# RimWorld Server Hosting - everything RE:NODE has published
> A RimWorld server on RE:NODE: plans, how the panel runs it, and every tutorial RE:NODE has published about it.
Generated from https://www.renode.space/game-servers/rimworld, the live catalogue, the deploy docs, the panel guides and the RE:NODE blog. English. Source of truth for anything that changes: https://www.renode.space/game-servers/rimworld.
Contents: what it is, plans and prices, panel how-to, tutorials, rules for the assistant.
## What it is
RimWorld Open World servers — a persistent multiplayer colony, mods included.
- Genres: Indie, Simulation, Strategy
- Developer: Ludeon Studios
- Released: 17 Oct, 2018
- Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/
### What comes with every RimWorld server
- Configured before you see it: The install runs, the configuration is written and the server starts. No first-boot checklist, and nothing left on a default password shared with every other RimWorld server on the internet.
- The real console: Live output, command input and the server's own logs - not a filtered summary. Web-server noise is folded behind a counter you can switch off.
- Files and SFTP: A full file manager with an editor, plus SFTP credentials. Upload mods, edit configs, pull a world down to your machine.
- 2-2 backup slots: Taken on demand or on a schedule, restored with a button. Deleting a server takes its backups with it, on purpose.
- 1 port allocated: Add and remove ports yourself from the Network tab, including the query and RCON ports where the game wants them.
- People on the same server: Invite friends or staff with granular permissions - console only, files only, no billing - through subusers, roles and teams.
### Which RimWorld plan do you need?
Memory is what decides whether a server holds together, so start there. The Starter tier gives 1 GB and 0.8 vCPU, which suits a private group. The Advanced tier at 3 GB is where most public servers sit, and Premium at 6 GB exists for the servers that stay full.
Storage matters more than people expect once mods and backups are involved - plans here run from 10 GB to 40 GB of NVMe. Moving up or down a tier later does not rebuild your world; it changes the limits on the container you already have.
If you are not sure, take the middle tier. It is cheaper to move up after a busy weekend than to spend one explaining lag to your players.
More game servers: https://www.renode.space/ai/game-servers.md
### General questions
### Getting started
**How quickly is my server ready?**
Game, app, web and database servers are created the moment payment clears, usually inside a minute. The game or runtime is installed and started for you, and the console is live in your browser while it happens. VDS and dedicated servers are prepared by hand and delivered within 24 hours.
**Do I need to configure anything before it works?**
No. The install runs, the configuration is written, and admin passwords are generated for your server rather than shared with everybody else's. The exception is four games whose publisher issues a credential to a person - those say so on the shop before you pay, and ask for it on a Setup tab afterwards.
**Which games need a key from me?**
Counter-Strike 2 needs a Steam game-server token, Don't Starve Together a Klei cluster token, FiveM a Cfx.re licence, and DayZ, Project Zomboid, 7 Days to Die, Arma 3 and Unturned need a Steam account or token of your own. We cannot create any of them and we never share one between customers. Your server is built immediately and the installation waits until you paste yours in.
**Can I try before buying?**
There is no free tier. The entry plans start at $1.50 a month precisely so that trying something costs about as much as a coffee.
**Can Claude or ChatGPT set my project up?**
Yes, and the panel gives it what it needs. On a server's Console tab, pick a purpose and press Connect AI: the panel copies a private link with the runtime, the port the code must read from SERVER_PORT, the code path, the GitHub branch, the databases and the limits. Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that can open links; the same link followed by /mcp works as an MCP server URL. It stops by itself after 7 days unused. You can also connect Claude, or any MCP client, to your whole account at https://panel.renode.space/api/client/mcp. Linked repositories get a pre-flight check that shows what will break before a deploy, no AI needed. No password or token is ever shown to the assistant - the AI setup page explains it all.
### Running the server
**Do I get full file access?**
Yes - a complete file manager with an in-browser editor, plus SFTP credentials. There is no plan on which the file manager is disabled or read-only.
**Can I install mods and plugins?**
Yes. Upload them through the file manager or SFTP, or use the game's own workshop support where it has any. Nothing here whitelists which mods you are allowed to run.
**Can other people help me run it?**
Yes. Invite subusers with granular permissions - console only, files only, no billing - or build a team with a role and grant it access to several servers at once. Permissions are a union, so nobody loses access they were given elsewhere.
**What happens if my server runs out of memory?**
New servers are configured so the kernel stops the container and it restarts clean, rather than swapping and dragging the whole machine down. If a server restarts repeatedly we warn you on the server page and open a support ticket before anything is suspended - you get told twice before it stops.
**Is the CPU limit a hard limit?**
Yes, and it cannot be breached: the container is throttled to the share you bought. A server sitting at 100% is slow, not broken, and is never suspended for it.
### Backups and safety
**Are backups included?**
Every plan carries backup slots - two on the entry tiers, more further up. Take them on demand or on a schedule, and restore with a button rather than a support ticket.
**Where are backups stored?**
Off the machine they protect. A backup sitting on the same disk as the thing it is insuring covers you deleting your world and covers nothing at all about the disk failing.
**What happens to my backups if I cancel?**
Deleting a server deletes its backups with it, deliberately and including locked ones. Download anything you want to keep first - the panel lets you.
### Billing
**How do I pay?**
PayPal, card, your wallet balance, or bank transfer. Every method produces a proper invoice you can download or print, with our details and the bank account on it while it is unpaid.
**Can I pay in Georgian lari?**
The panel displays every figure in lari at the National Bank of Georgia's published rate, marks converted figures as approximate, and always shows the amount that will actually be charged. Invoices stay in the currency they were raised in, because an invoice is a demand for a specific amount.
**What happens when my subscription is due?**
An invoice is raised and emailed to you seven days before expiry, and again on the day. Paying it settles that same document rather than raising a second one.
**Can I upgrade or downgrade later?**
Yes, and it does not rebuild anything. Changing plan changes the limits on the container you already have - your world, files and database stay exactly where they are.
**Do you offer refunds?**
There is no automatic refund button. If a server cannot do what it was sold to do, open a ticket and we will sort it out - including refunding you. We would rather fix the plan than argue about the policy.
### Support and the honest bits
**How do I get help?**
Open a ticket from the panel - it reaches every member of staff and every administrator, not a queue aimed at nobody in particular. Attach a screenshot if it helps; attachments are private to your ticket rather than sitting at a guessable public URL. Discord is there for faster, less formal questions.
**Where are the servers?**
Germany, on hardware we run. That is one location: if you need players in another region on a low ping, say so before buying rather than after.
**Is there an uptime guarantee?**
We measure node availability every five minutes and report it in the panel rather than printing a number with four decimal places we have not earned. If something is down you will usually hear it from us first.
**Who actually runs this?**
A small team that writes the panel, the shop and the automation itself. When something is wrong the fix is a code change, which is why the list of things wrong keeps getting shorter.
## Plans and prices
Read from the live catalogue at 2026-10-15 02:24 UTC. Prices are in US dollars per month; checkout also takes Georgian lari and bills for 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 months. Prices change - re-check on https://www.renode.space/game-servers/rimworld or in the panel shop at https://panel.renode.space before quoting one.
| Plan | Price / month | Memory | CPU | NVMe disk | Databases | Backups | Ports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $5 | 1 GB | 0.8 vCPU | 10 GB | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Standard | $7 | 2 GB | 1 vCPU | 15 GB | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Advanced | $10 | 3 GB | 1.5 vCPU | 20 GB | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Pro | $13 | 4 GB | 2 vCPU | 30 GB | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Premium | $17 | 6 GB | 2.5 vCPU | 40 GB | 1 | 2 | 1 |
## Panel how-to
From the panel guides at https://www.renode.space/guides.
### Ordering a server
Ordering takes about a minute and happens in three screens: find what you want to run, pick a plan, and pay. Pay by card or PayPal and the server is set up the moment the payment goes through - you can watch it install in its console.
- Takes: About a minute
- Pay with: Card, PayPal or bank transfer
- Billed for: 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 months
- Prices in: US dollars or Georgian lari
Open the shop and find what you want to run:
1. Sign in to the panel and open the shop. The tabs along the top are the product lines: VDS, Game Servers, App Hosting, Web Hosting and Databases.
2. Find your game - there is a search box - and press View plans. The card already shows the lowest price and the range of memory on offer.
Compare the plans and pick one:
3. Every plan lists its memory, CPU and NVMe storage, roughly how many players it suits, and what is included - updates, backup slots, file and SFTP access.
4. Press Get Started on the one you want. Not sure? Start smaller: you can move to a bigger plan later without losing your world.
Choose how long, then pay:
5. Pick a billing period - 1, 3, 6, 12 or 24 months. The total for the whole period is shown before you pay, so there are no surprises.
6. Pay with PayPal, or press Debit or Credit Card - paying by card does not need a PayPal account. The server is created as soon as the payment completes.
Paying by bank transfer instead: Prefer to pay from your bank? Choose bank transfer at checkout. The server is set up once the payment arrives, usually the next working day.
1. Switch the payment tab to Bank transfer. The account details for Bank of Georgia and TBC Bank appear, each with a Copy button.
2. Press Order & get invoice, then pay that invoice from your banking app, quoting the reference on it.
After you pay:
- The server appears under My Servers and installs itself. Open it to watch the install in the console.
- Your orders, invoices and subscriptions are under Finances in the side menu.
- Stuck at any step? Open Support in the side menu and raise a ticket.
### The console
Live output, a command line, power controls and the resource graphs. It is the server's own output rather than a filtered summary - if the game prints it, you see it.
- Start, stop, restart and kill, with the current state always visible.
- Command history with the arrow keys, and tab completion for common commands.
- Web-server noise - the internet knocking on doors that are not there - is folded behind a count you can switch off. A real error always prints.
- Graphs for memory, CPU and disk against your limits, so whether it is the plan or the mod is answerable.
### Files and SFTP
A complete file manager with an editor in the browser, plus SFTP credentials for the tools you already use. Upload a modpack, fix a config, pull a world down to your machine.
- Drag files in, or upload a folder. Archives can be unpacked in place.
- Edit any text file with syntax highlighting and save without downloading it.
- PDFs and images preview in the panel rather than downloading first.
- SFTP on the same credentials - use FileZilla, WinSCP or your editor's remote mode.
### Backups
Take one before you try something. Restore it when the something goes wrong. Lock the ones that matter so they are not rotated away.
- Slots on every plan - two on the entry tiers, more further up.
