How to Set Up a V Rising Dedicated Server

A castle in Vardoran does not stop being raided because the owner went to bed. If your clan keeps its V Rising world on someone's gaming PC, the world sleeps when that PC does. A dedicated server keeps the castle, the blood and the grudges running while everyone is offline.

This guide covers installing the V Rising dedicated server with SteamCMD, the settings files, ports, admin rights, saves and backups, and the usual problems. Stunlock Studios maintains the official dedicated server instructions on GitHub, and that is the reference to check if something here no longer matches your build. Stunlock keeps a separate instruction file for each version of the game, and this guide follows the current 1.1.x PC instructions.

Why Run a Dedicated V Rising Server?

Your world stays up. A world hosted from a player's PC only exists while that PC is on. A dedicated server keeps it available for the whole clan.

The host's PC stays free. The client packages a server that runs in the background for local private games, according to Stunlock. A dedicated server moves that work to its own machine.

You choose the rules. Pick a game settings preset such as StandardPvP, set your own difficulty preset, and decide who gets admin rights.

Real player counts. Stunlock says the technically supported maximum for MaxConnectedUsers is 128. Your hardware and your clan structure will decide how many you actually want.

What You Need

• A machine to run the server on. Stunlock states that at the moment there is only a Windows version of the dedicated server.
• SteamCMD, Valve's command-line Steam client. The Valve Developer Community SteamCMD page covers installing it.
• Enough memory and disk. Stunlock publishes no RAM or CPU figure for the dedicated server. For reference, the V Rising Steam page lists 12 GB of RAM for the game client, which is a client figure and not a server one. Watch your own usage and size from there.
• Access to your router or hosting firewall so you can open the game ports.
• Your SteamID, for the admin list.

Install the Server With SteamCMD

The dedicated server is a separate Steam app from the game. According to the official instructions:

• The server's Steam AppID is 1829350, downloaded from the default branch.
• The client AppID is 1604030. The running server uses it through a steam_appid.txt file.

Stunlock links an example download script in its repository (examples/download-default.bat). You can use that, or run SteamCMD yourself. The SteamCMD pattern is to set the install directory first, log in anonymously, update the app, then quit:

steamcmd +force_install_dir C:\vrising +login anonymous +app_update 1829350 validate +quit

Valve's wiki warns to set force_install_dir before logging in. It also notes that validate overwrites changed files, so use it for a first install or when something is broken.

To update later, stop the server and run the download again. Stunlock describes this as "as easy as just running the script again". Stunlock also recommends restarting the server daily, ideally when few people are on, such as at night or early morning.

Start the Server

The installation folder contains start_server_example.bat next to VRisingServer.exe. Copy it and edit the copy, because the original can be overwritten by updates. Running VRisingServer.exe by itself starts the server with default settings.

Stunlock recommends setting -persistentDataPath so the server keeps its settings and saves in a folder you choose. It is required if you run several V Rising servers on one host. A start line with a few common parameters looks like this:

VRisingServer.exe -persistentDataPath .\save-data -serverName "My Clan Server" -saveName world1

-serverName and -saveName are two of the command-line overrides Stunlock documents. Most host settings can also be set with an environment variable such as VR_NAME.

Configure ServerHostSettings.json

The default settings live in VRisingServer_Data/StreamingAssets/Settings/. Do not edit those. Local overrides go in Settings under your persistent data path. Without -persistentDataPath, that is %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Stunlock Studios\VRisingServer\Settings. You can place a full file there, or only the values that differ from the default.

Key ServerHostSettings.json options from Stunlock's instructions:

• Name and Description: what players see in the server list.
• Port and QueryPort: the game and query ports (see below).
• MaxConnectedUsers: the player limit. MaxConnectedAdmins is how many admins can connect when the server is full.
• Password: the join password.
• Secure: VAC protection.
• ListOnSteam and ListOnEOS: whether the server appears on the Steam list, the EOS list, or both. The client looks at the EOS list by default.
• HideIPAddress: hides the IP on the EOS list, and players connect through relay servers.
• GameSettingsPreset: loads a preset such as StandardPvP from VRisingServer_Data/StreamingAssets/GameSettingPresets.
• GameDifficultyPreset: for example Difficulty_Normal, from the GameDifficultyPresets folder.
• SaveName, AutoSaveCount, AutoSaveInterval (in seconds) and AutoSaveSmartKeep.
• ServerFps, LowerFPSWhenEmpty and LowerFPSWhenEmptyValue: how often the server ticks, and whether it slows down when nobody is online.
• ResetDaysInterval and DayOfReset: scheduled resets. A ResetDaysInterval of 0 disables them.

