How to Fix a RimWorld Together Server That Will Not Start

RimWorld Together reports its problems in the panel console. Open Console for your server and read from the top of the last start.

The server stops right after a config edit

The config files are JSON. A missing comma, a trailing comma or an unclosed brace stops the server loading, and the console names the file. Restore your backup of that file, or fix the punctuation it complains about.

Remember that the config is rewritten on shutdown, so edits made while the server was running were overwritten rather than applied.

Players are refused at the connect

Almost always a mismatch. The console names it. Check in this order:

1. The RimWorld Together mod version, on both sides.
2. The RimWorld version itself.
3. The content mod list and load order.

Publishing a Steam Workshop collection is the practical fix, since everyone can then match your list in one click.

The shared world is wrong or missing

The world is created by the first connection and belongs to the server. If it has been reset:

• Check the backups the server takes, configured in BackupConfig.json.
• Check your own downloaded copies.
• Check whether the save folder was moved or renamed during an update.

Restore from a backup

1. Stop the server.
2. In Files, move the current world aside rather than deleting it.
3. Put the backup in its place.
4. Start the server and have one player connect before you announce it.

The server runs but nobody can find it

• Confirm the port in ServerConfig.json matches the value on the server overview.
• RimWorld Together is joined by address, so players need the IP and port rather than a name to search for.

Back up before every change

Stop the server, then download the Config folder and the world save from Files. Both are small and both are irreplaceable.

What to send support

Open a ticket with the first hundred lines of the console from a fresh start, your mod list, and whether the failure is at server startup or at a player's connect.