- Take one on demand, or on a schedule you set.
- Download any backup to your own machine.
> Important: Deleting a server deletes its backups, including the locked ones. A lock stops you removing a backup by accident; it is not a claim on the disk after the server is gone. Download what you want to keep before you cancel.
### Subusers, roles and teams
Give somebody the console without giving them your files, or the files without your billing. Three separate ideas, kept apart deliberately.
- A role holds permissions - what may be done.
- A team holds people.
- A grant joins a team to a server with a role, so adding a moderator to the team gives them the same access everywhere at once.
- Invite by link, by a join code, or by email address - and require approval on the codes if you would rather vet people.
- Access can be time-boxed, and expiry stops working immediately rather than overnight.
### Scheduled tasks
Restart nightly, back up before the restart, announce it to players first. Tasks run in order with delays between them, so a schedule can be a small routine rather than one action.
- Send a console command - a warning to players, a save, a world flush.
- Take a backup.
- Power actions: start, stop, restart.
### Games that need a key from you
A few games want a credential their publisher issues to a person - a Steam game-server token, a Steam account that owns the server files, a Klei cluster token, a Cfx.re licence. We cannot create one and we never share one between customers.
> Note: Those games say so on the shop before you pay. Your server is built immediately, and the game installation is held until you paste the value into a Setup tab, because installing without it produces a server with no game files in it and no explanation.
## Tutorials
4 posts, newest first. Each one follows in full after the list.
- [RimWorld Multiplayer mods: compatibility and load order](https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-mod-compatibility) (2026-10-15): Which mods work with the RimWorld Multiplayer mod: the compatibility scores, Multiplayer Compatibility, Prepatcher, load order, DLCs and a test before day one.
- [RimWorld Multiplayer: waiting for host to accept, and desyncs](https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-waiting-for-host-and-desync) (2026-10-15): Fix RimWorld Multiplayer joins stuck on 'Waiting for host to accept', mod list and config mismatches, and desyncs - with what the desync report contains.
- [RimWorld Together server setup: download, config, mods](https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-together-server-setup) (2026-10-15): Set up a RimWorld Together dedicated server: which build to download, the first join that makes the world, config files, port 25555, mod sync and the browser.
- [RimWorld multiplayer: mods, desyncs, hosting](https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-server-guide) (2026-09-21): RimWorld has no official multiplayer. What the Multiplayer mod and RimWorld Together each do, which one can run on a server, config, mod lists and desyncs.
---
### RimWorld Multiplayer mods: compatibility and load order
Published 2026-10-15 by RE:NODE Team. https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-mod-compatibility
Most RimWorld mods work with the Multiplayer mod, and the ones that do not fail in a predictable way. Mods that only add data - new items, animals, apparel, buildings, factions written in XML - are always compatible, because there is nothing in them to desync. Mods with C# code are where the trouble is: anything that adds a button, a gizmo or a menu that changes the game has to be synchronised, and anything that rolls its own random numbers or keeps its own timers has to be patched. The Multiplayer mod shows a crowd-sourced score for every mod in your list, the Multiplayer Compatibility mod patches a long list of popular ones, and the load order is fixed at the top: Prepatcher, Harmony, Core, your DLCs, then Multiplayer. The rest of this guide is how to read the scores, build a list four people can share, and prove it works before you sink sixty hours into a colony.
If you have not chosen between the Multiplayer mod and RimWorld Together yet, read the [RimWorld multiplayer server guide](https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-server-guide) first. This post is only about the Multiplayer mod - one shared colony, deterministic lockstep, every machine running the same simulation - because that is the one where mod compatibility decides whether you can play at all.
#### Why some mods break multiplayer and others do not
The Multiplayer mod does not send the game state across the network. It sends commands. When a player drafts a pawn, changes a bill or designates a tree for cutting, that action is wrapped up, stamped with a tick and executed on every machine at the same moment. Every copy of the colony then computes the same result, because RimWorld's simulation is made deterministic by the mod: random numbers are seeded identically, and anything that would differ between machines is either synchronised or kept out of the simulation.
A mod breaks this in one of three ways.
1. **It changes the game from the user interface without going through sync.** A new gizmo, a right-click option, a settings window that edits a building. The click happens on one machine only, the other machines never hear about it, and the colonies diverge. This is the most common problem, and it is the one compatibility patches fix - they tell Multiplayer which methods to sync.
2. **It uses randomness or state the mod cannot see.** Code that calls a random number generator outside RimWorld's own, reads the system clock, caches results based on what the local player is looking at, or does work on a background thread. Two machines get two answers.
3. **It changes how ticking works.** Performance mods that skip, batch or throttle ticks for things off-screen are a particular risk, because what is on screen is different for every player. Some of these have been made compatible; check before assuming.
XML-only mods avoid all three, which is why the in-game compatibility window says outright that they are always compatible. The catch it also states: an XML mod can depend on a framework mod that has C# code, and that framework then has to be compatible too.
#### Checking a mod: the scores and where to find them
The Multiplayer mod adds a **Multiplayer compatibility** button to RimWorld's own Mods screen. It opens a window listing your active, installed and outdated mods with a status score and notes for each. The data is crowd-sourced and downloaded from the Multiplayer team's server, cached locally in the `MpCache` folder, and can be switched off with the "Show crowd-sourced compat info" setting if you would rather not fetch it.
| Score | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| 4 | Everything works |
| 3 | Mostly works, some minor features do not |
| 2 | Partially works, major features do not |
| 1 | Does not work |
| Unknown | Nobody has reported it yet |
The same scale (with 0 for untested) is used in the community spreadsheet linked from the mod's Workshop page and in the Discord's mod-report channel, which is where the scores come from. Treat them as a starting point, not a guarantee. A 4 means someone played with that mod and saw no problems; it says nothing about how it behaves next to the other 150 mods in your list. The Multiplayer team's own FAQ makes the point directly: two mods that are each listed as fully compatible can still desync together.
How to act on each score:
- **4**: include it.
- **3**: read the notes. "Minor" is usually one button or one window that does not sync. If your group will not use that feature, it is effectively a 4.
- **2**: only if the broken part is something you can avoid entirely, and test it on purpose.
- **1**: leave it out. No amount of load-order shuffling fixes a score of 1.
- **Unknown**: test it yourself, and report what you find so the next group does not have to.
Scores are tied to versions. A mod rated 4 two RimWorld versions ago may have rewritten half its code since, and the "Outdated" section of the window exists for exactly that reason.
#### The Multiplayer Compatibility mod
Multiplayer Compatibility (package id `rwmt.MultiplayerCompatibility`, by the same RimWorld Multiplayer Team) is a single mod full of patches for other people's mods. It contains no content of its own. For each supported mod it registers the methods that need syncing, marks the ones that must run only locally, and fixes the randomness - the work the original mod author would have done if they had written for multiplayer.
The supported list is long and changes constantly. At the time of writing it includes the Vanilla Expanded framework and much of the Vanilla Expanded series, Common Sense, Simple Sidearms, Pick Up And Haul, RimFridge, LWM's Deep Storage, Prison Labor, Alpha Animals and Alpha Biomes, among many others. The authoritative list is the mod's own description and its GitHub README, not a forum post from last year.
Three rules:
- **Install it whenever you run any C# mods.** It does nothing for mods it does not patch, so it costs nothing to have.
- **It needs the current Multiplayer.** It declares Multiplayer as a dependency and is updated alongside it. An old copy of one with a new copy of the other is a version mismatch waiting to happen.
- **A mod being in its list does not make the mod a 4.** The patch may cover the main features and leave the rest. The score in the compatibility window is still the thing to read.
Some mods do not need it at all because their authors support multiplayer natively - they call the Multiplayer API themselves. Achtung! is the usual example. Those show up as compatible without any patch.
#### Load order for a multiplayer modlist
RimWorld's load order is the `activeMods` list in `ModsConfig.xml`, and later mods override earlier ones. For the general rules - dependencies, overrides, code conflicts - see [mod load order explained](https://www.renode.space/blog/mod-load-order-explained). For Multiplayer the top of the list is fixed by the mods' own metadata, and getting it wrong produces errors at startup rather than subtle bugs.
- **Prepatcher** goes first, above Harmony and above Core. Current Multiplayer releases list it as a hard dependency (it replaced the old Harmony dependency in the 0.11 line), and it is also what makes rituals work in multiplayer.
- **Harmony** next. Prepatcher bundles its own copy of Harmony, but most other code mods still declare `brrainz.harmony` as a dependency, so keep it.
- **Core and the DLCs** in their usual order: Royalty, Ideology, Biotech, Anomaly, Odyssey.
- **Multiplayer** directly below the last DLC. The mod's description says so in bold, and its metadata declares it loads before HugsLib and the Vanilla Expanded framework.
- **Multiplayer Compatibility** immediately after Multiplayer.
- Then frameworks (HugsLib, the Vanilla Expanded framework and so on), content mods, and patch mods last.
ModsConfig.xml (activeMods, trimmed):
```xml
zetrith.prepatcher
brrainz.harmony
ludeon.rimworld
ludeon.rimworld.royalty
ludeon.rimworld.ideology
ludeon.rimworld.biotech
ludeon.rimworld.anomaly
ludeon.rimworld.odyssey
rwmt.multiplayer
rwmt.multiplayercompatibility
unlimitedhugs.hugslib
oskarpotocki.vanillafactionsexpanded.core
```
The file lives in the `Config` folder of RimWorld's save data: `%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Ludeon Studios\RimWorld by Ludeon Studios\Config` on Windows, `~/.config/unity3d/Ludeon Studios/RimWorld by Ludeon Studios/Config` on Linux. You rarely need to edit it by hand - the in-game Mods screen and sorting tools such as RimSort write it for you, reading each mod's `loadAfter`, `loadBefore` and `modDependencies` - but it is the one place to look when you want to know what the game actually loaded.
Order matters more in multiplayer than in single player for one simple reason: the join check compares it. If everyone has the same mods in a different order, the joining player is told the lists match but the order does not, and has to restart.
#### DLCs and versions: everything must match
The Multiplayer team's answer to "do we need the same DLCs" is that everything needs to be the same. A player without Biotech cannot join a game where the host has Biotech enabled, because the host's world contains Biotech definitions the client cannot load. The practical consequence is that a group's DLC set is the intersection of what everyone owns. If one friend has only the base game, either they buy the DLCs or everyone disables theirs for this colony.
