE	Dropped Items Multipiler	1.000000	Float
DEATH_PENALTY	Death Penalty None: No death penalty Item: Drops items other than equipment ItemAndEquipment: Drops all items All: Drops all PALs and all items.	All	None,Item,ItemAndEquipment,All
ENABLE_PLAYER_TO_PLAYER_DAMAGE	Allows players to cause damage to players	False	Boolean
ENABLE_FRIENDLY_FIRE	Allow friendly fire	False	Boolean
ENABLE_INVADER_ENEMY	Enable invaders	True	Boolean
ACTIVE_UNKO	Enable UNKO (?)	False	Boolean
ENABLE_AIM_ASSIST_PAD	Enable controller aim assist	True	Boolean
ENABLE_AIM_ASSIST_KEYBOARD	Enable Keyboard aim assist	False	Boolean
DROP_ITEM_MAX_NUM	Maximum number of drops in the world	3000	Integer
DROP_ITEM_MAX_NUM_UNKO	Maximum number of UNKO drops in the world	100	Integer
BASE_CAMP_MAX_NUM	Maximum number of base camps	128	Integer
BASE_CAMP_WORKER_MAX_NUM	Maximum number of workers	15	Integer
DROP_ITEM_ALIVE_MAX_HOURS	Time it takes for items to despawn in hours	1.000000	Float
AUTO_RESET_GUILD_NO_ONLINE_PLAYERS	Automatically reset guild when no players are online	False	Bool
AUTO_RESET_GUILD_TIME_NO_ONLINE_PLAYERS	Time to automatically reset guild when no players are online	72.000000	Float
GUILD_PLAYER_MAX_NUM	Max player of Guild	20	Integer
PAL_EGG_DEFAULT_HATCHING_TIME	Time(h) to incubate massive egg	72.000000	Float
WORK_SPEED_RATE	Work speed muliplier	1.000000	Float
IS_MULTIPLAY	Enable multiplayer	False	Boolean
IS_PVP	Enable PVP	False	Boolean
CAN_PICKUP_OTHER_GUILD_DEATH_PENALTY_DROP	Allow players from other guilds to pick up death penalty items	False	Boolean
ENABLE_NON_LOGIN_PENALTY	Enable non-login penalty	True	Boolean
ENABLE_FAST_TRAVEL	Enable fast travel	True	Boolean
IS_START_LOCATION_SELECT_BY_MAP	Enable selecting of start location	True	Boolean
EXIST_PLAYER_AFTER_LOGOUT	Toggle for deleting players when they log off	False	Boolean
ENABLE_DEFENSE_OTHER_GUILD_PLAYER	Allows defense against other guild players	False	Boolean
COOP_PLAYER_MAX_NUM	Maximum number of players in a guild	4	Integer
REGION	Region		String
USEAUTH	Use authentication	True	Boolean
BAN_LIST_URL	Which ban list to use	https://api.palworldgame.com/api/banlist.txt	string
SHOW_PLAYER_LIST	Enable show player list	True	Boolean

Manually

When the server starts, a PalWorldSettings.ini file will be created in the following location: saves/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini

Please keep in mind that the ENV variables will always overwrite the changes made to PalWorldSettings.ini.

Important

Changes can only be made to PalWorldSettings.ini while the server is off.

Any changes made while the server is live will be overwritten when the server stops.

For a more detailed list of server settings go to: Palworld Wiki

For more detailed server settings explanations go to: shockbyte

Reporting Issues/Feature Requests

Issues/Feature requests can be submitted by using this link.