ServerGameSettings.json holds the gameplay rules. Stunlock's instructions describe the presets in the GameSettingPresets folder, which is the easiest place to copy from if you want to see what each rule is called.

Ports and Firewall

Stunlock's instructions list the ports with example values:

Port	Protocol	Example value	Purpose
Port	UDP	27015	Game traffic
QueryPort	UDP	27016	Steam server list features

The game port alone is enough for players who connect directly. To appear on the server list, both the query port and the game port must be open. Allow the server program through the Windows firewall and forward the ports on your router if you host at home. The numbers above are examples, so set Port and QueryPort to whatever you choose and open those.

Admin Rights and Bans

1. Add your SteamID to adminlist.txt in the Settings folder under your persistent data path, one SteamID per line. No restart is needed.
2. In the game, enable the console in the options menu and open it with the tilde key (~).
3. Run adminauth to authenticate as an admin.

Admin console commands include banuser, bancharacter, banned, unban and kick. Bans made from the console are written to banlist.txt in the same folder, and you can edit that file by hand, one SteamID per line.

Stunlock's instructions also describe an optional RCON setup. It is off unless you add an Rcon block with a password to ServerHostSettings.json, so you can leave it disabled and use the in-game console instead.

Saves and Backups

Saves go in the Saves folder under your persistent data path. The default is %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Stunlock Studios\VRisingServer\Saves.

The server rotates its own autosaves. AutoSaveSmartKeep takes entries in the form A:B:C, separated by commas. A is how many minutes ago, B is how many of the newest saves to keep, and C is how many of the oldest to keep. Stunlock's example is 10:2:1,60:0:1. AutoSaveCount is applied afterwards as a cap on the total.

Stunlock strongly recommends backups, especially before and after patching. Stop the server, copy the whole Saves folder somewhere else, and keep a few dated copies.

Move a Single-Player or Hosted Save to the Server

Stunlock documents moving a save from a client:

1. Back up the session folder from %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Stunlock Studios\VRising\CloudSaves\<SteamID>\v4\ (or ...\VRising\Saves\v4\).
2. Optionally remove ServerHostSettings.json and the older AutoSave_# folders from the copy.
3. Rename the GUID folder if you like, then copy it into Saves/v4/ under the server's persistent data path.
4. Start the server with -saveName <name> and leave GameSettingsPreset empty so a preset does not replace the settings that came with the save.
5. Remove the local copy through the Load Game menu so it does not show up twice.

Troubleshooting

Players cannot see the server in the list. Check that both the game port and the query port are open, and that ListOnSteam or ListOnEOS is on. The client searches the EOS list by default.

Players can see it but not connect. Check the firewall rule and the router forward for the game port, and the Password setting.

Your settings change nothing. Make sure you edited the override file under your persistent data path and not the defaults in StreamingAssets, and that you restarted the server.

You cannot use admin commands. Confirm your SteamID is in adminlist.txt, one per line, then run adminauth in the console.

The wrong world loads. Check SaveName or -saveName, and make sure GameSettingsPreset is empty if you transferred a save.

The server was fine until a patch. Stop it, back up the Saves folder, then run the download again to update. Stunlock keeps separate instructions per game version, so check that the version you run matches the instructions you follow.

FAQ

Is there a Linux version of the server? Stunlock says that at the moment there is only a Windows version of the dedicated server.

How many players can join? Stunlock gives 128 as the technically supported maximum for MaxConnectedUsers.

Do I need to keep my SteamID in the admin list? Yes. Admins must be listed in adminlist.txt before adminauth works.

Is there a PS5 server? Stunlock's repository has separate dedicated server instructions for the PS5 version of the game. They are a different guide from the PC one, so follow the instructions for the version you play.

V Rising Hosting on EZ Game Host

Self-hosting works if you want to run your own Windows machine, keep ports forwarded and watch patch days. If you would rather have a server that is just there, our V Rising server hosting starts at the Standard plan with 8GB of RAM, on Ryzen 9950X cores with NVMe storage.

At checkout you name your server and your world, set a maximum player count, and add an optional password. The panel gives you a console, a file manager for your game settings and saves, and schedules. Every plan has 3 backup slots, always-on DDoS protection, a 99.9% uptime SLA and 24/7 support, and we open the ports for you. It is monthly, and you can cancel any time. Bring an existing save by uploading it through the file manager yourself, following the steps above.