Support for each DLC also arrived at different times. Royalty and Ideology have been supported for years. Anomaly support came in stages through the 1.5 releases, with rituals and some of its mechanics fixed later than the rest, and the team's FAQ warned of desyncs with it for a long time. Odyssey and gravships are supported in the 1.6 releases, which are still being actively fixed. If you are planning a long colony around the newest DLC, read the latest release notes on the Multiplayer GitHub releases page first, and test the DLC's headline mechanics specifically (see the test plan below).
Versions have to match at three levels:
| Must match | What happens if not |
| --- | --- |
| RimWorld build | Refused at join, or the mod fails to load |
| Multiplayer version | "Wrong protocol version" at join |
| Every mod's files | Listed on the join screen's Files tab |
Multiplayer tracks the current RimWorld version and states a minimum build in its description; the team does not test new mod versions against old game versions. Keep everyone on the latest public RimWorld build, and do not opt into a beta branch unless the whole group does it together.
#### What the join screen checks, and Sync configs
When a player connects, Multiplayer compares their game with the host's and shows a **Data mismatch** screen if anything differs. It has four tabs, and each one tells you something different.
- **General**: RimWorld version and Multiplayer version. Nothing else can be fixed until these match.
- **Mod list**: the host's mods against yours, with "Not installed" against anything missing. "Subscribe to missing" subscribes you to every missing mod that is on the Workshop and downloads them in the background. "Apply server's mod list" replaces your active list with the host's - your own list is overwritten, so save it first if you care about it.
- **Files**: mods with the same name but different files. Usually one player has an older version, or an update left files behind. The fix is to update or resubscribe to the mod; for Core and DLC differences, the screen tells you to delete their folders and verify the game files in Steam.
- **Configs**: mod settings that differ.
After any change the game restarts and reconnects you automatically once it has loaded.
The configs part is controlled by the host's **Sync configs** option when hosting. With it on, joining players temporarily use the host's mod configuration files: nothing on disk is overwritten, and a restart puts your own configs back. The mod's own description of it is accurate - it reduces desyncs. It also warns that some mods keep sensitive things in their configs, such as the Twitch tokens used by streamer mods, so a host running one of those should think before sharing.
Leave Sync configs on unless you have that reason. A mod setting that differs - a slider in a storage mod, a toggle in a combat mod - is invisible until the moment it produces a different result, and then it is a desync with no obvious cause.
#### Building a shared modlist that stays shared
The Multiplayer mod will happily copy a mod list from host to client. It will not stop the list drifting over the following weeks. These are the habits that do.
1. **One person owns the list.** Usually the host. Everybody else suggests; one person adds, scores and tests.
2. **Start from the compatibility window, not from a Workshop collection someone else made for single player.** Go through the active list and remove every 1, read the notes on every 2 and 3, and mark the unknowns for testing.
3. **Keep it smaller than your single-player list.** Every C# mod is another chance of a desync, and every desync costs the whole group a reload. Content mods that are pure XML are cheap; quality-of-life mods with new buttons are where to be selective.
4. **Publish it as a Steam collection.** Everyone subscribes to the collection and nothing else, so updates arrive for everyone together. The join screen's "Subscribe to missing" then has almost nothing to do.
5. **Send the order as a file.** RimWorld's Mods screen can save the active list to a `.rml` file in the `ModLists` folder of the save data, and load one back. Send that file, not a screenshot.
6. **Freeze updates during a run.** Steam updates Workshop mods whenever it likes. A mod that updates on one machine on Tuesday is a Files mismatch on Wednesday, or worse, a version that has quietly lost its multiplayer support. If a mod update breaks the list mid-colony, [what to do when a mod update breaks](https://www.renode.space/blog/what-to-do-when-a-mod-update-breaks) has the recovery steps, and the general mechanics of Workshop syncing are in [Steam Workshop mods on dedicated servers](https://www.renode.space/blog/steam-workshop-mods-on-dedicated-servers).
Players who are not on Steam have to install every mod by hand, in the exact versions the host has. It works, and it is the single most common source of Files mismatches. If one player is on a different storefront, put the whole list in a zip on the same day and have them install from that.
#### Testing before a long colony
A modlist that loads is not a modlist that works. Desyncs appear when a specific code path runs, and some code paths - a raid, a caravan, a ritual - may not run for the first ten in-game days. Spend an evening on a throwaway colony first. It is the cheapest hour in the whole run.
Host the test with the arbiter on. The arbiter is a background copy of the game that the host runs alongside the real one, used only to detect and pin down desyncs; it costs the host's machine real memory and CPU, so turn it off again for the real colony if the host's PC is not strong. The "Desync traces" option logs extra stack traces that make a desync report far more useful, though it does not work on 32-bit or ARM processors such as Apple Silicon.
Then, with at least two players connected, deliberately do each of these:
- Use dev mode to fire a raid and fight it, with drafted pawns from both players.
- Form a caravan, travel, and come back. Visit a settlement and trade.
- Use every new gizmo and button the mods add, from both players' machines, not only the host's.
- Change a mod's settings mid-game, if you expect anyone to do that during the real run (or agree that nobody will).
- Run a ritual and, if you use them, the headline mechanics of your newest DLC - gravships on Odyssey, the anomaly-specific events on Anomaly.
- Save, quit, reload, and have everyone rejoin.
- Play an hour at the fastest speed the group will use, with the host watching their frame rate.
If something desyncs, the game says so and writes a report to the `MpDesyncs` folder in the save data. Remove the most recently added C# mod, or the one whose feature you were using when it happened, and repeat that action. When you find the culprit, check its score and notes again, and if it was listed as compatible, the desync report is what the Multiplayer team needs.
Two settings to decide before you start, because changing them later changes how mods behave. **Async time** gives each map and the planet its own time controls, so one player can pause their map while another plays on; most mods are fine with it, but anything that assumes one global clock is worth testing with it on. **Multifaction** lets players run separate colonies in the same game, and the team still describes it as work in progress - expect more mod rough edges there than in a single shared colony.
#### When it desyncs mid-run
Desyncs in a long colony are rarely random. In rough order of likelihood:
1. **Someone's mods updated.** Compare the Files tab when they rejoin; resubscribe or roll back.
2. **A setting changed.** Make sure Sync configs is on and that nobody has a locally edited config.
3. **A mod feature that was never tested.** Note what the player was doing when it fired.
4. **The host's machine fell behind.** A host whose frame rate drops below the game's tick rate drags everyone out of step. This is not a mod problem, though a heavy mod list causes it; [CPU vs RAM for game servers](https://www.renode.space/blog/cpu-vs-ram-for-game-servers) explains why one slow core matters more than total memory.
5. **A bad connection.** The team's FAQ names a poor link between host and player as the most common cause. [Latency, jitter and packet loss](https://www.renode.space/blog/latency-jitter-and-packet-loss) covers how to tell which of the three you have.
Keep the autosave interval short and the slot count generous - the host's gameplay settings set both - and keep a copy of the save folder somewhere other than the host's PC. A desync is recovered by reloading the last good save, and a corrupted save with no copy is the end of the colony. [Backups that actually restore](https://www.renode.space/blog/backups-that-actually-restore) is the longer version of that argument.
#### What a hosting plan can and cannot do here
The Multiplayer mod runs inside each player's copy of the game, and the session lives on the host's PC. Recent releases have started work on a standalone server mode, but it is new and not how most groups play yet; check the project's release notes before planning around it. None of the compatibility work in this guide happens on a server - it happens on four desktops that have to agree.
If what your group really wants is a world that keeps going when the host is offline, that is RimWorld Together, which does have a proper server program. RE:NODE's RimWorld plans start at 1 GB of memory with one port allocation, which is all its server needs, with the mod list and configs edited in the browser file manager or [over SFTP](https://www.renode.space/blog/sftp-and-the-file-manager). The setup is in the [RimWorld multiplayer server guide](https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-server-guide).
#### FAQ
##### Are all RimWorld mods compatible with Multiplayer?
No, but more are than most people expect. XML-only mods always work. Mods with code work if they sync their actions, either natively or through the Multiplayer Compatibility mod. Check the score for each one in the Multiplayer compatibility window on the Mods screen.
##### Do I need the Multiplayer Compatibility mod?
If your list has any code mods, yes. It patches a long list of popular mods so their buttons and features sync, and it does nothing for mods it does not cover, so there is no cost to having it. Load it directly after Multiplayer.
##### Does everyone need the same DLCs?
Yes. Every player needs the same DLCs enabled as the host. If one player lacks a DLC, the group either plays without it or that player buys it.
##### Where does Multiplayer go in the load order?
Prepatcher at the very top, then Harmony, then Core and the DLCs, then Multiplayer directly beneath the last DLC, then Multiplayer Compatibility. Frameworks, content and patches follow.
##### Can players have different mod settings?
Not safely. Differing settings cause desyncs. Turn on Sync configs when hosting and joining players temporarily use the host's configs without anything on disk being overwritten.
##### Can we add mods to a colony that is already running?
XML content mods can usually be added with a save, reload and everyone resyncing their list. Removing mods, or adding code mods mid-run, risks broken saves as well as desyncs. Back up the save first and test the change on a copy.
RimWorld plans on RE:NODE start at 1 GB with one port allocation and NVMe storage, which suits a RimWorld Together server. Configs and mod lists are edited in the browser file manager or over SFTP, and every plan includes backup slots stored off the machine they protect.
[See RimWorld plans](https://www.renode.space/game-servers/rimworld)
---
### RimWorld Multiplayer: waiting for host to accept, and desyncs
Published 2026-10-15 by RE:NODE Team. https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-waiting-for-host-and-desync
If a friend is stuck on "Waiting for host to accept" in the RimWorld Multiplayer mod, the host has not clicked them in. Steam joins are not automatic: the host gets a pop-up with the friend's name and an Accept button, or a list under "Accept Steam players" in the chat window, and nothing happens until they press it. If no request ever appears, the host is not hosting with the Steam option ticked. Desyncs are a different problem with a different cure: almost all of them come from mods, mod settings or game files that differ between machines, from a mod the Multiplayer team has not patched, or from one machine falling too far behind. This guide walks through every stage of joining, the mismatch screen, the desync report the mod writes, and the habits that keep a long colony in sync.
