Start a Valheim server

This guide takes you from zero to a live Valheim world your friends can join, then shows you how to stop it so it stops costing anything. Valheim works a little differently from the shooters on SLASHPLAY: every server has a password, and you join from inside the game. Both steps are covered below.

Before you start

• A SLASHPLAY account. Sign in at slashplay.gg/dashboard with Discord or Steam. See Create your account.
• Tokens on your team. A Valheim server on the recommended MEDIUM size costs 6 tokens an hour ($0.06), and SMALL costs 3. New accounts start with 6 tokens, enough for about an hour on MEDIUM or two on SMALL. See How tokens work.
• Valheim on Steam, for you and everyone who joins.

Steps

1. Open Deploy. Sign in and click the Deploy tab in the top bar. Find Valheim and click Deploy on its card. The card shows 6 tokens an hour.
2. Pick a region. Every server runs in EU - Germany today. The other regions are coming soon: choosing one lets you vote for it. See Regions.
3. Pick a size. The size starts on SMALL. MEDIUM (2 CPU, 4 GB, 6 tokens an hour) is the size Valheim is set up for, and gives a bigger group or a big late-game base room to grow. SMALL (1 CPU, 2 GB, 3 tokens an hour) works for a few friends. There’s only one version, so the window doesn’t ask for one.
4. Deploy. Click Deploy · 6/HR (the number follows the size you picked). You land on the Servers tab and the server shows Starting. The first start generates your world, so give it a couple of minutes.
5. Copy the address and password. When the card says Live, click Copy invite to copy the address, for example GrandOspreyFeather.slashplay.gg:30057. Below it is the join password: click the eye to show it.
6. Join in Valheim (next section).
7. Stop when you’re done. Click Stop on the card. Next time, press Start.

Join in Valheim

1. Start Valheim, choose your character and click Start.
2. Open the Join game tab.
3. Click Add server and paste the address, including the :port at the end. (Older versions of Valheim call this Join IP.)
4. Connect to the server. When Valheim asks for a password, paste the join password.

You spawn in the world called Dedicated. It’s the same world every time you restore the server.

Invite your friends

Click Invite page on the card and send them that page’s URL. They don’t need a SLASHPLAY account. On the invite page they see:

• The server address with Copy address, and the password with a button to show it.
• Open in Steam, which starts Valheim. It doesn’t join the server by itself: they then follow the steps in Join in Valheim.

If the server is still starting, the page says so and updates when it’s live. See Connecting and inviting.

What happens next

While the server is live, your team’s balance pays for it by the minute. Stop saves the world, shuts the server down and stops the hourly cost. Start brings the same world back with the same password, but with a new address, so everyone needs to add the server again with the new one.

Troubleshooting

The server has said Starting for several minutes. Slow boots are retried automatically. If it ends up Crashed, the boot isn’t charged: click Start the game again on the server page. See Crashes and debug mode and Troubleshooting.

I can’t find the server in Valheim’s server list. It isn’t listed publicly. Add it by address as described above.

Valheim says the password is wrong. Copy it again from the card or the invite page. If you changed it, restart the server first: the new password only applies after a restart.

It worked yesterday, now it won’t connect. After a restore the address changes. Copy the new one from the card and add the server again.

Can I turn the password off? No. Valheim’s dedicated server requires one, so the switch is locked for Valheim.

Related

• Valheim overview
• Join passwords
• Connecting and inviting
• Start, stop and restore