How to Make a Terraria Server

Host & Play or a dedicated server

Host & Play is the button in Terraria's Multiplayer menu. You pick a world, Steam invites your friends, and you play. It needs no setup at all, which makes it the right choice for an evening session. The catch: the world runs inside your game and stops the moment you leave, and only Steam friends can join that way.

A dedicated server is a separate program — TerrariaServer — that runs a world without anyone playing on that machine. Friends connect with Join via IP, whenever they like, and the world keeps going when you log off.

Make a Terraria dedicated server at home

Find the server

If you own Terraria on Steam, you already have it: TerrariaServer.exe is in the game folder (in Steam, right-click Terraria > Manage > Browse local files). For Linux, or a machine without the game, download the dedicated server from terraria.org — the current file is terraria-server-1458.zip, with Windows, Linux and Mac builds inside.

Start it and answer the prompts

1. Run TerrariaServer.exe (on Linux, ./TerrariaServer.bin.x86_64, ideally inside tmux so it survives closing the terminal).
2. Choose a world, or press n for a new one: size (small, medium, large), difficulty (Classic, Expert, Master, Journey), the world evil, a name and an optional seed.
3. Max players — press Enter for 16.
4. Server port — press Enter for 7777.
5. Automatically forward port? — y asks your router to open the port by UPnP. It often works; if friends still cannot connect, forward it by hand.
6. Password — set one unless you want strangers in.

When the console says the server has started, it is running. Type exit to stop it — that saves the world first.

Open the port

Forward TCP port 7777 on your router to the PC's local IP address and allow TerrariaServer through the firewall. Friends then join with your public IP and port 7777; you join from the same PC with 127.0.0.1.

Skip the prompts with serverconfig.txt

For a server you start often, put the answers in a config file and start it with TerrariaServer.exe -config serverconfig.txt. The download includes an example with every option commented:

world=C:\Users\You\Documents\My Games\Terraria\Worlds\MyWorld.wld
autocreate=2
worldname=MyWorld
difficulty=1
maxplayers=8
port=7777
password=changeme
motd=Welcome, survivors
secure=1

autocreate creates the world if the file does not exist (1 small, 2 medium, 3 large); difficulty is 0 Classic, 1 Expert, 2 Master, 3 Journey, and only applies to a new world. Worlds live in Documents/My Games/Terraria/Worlds on Windows and ~/.local/share/Terraria/Worlds on Linux.

Vanilla, TShock or tModLoader

• Vanilla is the official server, exactly as Re-Logic ships it. It has a handful of console commands and nothing else. Perfect for a group of friends who trust each other.
• TShock is a server built on vanilla that adds what a public server needs: player accounts, groups and permissions, region protection against griefing, bans, item bans, server-side characters and plugins. Players connect with the normal game. The current release, TShock 6, runs Terraria 1.4.5.
• tModLoader runs content mods such as Calamity and Thorium. Every player needs tModLoader too, and it is still based on Terraria 1.4.4, so a world played on 1.4.5 cannot be opened in it. It has its own guide: how to make a tModLoader server.

TShock's first start

A fresh TShock server prints a setup code in the console (it is also saved in tshock/setup-code.txt). Join the server and type, in chat:

/setup 1234567
/user add YourName YourPassword owner
/login YourName YourPassword
/setup

The first line gives you temporary rights, the second creates your owner account, and the last one closes the setup system. Settings are in tshock/config.json. Older guides mention /auth; current TShock uses /setup.

Make a Terraria server on HytHost

1. Order and pick the software. On Terraria hosting, choose a plan, then Vanilla, TShock or tModLoader, and a game version from 1.4.1 up to the latest 1.4.5. The server is created automatically after payment.
2. Set up the world in the Startup tab. World name, size, difficulty (Journey and Master included), seed, password, message of the day and max players. Size, difficulty and seed only apply when a new world is created.
3. Or bring your own world. Stop the server, upload your .wld file into saves/Worlds with the file manager or sFTP, and set the World Name in the Startup tab to the file name without .wld. The name may use letters, digits, - and _, so rename a file with spaces first.
4. Join by IP. In Terraria choose Multiplayer > Join via IP, enter the address and port from your panel, and the password. On a shared IP the panel shows the port assigned to you; the Dedicated IP add-on gives the server its own address on port 7777.

Changed your mind about the software later? The Software tab switches between Vanilla, TShock and tModLoader and changes the version, keeping your world, password, message of the day and player slots, and saving a snapshot of the world first. The one switch it refuses is a 1.4.5 world to tModLoader, which cannot open it.

Keeping the server online when your PC is off

A server at home is free, and for a group that plays together it may be all you ever need. The limit is simple: the world is online exactly as long as your PC is. Every time you shut down, reboot for an update or take the laptop with you, the server goes with it — and the friend who wanted to log in for an hour of mining finds nothing there.

Home hosting also asks for a router you can configure; some connections — mobile broadband, many shared "CGNAT" lines — cannot accept incoming players at all.

That is the honest reason to rent a server: not that it is faster to set up, but that it keeps the world online around the clock without your PC. For small groups it costs less than people expect — Vanilla and TShock run comfortably on the 2 GB Copper plan. If you want to see every free option first, read free Terraria server hosting.

Mobile, console and crossplay

Mobile players can join a Vanilla Terraria server by IP and port when the phone and the server run the same game version. On the phone that is Multiplayer > Online, then add the server's address and port.

• Versions must match. Phones update on their own schedule, so if a phone is on a different version, pick the matching version for the server — on HytHost at checkout or later in the Software tab, anywhere from 1.4.1 to 1.4.5.
• Console players cannot join dedicated servers yet. Re-Logic says console crossplay is coming, but today Xbox, PlayStation and Switch players only play with each other on their own systems.
• tModLoader is PC only, so mobile players cannot join a modded server.
• Steam and GOG are the same PC game, and both can join a dedicated server with Join via IP. Host & Play invites are Steam only.

Server commands and how much RAM you need

Type these in the server console, without a slash:

RAM: a vanilla server is light. Idle with nobody on, it uses roughly 0.6 GB on a small world, 0.8 GB on a medium one and a little over 1 GB on a large one, and more as players explore. 2 GB runs Vanilla or TShock comfortably for a small group, 4 GB suits a larger group or a big, well-explored world, and tModLoader with big content mods wants 6–8 GB.