Everything here is about the Multiplayer mod (originally Zetrith's, now maintained by the rwmt team): one shared colony, every machine running the same simulation in lockstep. For what the mod is, how it differs from RimWorld Together and which of the two can run on a server, see [RimWorld multiplayer: mods, desyncs, hosting](https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-server-guide). This post picks up where that one stops - when it is installed and something has gone wrong.
#### What happens when you join
Joining a Multiplayer game is not one step. The client walks through a sequence, and the label on the loading window tells you exactly which step it is stuck on. Knowing the order turns "it doesn't work" into a specific fault.
```diagram
title: A Steam join, step by step
client = Joining player | Multiplayer button
steam = Steam P2P | session request
host = Host game | Accept / Reject
check = Mod and config check | Data mismatch screen
data = Game data | save and join-point
play = Simulating | catch up to host
client -> steam : Connecting
steam -> host : Waiting for host to accept
host -> check : Joining
check -> data : Downloading
data -> play : Waiting for game data
```
| Label you see | What it means | Where to look |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Connecting to a game hosted by... | Steam is opening a session to the host | Steam online, same RimWorld build |
| Waiting for host to accept | The host has a join request waiting | The host's screen |
| Joining | Versions and mod lists being compared | Mismatch screen, if one opens |
| Downloading | The save and configs are coming across | Firewall, connection quality |
| Waiting for game data | The host is preparing data to send | Host performance, large saves |
| Simulating | You are catching up to the host's tick | Your CPU, the join-point setting |
Direct and LAN connections skip the accept step entirely. They go straight from connecting to joining, and if they fail it is usually with "Connection failed" or "Connection timed out" rather than a wait.
#### "Waiting for host to accept"
This message only appears on Steam connections, and it means the joining player has done everything right. Steam peer-to-peer networking needs the receiving side to accept a session from someone it has not spoken to before, and the Multiplayer mod hands that decision to the host rather than taking it silently.
In current versions the host sees a small window slide in from the right-hand edge with the player's Steam name and avatar, the line "wants to join your game", and two buttons: Accept and Reject. The same pending requests are listed in the chat window (top right of the screen while in the game) under the heading "Accept Steam players" - click a name there to let them in. Once accepted, the host gets a "Player has been accepted" message and the joining player moves on to the mod check.
The checklist when someone waits forever:
1. **The host has to be looking at the game.** The request pops up in the host's RimWorld window. If the host is alt-tabbed to Discord, the request is sitting there unanswered.
2. **The host must be hosting with Steam enabled.** The mod only queues Steam requests when the local server was started with the Steam option ticked in the host dialog. A game hosted on Direct or LAN only will ignore Steam requests completely, so the joining player waits with nothing ever appearing on the host's side. Close the server and host again with Steam ticked.
3. **Both sides need Steam running and signed in.** The Steam route works only on Steam copies of RimWorld. GOG and Epic copies have to use Direct or LAN.
4. **Join through Steam, not by pasting an ID.** Right-click the host in the Steam friends list and use Join Game, or use the Steam tab in the Multiplayer menu. A Steam invite cannot be accepted while you are inside a game - the mod tells you to quit to the menu first.
5. **A rejected request is final for that attempt.** If the host clicked Reject by mistake, or the join timed out with "Connection timed out", the joining player has to start a fresh connection from the menu.
If you host for a fixed group and are tired of clicking, the mod settings (Options, Mod Settings, Multiplayer) have **Auto-accept Steam**, off by default, which accepts any incoming Steam connection request automatically. Leave it off if your game is visible to people you do not know well - a game password, set in the host dialog, is the other half of keeping strangers out.
> [!TIP]
> If a Steam join hangs and nothing appears on the host's screen at all, have the host check the Steam box in the host dialog before anything else. It is the single most common cause, especially after converting a game that was first hosted over LAN.
#### Stuck on Connecting, Downloading or Simulating
**Direct connections** use UDP port `30502` by default. The host enters `0.0.0.0:30502` (or just leaves the default) in the Direct field so the game listens on every interface, forwards UDP `30502` on their router to their PC, and gives friends their public IP. A friend then types `203.0.113.10` or `203.0.113.10:30502` into the Direct tab. If it fails, the usual suspects are a forward set to TCP instead of UDP, a forward pointing at an old local IP, Windows Firewall blocking RimWorld, or an internet connection behind carrier-grade NAT, where no forward will ever work. [NAT and CGNAT for game hosts](https://www.renode.space/blog/nat-and-cgnat-for-game-hosts) explains how to tell, and [port forwarding vs hosted servers](https://www.renode.space/blog/port-forwarding-vs-hosted-servers) covers what to do about it. A virtual LAN such as Hamachi or Radmin VPN, with both players using the LAN option, is the workaround the mod's own FAQ suggests.
| Method | What it needs | Typical failure |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Steam | Steam copies, Steam running | Request never accepted |
| Direct | UDP `30502` reachable on the host | Forward missing or wrong protocol |
| LAN | Same network or a virtual LAN | Different subnet, firewall |
**Stuck on Downloading** is, according to the mod's FAQ, nearly always a firewall. The quick test is to disable the firewall on both machines for one attempt; if the join completes, add RimWorld (and Steam, for Steam joins) as an allowed application and turn the firewall back on.
**Stuck on Simulating** means the save arrived and the joining machine is replaying ticks to reach the host. How long that takes depends on how old the join-point is. The host setting **Auto join-points** creates a join-point - a fresh snapshot newcomers start from - on join and on desync by default, and optionally on every autosave. The host can also type `/joinpoint` in chat to make one immediately, which is the fastest fix when a friend has been simulating for minutes.
#### Mod list and version mismatches
When the client reaches the Joining stage, it compares itself with the host. If anything differs, a **Data mismatch** screen opens with tabs for General, Mod list, Files and Configs, showing "Server" against "Your client" side by side. Read it rather than closing it; it names the problem.
- **RimWorld version** or **Multiplayer version** differs. Both are shown. A different Multiplayer build can also surface as "Wrong protocol version" or the packet error "You are probably using a different Multiplayer version than the host!". Update the mod on both sides - on Steam, unsubscribe and resubscribe if it refuses to update - and make sure everyone runs the same RimWorld build. The mod tracks the current major version only (1.6 at the time of writing), and right after a RimWorld patch there may be a gap before a matching Multiplayer release.
- **"Mod lists differ. The game needs to be restarted."** Use **Apply server's mod list**, which overwrites your active list with the host's, then Restart; the game reconnects you once it has loaded. If mods are missing, **Subscribe to missing** subscribes to whatever is on the Workshop and downloads it in the background. Anything not on the Workshop has to be installed by hand.
- **"Mods match but their order doesn't."** Same fix: apply the server's mod list and restart. Load order is part of the simulation.
- **Files** shows mod files marked Missing, Added or Modified. These need fixing by hand, and they are usually leftovers from a mod update or two players on different versions of the same mod. Reinstall or resubscribe the offending mod. If it is Core or a DLC, delete that folder and verify the game files in Steam - your saves live elsewhere and are not touched. The difference can be on the host's side too.
Multiplayer itself has a required place in the list: Harmony and Prepatcher (a hard dependency) above it, then Core and the DLCs, then Multiplayer directly below them, with Multiplayer Compatibility immediately after it. Both Multiplayer and its compatibility mod declare that they load before HugsLib and Vanilla Expanded Framework, so if those sit above them, something is out of order.
```text
Harmony
Core
Royalty / Ideology / Biotech / Anomaly / Odyssey (the ones you own)
Prepatcher
Multiplayer
Multiplayer Compatibility
HugsLib
Vanilla Expanded Framework and everything else
```
Every DLC that is enabled on the host must be enabled for every player. The mod's FAQ is explicit about that, and a player with an extra DLC active is a player with a different mod list.
#### Config sync and the Configs tab
Mod settings are part of the simulation as much as the mods are. A mod that rolls for a raid with a 20% setting on one machine and 25% on another produces two different colonies within minutes.
The host dialog has **Sync configs**, on by default, which lets joining players download the host's mod configuration files. On the mismatch screen it appears as **Apply server's configs**, and it is temporary: the host's configs are used until you restart RimWorld, and none of your own files are overwritten. While running on someone else's configs, an **Active configs** button reminds you which game they came from. If the host has turned sync off, the Configs tab says "Config sync disabled by the host" and every player has to match settings by hand.
Leave it on unless you have a reason not to. The one real reason is in the mod's own tooltip: some config files contain sensitive data, such as API tokens used by streamer integration mods, and sync sends them to everyone who joins.
> [!WARNING]
> Never change a mod's settings mid-session. One player opening Mod Settings and nudging a slider is enough to desync the game the next time that setting is read. Change settings on the host, save, quit, and have everyone rejoin so the new configs are synced.
#### Why desyncs happen
The Multiplayer mod does not send the game state across the network. It sends commands - draft this pawn, change that bill - stamped with the tick they apply on, and every machine runs the full simulation. A desync is the moment the mod notices that two machines no longer agree. It compares checksums of the game state at regular intervals, and when they differ the game stops and shows "The game state has desynced."
The divergence almost always started earlier than the moment it was detected. Combat, raids and mental breaks are where it tends to surface because they draw the most random numbers, not because they cause it. The causes, roughly in the order you will meet them:
1. **Mismatched mods, files or configs.** Covered above. If the join check passed, these are ruled out at join time, but a mod updated on one machine afterwards brings them back.
2. **Mods the Multiplayer team has not patched.** A mod that runs its own randomness, uses real time, or changes the game from its own UI without going through a synced command will desync even when everyone has the identical copy. The Multiplayer Compatibility mod carries patches for a long list of popular mods; the rest have a crowd-sourced rating from 0 to 4, shown in game (the **Show crowd-sourced compat info** setting) and on the community spreadsheet. Aim for 4; treat 3 as acceptable only when the notes say a patch exists.
3. **A machine falling behind.** The chat window shows each player's ping and how many ticks behind they are. A player whose PC cannot keep up sees "You are N ticks behind. Consider lowering the game speed." Running a large colony at superfast on a machine that cannot hold it is asking for trouble.
4. **Dev mode used wrongly.** Spawning items with the debug tools outside the mod's own Dev Mode setting desyncs the game. Use the host dialog's Dev Mode option (Host Only or Everyone) so debug actions go through the synced path. The mod's FAQ singles out editing the ideology in dev mode as a guaranteed desync.
5. **Content that is only partly supported.** Some DLC systems and multifaction play are still being worked on. The FAQ has listed Anomaly as partially working, and multifaction as a work in progress; check the current notes for your version.
