1. Windows 10/11, Server 2016/2019/2022 & 64-Bit

• -For the guide below, I'll be using examples from Windows Server 2019. These examples
  though should translate over to other versions of Windows 10, or 11.

2. Quad Core processor (requires up to 2 full cores)

• -When running the server, CPU is really negligable over all. I've been able to run a VM with
  several game servers and no issues with CPU. So this game gets a gold star.

3. Up to 4GB memory (currently uses around 1GB memory)

• -On PalWorld's first release, I've noticed that the server's memory usage can grow upwards of 32GB in usage. When you have several players flying around on Jetragons and other fast
  flyers, and spread across the whole map, it tends to eat your memory. I REALLY hope this is
  no longer the case. If so, ignore this part as I am clearly wrong.

4. 12GB disk space (install folder)

• -Pretty small over all. The map is always the same, so you don't get bloating chunk files like
  you can with Minecraft or other generated maps that expand to ridiculous sizes.

So for the entirety of this guide, we'll be using Windows Server for this. If you're hosting a server on a Linux distro server or using Docker, you're going to need to turn left and the next intersection and head back the way you came as I'm not going to be much help for you.

Anyway, let's take this step by step.

1. Download SteamCMD.

• You'll want to get it from the below URL:
  SteamCMD official Page: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD
  Direct Windows download: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd.zip

2. Extract the Download elsewhere.

• You just downloaded SteamCMD to your "Downloads" folder most likely, in a zip file. You'll want to extract the zip file contents to somewhere better. I recommend the root of the C drive. If you read any guides on using steam CMD, 90% of them walk you through using it as if it's sitting there anyway. So that'll save you some time in the future. So once you extract it, it should look similar to this:
  
  
  
• You got that, good. Now for my favorite part, Command Line!

So you got SteamCMD now, time to get PalWorld downloaded USING SteamCMD

1. Open a command line.

• Depending on your version of windows, this is different for everyone. The fastest way to pull
  this up is to Right Click the Start Button. You'll see listed close to the middle either Command
  Prompt, Windows PowerShell, or Terminal. This is dependent on if you have Windows 10,
  11, or a configuration change. Regardless, you'll want to select which ever option comes up.
  I'll have instructions for the next step using all 3. PowerShell & Terminal will use the same
  instructions. Command Prompt will be our different one.
  
  

2. Download the Server:

• Once you have that open it's time to begin. You'll want to type the following commands in
  (Copy/Paste works too) so that PalWorld Server will download. Note: Each line is a different
  command. You'll run these commands again later if you want to update PalWorld Server.
  
  -Command Prompt:
  cd C:\steamcmd
  steamcmd +login anonymous +app_update 2394010 validate +quit
  
  -PowerShell/Terminal:
  cd C:\steamcmd
  .\steamcmd +login anonymous +app_update 2394010 validate +quit
  
  
• If you want to create a BAT file that will do the above with a single click, create a .bat file and throw the following in it:
  
  @echo off
  echo Updating...
  cd C:\steamcmd
  steamcmd +login anonymous +app_update 2394010 validate +quit
  echo Updated!!!
  exit
  
  
  
• Once that's finished, your server should be downloaded. Time to Port Forward!

Next step is Port Forwarding. Having some technical knowledge is important here, but I'll walk you through this regardless.

1. Get your IP address info.

• We're gonna want a few pieces of info here. The IP of your computer, the IP of the router, and your external IP. Your local computer has an IP that only stuff on your network (Wi-Fi) and your router see, and one that only the Internet sees. We can find all this with a simple command.
  
• Open that command terminal again from last step. Type in the following:
  ipconfig
  
  
  
• Once you run that, you should get something like the below:

• This will provide us the IP of your computer (IPv4 Address) and the IP if your router (Default
  Gateway). To find the IP that the internet sees, you'll want to look that up using handy look
  up site. I prefer https://www.ipchicken.com/ for that look up.

2a. Log into your Router & create Port Forward.

• Once you have that info, take the IP of your router (Default Gateway) and type that into your
  web browser. That should take you into the Router configuration site. It might as for
  password information. That info will be specific to your Router. Many will have that login on
  a sticker on the physical device, others will have a generic default password that can be
  easily googled so long as you know what the model of your router is. As for the port
  forwarding process, each router is also unique on this as well for the menu options. I
  recommend hitting up https://portforward.com/router.htm for this.
  
  
• The info I had you pull a few moments ago will come in handy here as you need to forward
  the following:
  Protocol: UDP
  Port: 8211
  
  
• This is the minimum required information that you need from a forwarding perspective to get
  the server up and running. RCON ports can be whitelisted too, but that's not required to get
  the server up and running.
  
  
• -Please note that if you did not ever set a manual IP on your computer/server, this address is
  subject to change and may require updating your port forwarding later on.

2b. If you're not using Port Forwarding

• I'm going to assume you are not going to use a 3rd party app like Hamachi for this. I don't
  have experience with that app as I know how to Port Forward on any device. So you'll want
  to look up a guide on this if setting up this way.

Now here is where I start to differ from other guides as they would not cover this topic. Now that your server is ready to go, in some cases, you will still not be able to allow traffic through. This is because your Windows Firewall is preventing the traffic from coming into your server. This issue is more prevalent on people running an actual Windows Server OS like myself for running headless server applications.

The quickest fix is to turn off Windows Firewall. This is a terrible idea as that firewall is there to protect you. Turning it off puts the computer you're using at risk of intrusion. However do not fear, we have a solution to this.

1. Open up your Windows Firewall settings

• You'll want to right click that snazzy start button again like we did before and select run like in the screen shot below:
  
  
  
  Once run is open, you'll type in wf.msc and hit enter like shown below:
  
  
  
  This will open your Windows Firewall settings that we want to edit. It should look "similar" to the below screen shot:
  
  

2. Create Firewall Change 1

• First you'll want to select Inbound Rules on the left.
  
  
• Next on the right you'll click "New Rule..."
  
  
• Rule Type:
  
  
  
• Program: (Select Highlighted in Yellow)
  
  
  
• Protocol and Ports:
  
  
  
• Scope:
  
  
  
• Action:
  
  
  
• Profile:
  
  
  
• Name:
  ----Name your Fire Wall Rule and hit Finish----

3. Create Firewall Change 2

• You'll want a second rule as shown above, but for the "Program" section, change it to the following:
  

4. Create Firewall Change 3 & 4

• You'll want to create 2 more rules as shown above, exactly the same way as shown. But instead, make sure to select Outbound Rules first.

You should now have 4 rules created at this point. This will allow people to connect to your computer's PalWorld server and only your PalWorld server that's on your computer using port 8211.

• At this point, all you'll need to do is double click the executable PalServer.exe located in the PalServer folder. See screenshot below:
  
  
  
  
• To join your server, have your players enter in your external IP (the one the internet sees) in the below screen shot when you select to join via multiplayer. You'll want to enter your local IP address for faster connection since you'll be on the same network (Wi-Fi) as your server:
  
  
  
  
• If you'd like to make configuration changes to your PalWorld server, like server name, password, building decay, etc, then you'll want to edit the following file before running the server using Notepad:
  
  
  
  
• Here's an example of what the config file will look like. I use Notepad++ for editing files, but Notepad works too since it's built into Windows:
  
  
  
• If you'd like some help with how and what to change on the config, take a look at the official PalWorld server Guide page. All of the config file settings are explained in a neat table that can help with knowing what exactly your changing or why you should/shouldn't change it. Link is below:
  
  https://tech.palworldgame.com/settings-and-operation/configuration