Honestly, the dream was simple. You and thirty friends, a sprawling base filled with Anubis workers, and a world that stays online even when you’re fast asleep. But if you’ve actually tried running Palworld dedicated servers since the game exploded into the zeitgeist, you know the reality is a bit more... chaotic. It’s not just "set it and forget it."
Between the notorious memory leaks and the weirdness of Xbox crossplay, keeping a server stable is basically a second job.
Most people think throwing money at a high-RAM hosting plan is the fix. It’s not. I’ve seen 32GB servers choke and die after six hours because of a single setting or a poorly timed raid. If you’re tired of the "Lost Connection to Host" screen, we need to talk about what’s actually happening under the hood in 2026.
The Memory Leak Monster is Still Under the Bed
Let’s be real: Palworld is a technical marvel and a technical mess all at once. The biggest issue with Palworld dedicated servers remains the memory creep. Basically, the game doesn't like letting go of data. As players explore new chunks of the map or capture hundreds of Pals, the RAM usage just climbs. And climbs.
And then the server crashes.
You’ve probably seen the advice to just "restart the server." That’s fine, but it’s a band-aid. The real pros are looking at specific config tweaks. For instance, the bEnableInvaderEnemy setting is a known RAM hog. Most community admins I talk to have just turned it off. It sucks to lose the raids, but it’s better than having your server die every three hours.
Another sneaky performance killer? The DropItemMaxNum. The default is 3000. Think about that—3000 individual items sitting on the ground with physics calculations running. Knocking that down to 500 can save your CPU a massive headache.
Xbox Players: The Grass Isn't Always Greener
There’s still a weird divide between the Steam and Xbox versions of the game. If you're on a console, you can't just type in an IP address and join. It’s a massive pain. You have to navigate through the Community Servers list, and even then, performance on the Xbox side of Palworld dedicated servers feels like it's a patch or two behind the PC crowd.
If you’re running a server for a mixed group of friends, keep your expectations in check. Crossplay exists, but it’s finicky. Console players often deal with higher desync, especially when the base gets crowded with 15+ Pals working at once.
Hosting: Don't Get Scammed by "Unlimited" Slots
If a host tells you that you can run 100 players on a $10 plan, they’re lying. Simple as that.
For a smooth experience, you need to look at the hardware. We’re talking:
- CPU: You want high single-core clock speeds. AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D is the current gold standard for game servers.
- RAM: 16GB is the bare minimum for a group of 8. If you want 32 players, you’re looking at 32GB+ and a prayer.
- Storage: NVMe SSD is non-negotiable. Traditional SSDs are too slow for the world-save frequency Palworld demands.
Why Your Base is Lagging (And It’s Not the Internet)
You’re walking through your base and suddenly you’re rubber-banding. You check your ping—it’s 20ms. So what gives?
It’s almost always "Tick Rate" issues. When the server CPU gets overwhelmed by the AI of 40 different Pals trying to pathfind to a berry plantation, the server's internal clock slows down. This is the "hidden" lag that ruins the experience.
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To fix this on Palworld dedicated servers, you can dive into the Engine.ini files. Most people never touch these, but setting NetServerMaxTickRate=120 can actually force the server to communicate more frequently with the clients. It’s a night-and-day difference for combat.
The "Invisible" Settings That Save Your World
Most people just edit the PalWorldSettings.ini and stop there. If you want a server that actually survives a weekend without a wipe, you need to look at these specific variables:
- DropItemAliveMaxHours: Lower this to 0.5. There is no reason for a piece of wood to sit on the ground for an hour.
- PalEggDefaultHatchingTime: If you have a large server, high hatch times lead to players standing around, which increases idle load. Lowering this keeps people moving.
- Auto-Restarts: Setup a cron job or use your host’s panel to restart every 6 to 12 hours. It’s the only way to clear the memory leak.
Actionable Steps to Stabilize Your Server
If you're ready to stop the crashes and actually play the game, here is exactly what you need to do right now.
- Move to Linux: If you're self-hosting, Windows is a resource hog. A headless Ubuntu server will give you about 20% more overhead to work with. Use SteamCMD to keep it updated.
- Check Your Logs: Look for "Out of Memory" (OOM) errors. If you see these, you aren't restarting often enough or your
bEnableInvaderEnemyis still on. - Whitelist Early: Public Palworld dedicated servers are magnets for griefers. Even if you want a "public" feel, use a Discord-based whitelist. It saves your world data from being corrupted by bad actors.
- Backup, Backup, Backup: I cannot stress this enough. Palworld save files are notoriously fragile. Set your server to backup the
Savedfolder every 2 hours to a separate location. If the power flickers and the world file truncates, you’ll lose everything without those backups.
Running a server is about managing the trade-off between features and stability. You can have the massive raids and the 3000 dropped items, or you can have a server that doesn't crash during a boss fight. Personally? I'll take the stability every single time. Stop chasing the "perfect" config and start focusing on the basics: clean hardware, regular restarts, and aggressive item cleanup.