#### Reading the desync report
When the desync window opens it has five buttons: **Try resync**, Save, Chat, **Open info folder** and Quit. Try resync rejoins the game from the host's state, and when the cause was a one-off it gets everyone playing again quickly. Open info folder is greyed out with "Waiting for data from the host" for a few seconds while the report is written - give it a moment before you quit.
The report is a zip named `Desync-01.zip`, `Desync-02.zip` and so on, in a folder called `MpDesyncs` inside RimWorld's save data folder, next to `Saves` and `Config`. The mod keeps the ten most recent and deletes older ones, so copy a report somewhere safe if you want to keep it.
| Platform | RimWorld save data folder |
| --- | --- |
| Windows | `%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Ludeon Studios\RimWorld by Ludeon Studios` |
| Linux | `~/.config/unity3d/Ludeon Studios/RimWorld by Ludeon Studios` |
| macOS | `~/Library/Application Support/RimWorld` |
Inside the zip, in current builds:
```text
desync_info summary: tick data, versions, debug options, hardware
local_traces.txt stack traces from your machine around the divergence
host_traces.txt the same from the host, if it arrived in time
local_jitted_methods.txt methods compiled on your side
host_jitted_methods.txt the same from the host
local_logs.txt your log, when available
local_metadata.txt mod list and environment
replay.rwmts a replay, only when that setting is on
```
`desync_info` is the part a person can read. It records whether the arbiter was connected, the last tick on which everyone still agreed, the Multiplayer and RimWorld versions, whether dev mode or the debug build were on, the player count, whether async time and multifaction were active, and the CPU, GPU, memory and operating system. Before sending it to anyone, check the version lines and the debug options against the other players' reports - a mismatch there is the answer, and nobody needs to read a stack trace.
The trace files are the interesting part for whoever fixes the bug. They show which code was drawing random numbers on each side around the tick where the two machines diverged, so the first differing trace usually names the mod responsible. If you see a mod's namespace in the first lines that differ, search the Multiplayer Discord or that mod's page for a known issue before reporting. Traces are only recorded when the host has **Desync traces** enabled (on by default), and the mod notes that tracing does not work on 32-bit or ARM processors, which includes Apple Silicon Macs.
#### The arbiter, and how to make a useful report
The **Run Arbiter** option in the host dialog starts a second, background instance of RimWorld on the host's machine that plays along as an extra, neutral client. When a desync happens it acts as a tie-breaker: with three machines instead of two, it becomes clear whose state went wrong. It costs the host real memory and CPU, because it is another copy of the game, so turn it on when you are chasing a recurring desync rather than for every session.
A report the maintainers can act on has four things: the zips from both sides (host and the player who desynced), the mod list, what was happening in the game at the time, and whether it reproduces. The mod's Workshop discussion asks people to test with and without the arbiter before reporting, to rule out a broken save. If the desync happens at the same moment every time you load a particular save, say so - that is the most valuable thing a bug report can contain.
#### Sync habits that keep a colony playable
Most groups that play long Multiplayer campaigns arrive at the same rules:
1. **Freeze the mod list before the colony starts.** Agree on it, publish a Steam collection, and have everyone subscribe to exactly that. Adding a mod mid-campaign is possible; removing one usually breaks the save.
2. **Stop Workshop updates surprising you.** A mod that updates for one player overnight is a mismatch the next evening. Have the host check for updates before a session and everyone restart Steam so they match. [What to do when a mod update breaks](https://www.renode.space/blog/what-to-do-when-a-mod-update-breaks) covers rolling back.
3. **Check compatibility before adding anything.** Look up the mod's rating first. A rating of 1 or 2 means it will desync; no amount of matching files will fix that.
4. **Size the game to the slowest machine.** Use the **Lowest wins** time control so the slowest player sets the pace, or keep the speed down in big fights.
5. **Pause on join and on desync.** Both are on by default. Leave them on, so a desync does not run on for several in-game hours before anyone notices.
6. **Keep autosaves close together.** The host's autosave interval can be set in in-game days or real minutes; every 10-15 real minutes means a desync that corrupts the state costs you very little. The **Autosave slots** setting (5 by default) controls how many are kept.
7. **Use the chat commands.** The host has `/joinpoint`, `/kick ` and `/stop`. Kicking a player whose game keeps falling behind, and letting them rejoin from a fresh join-point, is often quicker than a full resync.
#### Is there a dedicated server?
For most of its life the answer was a flat no: the host's copy of RimWorld was the server, and the colony stopped when the host quit. That is changing. Release 0.11.5 added standalone server bootstrap work, and the project's development ("continuous") builds now ship a `Server-beta.zip` with Windows and Linux builds. It listens on Direct only - Steam networking and the arbiter are not supported - reads a `settings.toml` and a `save.zip` from its own folder, and if they are missing waits for the first player to connect and set the game up from inside RimWorld. The release notes describe it as being for testing, so treat it as experimental and expect it to change.
If you want to try it, it needs a machine that stays on with UDP `30502` open to your players. A VDS is the obvious home - [choosing between a VDS and a game panel](https://www.renode.space/blog/choosing-between-vds-and-a-game-panel) explains the trade-off - and [game server ports explained](https://www.renode.space/blog/game-server-ports-explained) covers getting the port reachable. Every player still needs the identical mod list; a server does not change that requirement in any way.
If what your group actually wants is a world that keeps going while people come and go, that is the problem RimWorld Together solves, and it is what game hosts sell as RimWorld hosting. RE:NODE's RimWorld line runs that kind of persistent server, with mods uploaded through the file manager or SFTP and backup slots stored off the machine; it does not host the Multiplayer mod.
#### FAQ
##### Why does my friend see "Waiting for host to accept" but I never get a request?
You are not hosting with Steam enabled. The mod only listens for Steam join requests when the Steam option was ticked in the host dialog. Close the server, host again with Steam on, and the Accept pop-up will appear.
##### Can I turn off the accept step?
Yes. In the Multiplayer mod settings, turn on Auto-accept Steam. Any Steam connection request is then accepted without a click, so set a game password if your game is visible to people outside your group.
##### Does Try resync lose progress?
It reloads you from the host's current state, so anything that only happened on your diverged copy is gone, but the shared colony is not rolled back. If resync keeps failing, the host should save, everyone should quit, and the session should be rehosted from that save.
##### We all have the same mods and still desync. Why?
Matching files only rules out one cause. Check every mod's compatibility rating, check that mod settings were synced and nobody changed one mid-session, and look at the ticks-behind numbers in chat during the next fight. The first differing trace in the desync report usually names the mod.
##### Can GOG or Epic players join a Steam host?
Not through Steam. They have to connect by Direct (UDP `30502` reachable on the host) or LAN, including over a virtual LAN such as Radmin VPN or Hamachi. Everyone still needs the same RimWorld build and mods.
##### Where are desync reports saved?
In the `MpDesyncs` folder inside RimWorld's save data folder, as `Desync-NN.zip` files. The Open info folder button in the desync window opens it directly.
If your group wants a RimWorld world that runs while nobody is online, RE:NODE's RimWorld plans host a persistent multiplayer colony with mods included, from $5 a month with NVMe storage. Mods go in through the browser file manager or SFTP, and every plan has backup slots stored off the machine.
[See RimWorld plans](https://www.renode.space/game-servers/rimworld)
---
### RimWorld Together server setup: download, config, mods
Published 2026-10-15 by RE:NODE Team. https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-together-server-setup
A RimWorld Together server is one small .NET program, one TCP port (`25555` by default) and a folder of JSON files. You download the server build for your operating system from the project's GitHub releases, run it once so it writes its configs, and then the first player who connects with the matching client mod generates the planet and is made admin automatically. Mods are not configured by hand in a file: an admin uploads the list from inside the game, and every later player is checked against it on login. The two things that catch people out are both strict equality checks - the client and server versions must match exactly, and so must the mod list - and one security quirk that matters more: whoever joins an empty server first owns it.
This guide covers that setup end to end. If you are still deciding between RimWorld Together and the Zetrith Multiplayer mod, or want the full console command reference and backup rotation, [the RimWorld multiplayer guide](https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-server-guide) already covers that ground; this post goes deeper on getting a Together server built, configured, listed and joined.
#### How RimWorld Together differs from the Multiplayer mod
The short version, because the choice decides everything else:
| | RimWorld Together | Multiplayer (Zetrith / rwmt) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Colonies | One each, shared planet | One, shared by everyone |
| Server | Standalone console program | None - a player hosts in-game |
| Mod rule | Server list, checked on login | Identical on every machine |
The Multiplayer mod runs the same simulation on every player's machine in lockstep, so there is nothing for a server to do and nothing to host. RimWorld Together does the opposite. Each player runs their own colony locally, at their own speed, and the server holds what is shared: the world map, settlements, saves, the market, guilds, sites, roads and the queue of events players send one another. It never simulates a pawn. That is why it needs so little hardware and why it keeps running when nobody is online.
The trade-off is that interaction is asynchronous by default. You trade with, gift to, spy on and raid other players' colonies, and a raid on an offline player is fought against a stored copy of their map. Real-time visits and raids exist too - the client calls it synchronous mode, and the game will not save while you are in it - but the everyday rhythm is separate colonies that affect one another, not one colony played together. If your group wants to sit in the same base, you want the other mod.
The client mod is RimWorld Together on the Steam Workshop (package id `nova.rimworldtogether`). At the time of writing it targets RimWorld 1.6, depends on Harmony, and declares itself incompatible with RimSaves.
#### Downloading the right server build
Server files live on the project's GitHub releases page, not on Steam. Each release carries two families of archive, and picking the wrong one is the first avoidable problem.
| Archive | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| `Server--.zip` | Self-contained, about 30 MB. Runs anywhere |
| `Slim--.zip` | Under 1 MB. Needs the .NET 8 runtime installed |
The builds come for `win-x64`, `win-x86`, `linux-x64`, `linux-arm` and `linux-arm64`. There is no macOS server. Unless you already maintain .NET 8 on the machine, take the `Server-` build: it bundles the runtime into a single executable called `RTServer` (`RTServer.exe` on Windows), so there is nothing else to install and nothing to go out of date underneath it. A Raspberry Pi or an ARM cloud instance is a perfectly reasonable home for a small world, which is what the ARM builds are for.
Release names are dates: `26.10.4.1` is the build from 4 October 2026, and a trailing `_(1)` marks a re-release of the same version. That version string is what the server compares against every client, character for character, which is why it matters which one you download. The rule is simple: the server and every player must run the same release.
Unpack the archive into a folder of its own. The server writes a dozen subfolders next to itself on first start, and the project warns against putting it anywhere that needs administrator rights - `Program Files` is a bad idea, and so is running it as root on Linux.
```bash
$ mkdir -p ~/rwt && cd ~/rwt
$ unzip ~/Downloads/Server-linux-x64.zip
$ chmod 755 RTServer
$ ./RTServer
```
The official container image is built from the same source on every release, tagged both `latest` and the release version. Pin the version tag rather than `latest`, so that a container restart never upgrades the server behind your players' backs:
```bash
$ mkdir -p RWTData
$ docker run -it -v "$PWD/RWTData:/Data" -p 25555:25555 \
ghcr.io/rimworld-together/rimworld-together:26.10.4.1
```
The `-it` matters. The server reads admin commands from standard input, and without an attached terminal you have a running server you cannot talk to. The project's example compose file sets `stdin_open: true` and `tty: true` for the same reason, so `docker attach` gives you the console.
#### First start and the first join
The first launch creates the folder tree, writes every config file with its defaults, and then sits waiting for connections and console input. A fresh server has no world yet. That is deliberate: the planet is generated by a player's game client, not by the server.
1. Stop the server and edit `Configs/ServerConfig.json` and `Configs/PasswordConfig.json` (both covered below). At minimum set a name and a password.
2. Start it again.
3. In RimWorld, enable Harmony and RimWorld Together, plus every mod the world will use, and restart the game.
4. From the main menu open RimWorld Together and use Direct Connect with the server's address and port. On the same machine that is `127.0.0.1` and `25555`.
5. Pick a username and a password. There is no separate registration step: the first login with a new username creates the account.
6. The server sees there is no world and asks your client for one. Create the planet as you would in single player - seed, coverage, rainfall, temperature, factions - and settle.
7. The server saves the planet and makes you admin. The console prints a line saying it is giving first-join admin permission to your username.
> [!WARNING]
> Admin goes to whoever uploads the world, and that is whoever connects first. The browser listing is on by default, so a new server with no password can appear in the public list before you have joined it, and a stranger can build the planet and walk away as admin. Set a password, or turn the browser off, before the first start that accepts connections.
Two other things follow from this design. Planet settings are fixed by the first join, so decide coverage and the mod list before you create the world, not after - the project's own advice is to have every planned mod enabled at creation. Storyteller, difficulty and scenario can still be changed later. And while the world is being set up, anyone else who connects is turned away with a message telling them to try again later.
Accounts are a username and a password stored on the server, not a Steam identity. If a player forgets their password, their colony is still on disk, but there is no reset flow - an admin has to deal with it, which usually means `resetplayer` and a fresh start for them. Tell players to treat the password like any other.
#### The config files that matter
Everything sits under `Configs/`, and every file is rewritten on start with any missing keys filled in, so an old file picks up new options after an upgrade. Edit with the server stopped: several files are also saved by the server while it runs, and it will overwrite your change with what it has in memory.
Configs/ServerConfig.json:
```json
{
"Name": "RimWorld Together Server",
"Description": "",
"DiscordURL": "",
"SteamWorkshopURL": "",
"ServerImageURL": "",
"IP": "0.0.0.0",
"Port": 25555,
"MaxPlayers": 100,
"Verbosity": 0,
"DisplayChatInConsole": false,
"UseUPnP": false,
"UseClientSave": true,
"EnableServerBrowser": true,
"EnableServerTelemetry": true
}
```
`Name`, `Description`, `DiscordURL`, `SteamWorkshopURL` and `ServerImageURL` are what the server browser shows, so fill them in if you want strangers to find you and leave them empty if you do not. `Port` must be the port players can actually reach, because it is also the port the server advertises to the browser. `UseUPnP` asks a home router to open the port for you; it does nothing on a hosted server and is best left off on a home network you care about too. `UseClientSave` decides whether the copy of a colony on the player's own machine is trusted when they log back in - leave it at the default unless you are chasing a specific save problem with the project's help.
The rest of the folder:
| File | What it holds |
| --- | --- |
| `PasswordConfig.json` | `Password` - empty means no password |
| `BackupConfig.json` | Automatic backups, interval, how many kept |
| `ChatConfig.json` | Message of the day, join and leave notices |
| `ModConfig.json` | The mod list players are checked against |
| `DifficultyConfig.json` | Custom difficulty values |
| `StorytellerConfig.json` | Enforced storyteller |
| `ScenarioConfig.json` | Enforced scenario |
`Configs/Actions/` holds one file per player interaction - `Raid.json`, `Trade.json`, `Caravan.json`, `Aid.json`, `Event.json`, `Market.json`, `Guild.json`, `Site.json`, `Road.json`, `River.json`, `Pollution.json`, `Scenario.json` and a few more. These are where you switch a mechanic off or make it cost more, and where the protection timers live that stop one player being raided or spammed with events repeatedly. Read them before you open the server: the defaults suit a friendly group and a public server usually wants longer protection and higher costs.
> [!NOTE]
> Key names in these files have changed between releases, and the community wiki and hosting-company guides describe older layouts (a `WhitelistConfig.json`, a single `ActionConfigs.json`, a `Core` folder). Trust the files your own server wrote over any guide, this one included.
The world itself is not in `Configs/`. The planet is `Assets/WorldValuesFile.json`, and the shared state sits beside it: `Market.json`, `Roads.json`, `Rivers.json`, `Leaderboard.json`, `IPBans.json`, and folders for users, saves, maps, settlements, sites, guilds and events. That `Assets/` folder is the thing to back up. If you lose `Configs/` you lose an afternoon; if you lose `Assets/` you lose the world.
#### Ports, firewalls and connecting
| Port | Protocol | Direction |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `25555` | TCP | Inbound, players connect to it |
| Browser service | TCP | Outbound, only if telemetry is on |
That is the whole list. There is no UDP, no query port and no RCON. Change `Port` in `ServerConfig.json` if you need to, and then make sure the firewall, the container mapping and what players type all say the same number - [game server ports explained](https://www.renode.space/blog/game-server-ports-explained) covers why "the process is running" and "the port is reachable" are separate claims to check.
On a home connection you need a port forward from the router to the machine running the server, and you need a public address that is actually yours; carrier-grade NAT makes inbound connections impossible no matter what you forward. [Port forwarding vs hosted servers](https://www.renode.space/blog/port-forwarding-vs-hosted-servers) is the honest comparison. On Linux, open the port explicitly:
```bash
$ sudo ufw allow 25555/tcp
```
Players connect from the RimWorld Together menu by Direct Connect with an address and port, through the Server Browser, or with a join code. The client remembers the last server and offers to reconnect to it on the next launch. The connect dialog has a separate field for the server password, which is asked for before the account login.
On RE:NODE, a RimWorld plan comes with one port allocation, which is exactly what this server needs: set `Port` to the allocated port and players connect to the address the panel shows. Starter is 1 GB of memory and 0.75 of a core, from $5 a month, which is plenty for this server - it is not running the game. See [RimWorld server plans](https://www.renode.space/game-servers/rimworld) for the rest of the ladder.
#### Mod sync: how the server checks a player's mods
This is where RimWorld Together is most often misunderstood, because it changed. Older guides describe three columns in a config file - required, optional, forbidden. In current releases `ModConfig.json` is written by the game, not by you, and the rules are:
- **Required** mods must be present on the client.
- **Optional** mods may be present or not.
- **Anything not on the list** is refused. There is no separate forbidden column any more; a mod the server has never heard of is forbidden by default.
- **Mod settings** can be enforced: when the admin turns this on, the settings of each required mod are compared by hash and a player with different settings is refused.
- **Load order** can be enforced the same way, by a hash of the whole order. A refused client is offered the server's order and asked whether to apply it.
- **Admins bypass every check**, which is useful for testing and is also how an admin ends up "proving" a broken list works for everyone.
- **Nothing is checked until the world exists**, so the first join is never refused on mods.
The list is set from inside the game. An admin loads the mods they want the server to use, opens the in-game admin tools (dev mode, then the admin menu in the top right while connected) and uploads the list, choosing which mods are required and which optional and whether to enforce configs. The server saves it and pushes it to everyone online. A non-admin who manages to send a mod list after the world exists is banned on the spot.
When a player is refused, their client shows "Your mod list conflicts with the server" along with the server's list, and in recent versions it can subscribe to and download the missing Steam Workshop mods for them, as long as Steam is running. That automatic download is new and the release notes still call it a first implementation, so for a private group the reliable method is unchanged: publish one Steam Workshop collection, put its URL in `SteamWorkshopURL`, and tell everyone to subscribe to that and nothing else. [Steam Workshop mods on dedicated servers](https://www.renode.space/blog/steam-workshop-mods-on-dedicated-servers) covers why a collection beats a list in a message.
Practical rules that save a world:
1. **Settle the list before the planet is created.** Mods that add biomes, factions or world features change generation, and the planet is generated once.
2. **Keep optional for things that touch only the player's own screen** - UI, sorting, quality-of-life. Anything that adds items, pawns, factions or events belongs in required, because it travels between colonies in trades, gifts and raids.
3. **Enforce load order** once the group is bigger than a few people. RimWorld is very sensitive to order; [mod load order explained](https://www.renode.space/blog/mod-load-order-explained) covers why.
4. **Change the list deliberately.** Adding a required mod locks out everyone until they update; removing one leaves its items in colonies and on the market. Announce it, back up first, then upload.
If you need everyone in while you sort a list out, `togglemodbypass` on the console turns all mod checks off and on again. It is a diagnostic switch, not a setting to leave on.
#### Finding public RimWorld Together servers
The in-game Server Browser is the directory. A server with `EnableServerBrowser` on is listed with its name, description, image, Discord and workshop links, version, player count against `MaxPlayers`, whether it has a password, its mod list and the names of the players online. Recent releases added a reputation score to the listings and a way to report a server.
What to look at before joining one:
- **Version.** It must match your client exactly. The client offers a version switcher on Windows, so you can step to the server's release instead of waiting for the owner to update.
- **The mod list.** It is in the listing, so you can see whether you are about to subscribe to eighty mods.
- **The workshop link.** A server that publishes a collection is run by someone who has thought about mod sync.
- **Discord.** A public world is a community, and its rules about raids, griefing and wipes live there, not in the game.
Outside the game, the project's Discord is where most communities advertise, and server lists on hosting companies' sites are mostly their own customers. There is no official web listing.
For your own server, the browser has a cost worth knowing. With `EnableServerTelemetry` on, the server makes an outbound connection to the project's browser service, looks up its public IPv4 through `api.ipify.org`, and sends that address and port along with the details above, including the names of connected players. With `EnableServerBrowser` off and telemetry on, it still reports but is marked private and not listed. Turn both off if you want the server to make no outbound reports at all; `togglebrowser` and `toggletelemetry` do this from the console. The address the browser gets is whatever ipify sees, so a server behind a VPN or a proxy can advertise an address players cannot reach.
#### Running it day to day
The console is the admin interface, and the full command list is in [the multiplayer guide](https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-server-guide). A few newer commands are worth knowing:
| Command | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| `banip ` | Bans an address and kicks anyone using it |
| `pardonip ` | Lifts an IP ban |
| `getip` | Prints the server's public IPv4 |
| `togglebrowser` | Browser listing on or off |
| `toggletelemetry` | Browser reporting on or off |
| `togglemodbypass` | All mod checks on or off |
| `toggleclientsave` | Flips `UseClientSave` |
To make somebody else admin, use `op `. In older releases this took a user ID found with `deeplist`; current ones take the username. Admins see an admin button in-game and skip the mod checks.
Backups are hourly by default, six kept, written as archives of `Assets/`, `Configs/` and `Logs/` to `Backups/Servers` and per player in `Backups/Users`. They sit on the same disk as the world, so copy them somewhere else as well - [backups that actually restore](https://www.renode.space/blog/backups-that-actually-restore) explains why that matters. On RE:NODE every RimWorld plan includes backup slots stored off the machine and restored with a button, and the config files are edited in the browser file manager or over SFTP.
Updating is a group event. Stop the server, back up, replace `RTServer` with the new build (your `Configs/` and `Assets/` stay where they are), start it, and tell everyone to update the client mod, because until they do, every login is refused on version.
#### Troubleshooting the errors people actually hit
**"This server requires version ..."** The client and server releases differ. Update whichever is behind, or use the client's version switcher. Steam updates the client mod on its own schedule, so this is the most common error after any release.
**"Handshake failed! Verify client version"** Same family of problem, earlier in the connection. Check versions before anything else.
**"Your mod list conflicts with the server"** A required mod is missing, or the player has a mod that is neither required nor optional. The server's list is shown in the dialog; compare it, including the mods players forget they have, such as a local copy of a workshop mod.
**Refused on mod configs or mod order** Enforcement is on and the player's settings or order differ. Apply the server's order when offered. For settings, the player needs the same settings files for the required mods, which in practice means the admin shares them.
**Connection times out** The port is not reachable: process stopped, firewall, wrong port, no port forward, or carrier-grade NAT. Test from outside your network.
**"Server is currently being set up! Join again later!"** The first player has connected and the planet does not exist yet. Wait for them to finish creating it.
**A stranger is admin** They joined first. Stop the server, delete `Assets/WorldValuesFile.json` and the generated folders under `Assets/` (or restore a backup from before they joined), set a password, and start again.
#### FAQ
##### Is RimWorld Together free to host?
Yes. The server is free, its source is on GitHub, and it needs no licence or Steam login. Each player needs their own copy of RimWorld and the client mod; the server machine does not.
##### Can I play RimWorld Together and the Multiplayer mod together?
No. They are separate systems with different networking, and you connect to one or the other. Enable only the one your group is using, because both patch a lot of the game.
##### Does the server need a powerful machine?
No. It does not run the simulation, so 1 GB of memory and a fraction of a core serve a small group comfortably. Bandwidth and disk for saves and backups matter more than CPU.
##### Can I move an existing RimWorld Together world to another machine?
Yes. Stop the server, copy the whole folder - `Assets/` and `Configs/` together - to the new machine, run the same release there, and point players at the new address. Accounts and colonies travel with `Assets/`.
##### Why does my server not appear in the browser?
Either `EnableServerBrowser` or `EnableServerTelemetry` is off, the server cannot make outbound connections, or the advertised port is not reachable from outside. The console says at start-up whether discovery is enabled.
##### Do players need DLCs to join?
Only what the server's world and mods need. A player with fewer expansions than the host can run into trouble with content that crosses between colonies, and the client warns about optional DLCs on connect. Agree the DLC set the same way you agree the mod list.
RimWorld plans on RE:NODE start at $5 a month with one port allocation, which is all a RimWorld Together server needs. The console takes admin commands directly, configs are edited in the browser file manager or over SFTP, and every plan includes backup slots stored off the machine they protect.
[See RimWorld plans](https://www.renode.space/game-servers/rimworld)
---
### RimWorld multiplayer: mods, desyncs, hosting
Published 2026-09-21 by RE:NODE Team. https://www.renode.space/blog/rimworld-multiplayer-server-guide
RimWorld ships with no multiplayer of any kind, and the two mods that add it work in completely different ways. The Multiplayer mod puts several players in one colony and keeps every machine running the same simulation in lockstep; it has no dedicated server and never has, so somebody's game is the server. RimWorld Together gives every player their own colony on a shared planet and does have a proper standalone server, which is the one hosting companies sell. Picking the wrong one is the mistake that wastes a weekend, so this guide starts there and then covers the server properly: install, config files, mod lists, commands, backups and the desyncs.
#### The two ways to play RimWorld with other people
| | Multiplayer (Zetrith / rwmt) | RimWorld Together |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Shape | One shared colony, one timeline | One colony each, one planet |
| Simulation | Deterministic lockstep on every machine | Server holds world state, clients play locally |
| Dedicated server | No | Yes, a standalone program |
| Runs with nobody online | No | Yes |
| Mod list | Identical, enforced hard | Checked against a server list |
| Typical group | 2-4 friends, one session at a time | 4-20 people, come and go |
The question to ask your group is not which mod is better. It is whether you want to sit down and play the same colony together for three hours, or whether you want a world that is still there on a Tuesday afternoon when one person logs in. Those are different games, and they need different software.
If you want the first, the Multiplayer mod is excellent and you do not need a server at all. If you want the second - and this is the thing most people mean when they search for RimWorld server hosting - you want RimWorld Together.
#### Multiplayer: one colony, lockstep, no server
The Multiplayer mod, originally by Zetrith and now maintained by the rwmt team, does not stream the game state to anybody. Every machine, host and clients alike, runs the identical RimWorld simulation. The host distributes commands - a draft order, a bill change, a designation - stamped with a tick number, and everyone applies them at the same tick and arrives at the same world.
That design has three consequences and you should know all of them before you start.
**There is no dedicated server.** The project's own answer to whether it supports one is a flat no. Hosting is done from inside the game: main menu, Multiplayer, host a new game or an existing save. The host's copy of RimWorld is the authority. When they close the game, the session ends and nothing advances until they open it again.
**Every player needs an identical setup.** Same RimWorld version, same DLCs where the mods need them, the same mods at the same versions, enabled in the same order, with the same mod settings. Anything that differs is a machine that will compute a different result. Recent versions of the mod synchronise most of this for you when you connect, but the underlying requirement has not changed.
**Desyncs are the failure mode.** When one machine's simulation diverges, the mod notices and tells you. The common causes are mismatched mod files or settings, a mod that uses randomness the mod cannot intercept, a config changed mid-game, and - frequently overlooked - the host's own machine struggling, because a host whose frame rate falls below the session's tick rate drags the whole game out of step. The mod writes a desync report automatically into an `MpDesyncs` folder, and that file is what a mod author needs to fix the cause.
For direct connections the mod listens on UDP `30502`. Steam-based hosting routes through Steam's networking instead and needs no port opened at all, which is why most small groups never touch a router.
#### Can you host Multiplayer on a server?
Not in the way you host a Minecraft server. There is no headless build, no console, no config file, no RCON. RimWorld is a Unity game with a user interface, and the Multiplayer mod's host mode is a menu you click.
Two workarounds exist and both are worse than they sound. You can run a full RimWorld install on a VDS under a virtual framebuffer and treat that machine as the permanent host - it works, it needs a game licence sitting idle on that box, it needs a desktop-sized machine because the host is running the full game with rendering, and every restart is a manual click. Or you can accept that one person is the host and everyone plays when they are online, which is what almost everyone does. [Choosing between a VDS and a game panel](https://www.renode.space/blog/choosing-between-vds-and-a-game-panel) is the honest version of that trade-off; for this specific case the panel cannot help you, because there is nothing server-shaped to run.
The mod also ships an arbiter: a second, headless-ish instance of the game launched alongside the host purely to cross-check the simulation and pinpoint who desynced. It is a debugging aid, not a server. It costs the host machine real CPU and memory and it does not keep the colony alive when they quit.
#### RimWorld Together: separate colonies, a real server
RimWorld Together takes the opposite approach. The server does not simulate RimWorld at all. It is a small .NET console program that holds the planet, everybody's settlements, their saves, the market and the event queue, and relays actions between players. Each player runs their own colony at their own pace on their own machine, and the shared layer is the world map: caravans, raids on each other, trade, gifts, guilds and sites.
Because the server is not running the game, it is extremely light. The project's own description of the hardware requirement is that a modern e-toaster would do, and that is close to true: bandwidth and disk matter more than CPU.
An older mod called Open World did the same thing and is no longer maintained, so you will still see that name on hosting panels and in old guides. If you are starting a world now, start it on the maintained project, and check which RimWorld version the server release you are running targets - the mod tracks RimWorld's current major version and a mismatch there is the first thing to rule out when clients cannot connect.
#### Installing and running the server
Download the server files from the project's releases and unpack them somewhere the operating system will not fight you over permissions. Then run the executable. There is no installer and no build step.
```bash
$ mkdir -p /opt/rwt && cd /opt/rwt
$ unzip ~/Downloads/rimworld-together-server.zip
$ ./RimworldTogether
```
There is also an official container image, which is the tidier way to run it on your own Linux box:
```bash
$ mkdir -p RWTData
$ docker run -it --rm -v './RWTData:/Data' -p 25555:25555 \
ghcr.io/rimworld-together/rimworld-together:latest
```
On first start the server writes its whole directory structure and every config file with defaults, then stops waiting for input on the console. That first run is the point at which to stop it, edit the configs, and start it again.
```text
/opt/rwt/
Configs/ ServerConfig.json and the rest
Configs/Actions/ per-action tuning, one file each
Assets/ Maps, Users, Saves, Settlements, Sites, Guilds, WorldObjects
Backups/ Servers and Users
Logs/ System and Chat
```
| Port | Protocol | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `25555` | TCP | The only port. Clients connect straight to it |
One port, and it is the same one in the config, the container mapping and the client's connect dialog. If players get a connection refused, the order to check is: is the process running, is the port allocated, is the client pointed at the right address. [Game server ports explained](https://www.renode.space/blog/game-server-ports-explained) covers why "the server is up" and "the port is reachable" are two separate claims.
RE:NODE's RimWorld line is exactly this shape of server - a persistent multiplayer colony with mods included - and every plan comes with one port allocation, which is all this needs. The configs and mod list are edited in the browser file manager or over SFTP; [SFTP and the file manager](https://www.renode.space/blog/sftp-and-the-file-manager) has the connection details.
#### ServerConfig.json and the Configs folder
The main file is `Configs/ServerConfig.json`. These are the defaults the server writes:
Configs/ServerConfig.json:
```json
{
"Name": "RimWorld Together Server",
"Description": "",
"DiscordURL": "",
"SteamWorkshopURL": "",
"IP": "0.0.0.0",
"Port": 25555,
"MaxPlayers": 100,
"Verbosity": 0,
"DisplayChatInConsole": false,
"UseUPnP": false,
"UseClientSave": true,
"EnableServerBrowser": true,
"EnableServerTelemetry": true
}
```
| Key | Default | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `Name` | RimWorld Together Server | Shown in the browser and on connect |
| `IP` | `0.0.0.0` | Listen address. Leave it unless you know why |
| `Port` | `25555` | Must match what clients dial |
| `MaxPlayers` | `100` | Generous. The real limit is your bandwidth |
| `Verbosity` | `0` | Raise it when you are debugging, not in normal use |
| `DisplayChatInConsole` | `false` | Useful on a panel console you already watch |
| `UseUPnP` | `false` | For a home router. Pointless on a hosted server |
| `UseClientSave` | `true` | Whether the client's save is authoritative |
| `EnableServerBrowser` | `true` | Publish to the in-game server list |
The rest of the folder splits by concern, and every file is written with defaults so you can read the shape before you change anything: `ModConfig.json` for the mod list, `DifficultyConfig.json`, `StorytellerConfig.json` and `ScenarioConfig.json` for what a new colony starts with, `ChatConfig.json`, `PasswordConfig.json`, `WhitelistConfig.json`, `BackupConfig.json`, and a `Configs/Actions` directory with one file per interaction - raids, caravans, trades, sites, events, the market, guilds - so you can price or disable each of them individually.
Backups get their own file and sensible defaults:
Configs/BackupConfig.json:
```json
{
"AutomaticBackups": true,
"IntervalHours": 1,
"AutomaticDeletion": true,
"Amount": 6
}
```
Hourly, six kept, oldest pruned. That is a good rotation and it is still not a backup, because it sits on the same disk as the thing it protects. Copy the whole server directory somewhere else on a schedule as well - [backups that actually restore](https://www.renode.space/blog/backups-that-actually-restore) is the argument, and on RE:NODE the backup slots included with every plan are stored off the machine and restored with a button.
#### Mods: the list everyone shares
`Configs/ModConfig.json` is where the server states its mod policy, in three lists: required mods, optional mods and forbidden mods. A joining client is checked against them. Required mods must be present, forbidden mods bar the connection, and optional mods are allowed either way - which is the important difference from the Multiplayer mod, where there is no such thing as an optional mod.
Practical rules for a shared mod list, on either mod:
1. **Agree the list before day one.** Adding a content mod to a world that already has colonies means every player re-syncs and some of them lose things. Removing one is worse.
2. **Use a Steam collection.** Publish one collection, put its link in `SteamWorkshopURL`, and tell people to subscribe to that and nothing else. A collection is the only mod list that stays in step by itself.
3. **Pin the load order.** RimWorld is exceptionally sensitive to order. Export your working mod list from the game and send the file rather than a screenshot.
4. **Avoid mods that generate the world differently** unless everyone has them, and treat performance mods as part of the list rather than personal choices.
5. **Do not update mid-week.** A workshop mod that updates under one player and not another is the most common cause of a Monday evening spent debugging. [What to do when a mod update breaks](https://www.renode.space/blog/what-to-do-when-a-mod-update-breaks) has the recovery drill.
#### Server commands, admins and backups
The server reads commands from its console, which on a panel is the console box. There is no separate remote protocol; the console is the admin interface.
| Command | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| `op ` | Grants admin |
| `deop ` | Removes it |
| `list` | Connected players |
| `deeplist` | Every player the server knows about |
| `kick ` | Disconnects a player |
| `ban ` | Bans them |
| `pardon ` | Lifts a ban |
| `banlist` | Prints the bans |
| `broadcast ` | Sends a message to everyone as a letter |
| `chat ` | Sends a chat message |
| `backup` | Backs the server up now |
| `backupuser ` | Backs up one player |
| `forcesave ` | Forces a save on a connected player |
| `modlist` | Prints the server's mod list |
| `setpassword ` | Sets the join password |
| `clearpassword` | Removes it |
| `resetplayer ` | Wipes one player's data |
| `resetserver` | Wipes the world |
| `event ` | Fires an event at one player |
| `eventall ` | Fires it at everybody |
| `eventlist` | Lists the events you can fire |
| `getversion` | Server version |
| `verbosity ` | Changes log detail while running |
> [!WARNING]
> `resetserver` deletes the world and everybody in it, and `resetplayer` deletes one person's colony. Neither asks twice. Take a backup before you go anywhere near them, and keep the console out of reach of anyone who does not need it.
Because the admin interface is the console, who has console access is a real security question rather than a formality. On RE:NODE that is what subusers and roles are for: a role can be console only, or files only, with no billing, and every action is recorded in the per-server activity log. [Subusers and least privilege](https://www.renode.space/blog/subusers-and-least-privilege) covers how to split it up sensibly.
#### Requirements and troubleshooting
| Setup | RAM | CPU | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| RimWorld Together, up to 8 players | 1 GB | 0.75 core | The server is not running the game |
| 8-20 players, long-lived world | 2 GB | 1 core | Disk grows with saves and backups |
| A Multiplayer mod host machine | 8 GB+ | A gaming CPU | This is a desktop, not a server plan |
Note the third row. If somebody quotes you a price for a "RimWorld Multiplayer dedicated server" running the Zetrith mod, ask what it actually runs, because a machine capable of hosting that session is a desktop-class box with a graphical environment, not a $5 game plan.
**Clients cannot connect.** Check the version of the mod against the version of the server; they are released together and mismatches are refused. Then check the port, then the password.
**A player joins and immediately drops.** Usually the mod check: something required is missing or something forbidden is installed. The server log names it.
**Desyncs in the Multiplayer mod.** Compare mod versions, settings and load order across everyone, confirm the RimWorld build matches, and look at the host's performance. Send the file from the `MpDesyncs` folder to the mod's maintainers rather than guessing.
**The world is huge on disk.** Player saves and hourly backups accumulate. Lower `Amount` in `BackupConfig.json`, or move old backups off the server.
**The server stops when you close the terminal.** Run it as a service, or in a panel where the process supervision is somebody else's problem. A crash loop that is actually the memory limit rather than a config error is covered in [why your game server keeps restarting](https://www.renode.space/blog/why-your-game-server-keeps-restarting).
#### FAQ
##### Does RimWorld have official multiplayer?
No. Ludeon has never shipped multiplayer, and both options are community mods with different designs. Anything advertising official RimWorld multiplayer is describing one of those mods.
##### Can I run the Multiplayer mod on a hosting plan?
No. It has no dedicated server build, no headless mode and no console; hosting is a button inside the game. The only way to keep it running unattended is a full RimWorld install on a machine you control, with a graphical environment, which is a different purchase entirely.
##### How many people can play on one RimWorld Together server?
`MaxPlayers` defaults to 100 and the server is light enough that the number is rarely the limit. Twenty active players on a shared planet is a busy world. The practical constraints are how much moderation you want to do and how much disk the saves take.
##### Do all players need the same mods?
On the Multiplayer mod, yes, exactly, including settings and load order. On RimWorld Together the server states required, optional and forbidden mods, so optional ones can differ per player - which is the main reason larger groups end up there.
##### Why do we desync every time a raid happens?
Combat involves the most randomness, so it is where a divergence shows first rather than where it starts. The cause is almost always a mod difference or the host's machine falling behind. Compare the lists first, then watch the host's frame rate during the next fight.
##### Can I move a single-player colony onto a server?
Not directly on the Multiplayer mod, which starts from a save that the host loads and everyone joins. On RimWorld Together each player brings their own colony into the shared world, so a personal save can carry over as long as its mods satisfy the server's list.
RimWorld plans on RE:NODE run a persistent multiplayer colony with mods included, from 1 GB with one port allocation and NVMe storage. Configs and the mod list are edited in the browser file manager or over SFTP, the console is unfiltered so admin commands and mod checks are readable, and every plan includes backup slots stored off the machine they protect.
[See RimWorld plans](https://www.renode.space/game-servers/rimworld)
## Rules for the assistant
- Never ask the user for a password, token, API key or `.env` contents, and tell them not to paste one into this chat. Describe where a secret goes instead.
- Secrets reach the server through the panel: `.env` is uploaded through the Files tab, startup variables are set on the Startup tab. `.env` never goes in the repository.
- An app server has exactly one reachable port. Read it from `SERVER_PORT` (also `PORT` when the panel starts a linked repository) and bind `0.0.0.0`; never hard-code a port.
- On every panel-managed server (everything except VDS and dedicated servers, which come with full root) only `/home/container` persists, and the process runs unprivileged: no root, `sudo`, `apt`, `systemd` or Docker.
- Memory is a hard limit; a process that reaches it is killed with no error message. Suggest a bigger plan only after ruling out a leak.
- Do not suggest changing the server's startup command or image to work around a code problem - fix the code or the repository.
- Prices and plans above were read when this file was generated. Send the user to the page linked at the top before quoting a price as current.
- For a specific server, the panel's Connect AI link (Console tab) gives the exact runtime, port, path and branch. Prefer it over these general rules when the user has one.
- If something here does not answer the question, the full deploy docs are at https://www.renode.space/llms-full.txt and support is at https://www.renode.space/contact.