How to host an Empyrion: Galactic Survival server (2026)

Short answer. You can host an Empyrion: Galactic Survival server yourself for free: install the Empyrion - Galactic Survival Dedicated Server, Steam app 530870, with SteamCMD, edit dedicated.yaml and open the server's ports, starting at Srv_Port (30000 in the developer's example), for TCP and UDP. Or rent an Empyrion: Galactic Survival server and skip the install and the port forwarding.

Players join from the game's multiplayer browser, using the server name and your password if you set one. Update the server after every game patch so it stays on the build your players have.

Checked on 5 November 2026 against v1.19.6 (Build 5188), the newest stable release announced on Steam. A v1.20 test (v1.20 EXPERIMENTAL II, 22 October 2026) runs separately on the experimental branch.

This guide uses three sources: the developer's Steam announcements and forum answers, Steam's own listing for the server app, and what we run on every Empyrion server we host. To skip to the rental route, go to Option 2.

What you need

• The server software: "Empyrion - Galactic Survival Dedicated Server", Steam app 530870. It is free to download, with an anonymous Steam login. Steam lists it for Windows only. Our servers run that Windows build on Linux.
• A machine that stays on: a spare PC, a home server or a cloud machine, running Windows, or Linux with Wine.
• A game copy for each player: everyone who joins needs their own copy of Empyrion: Galactic Survival on Steam.
• Network: the server's ports, starting at Srv_Port, reachable from the internet on TCP and UDP.

Option 1: host it yourself

The developer ships the server as a Windows program and its settings live in dedicated.yaml. The steps below download it with SteamCMD. On Windows you run it directly. We run the same files on Linux through Wine, and the last part of this section shows how our install does that.

Install the server

1. Install SteamCMD from Valve and run it once so it updates itself.
2. Download the dedicated server. This is the command our install script runs, with the Windows platform forced so it also works from Linux:

   ./steamcmd.sh +force_install_dir /path/to/empyrion +login anonymous +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType windows +app_update 530870 validate +quit

   On Windows, run steamcmd.exe with the same arguments and drop the platform flag. To test the experimental branch, add -beta experimental after 530870, as our install does when the branch is set to experimental. Leave it out for the stable game.
3. Open dedicated.yaml in the server folder. The developer says most settings are in this file. It is YAML: indent with spaces.

Write the settings

These are the keys our panel writes into dedicated.yaml. They are the ones to change first:

ServerConfig:
  Srv_Port: 30000
  Srv_Name: "My Empyrion galaxy"
  Srv_Password: "choose-a-password"
  Srv_MaxPlayers: 8
  Srv_Description: "My first galaxy"
  Tel_Enabled: true
  Tel_Port: 30004
GameConfig:
  Seed: 1011345
  CustomScenario: Default Multiplayer

Set a password if you only want invited players: the developer recommends it. Seed decides how the galaxy is generated, and CustomScenario names the scenario the server runs. Our panel uses the scenario name Default Multiplayer by default. Edit the file while the server is stopped.

Open the ports

• Game: allow the Srv_Port number on your firewall and forward it on your router for TCP and UDP, then use the same number in dedicated.yaml. In 2017 a developer in the official Steam forum asked a player whether the range 30000 to 30004 was open for both TCP and UDP when troubleshooting, so opening that range is a sensible first try.
• Telnet: the server's remote console. Our panel enables it and its console connects to it. If you enable it yourself, do not forward it to the internet unless you need it. Its port in our settings, 30004, sits inside the 30000 to 30004 range, so if you forward that whole range, keep telnet off or move Tel_Port outside it.

Start it and join

1. Start the server from the server folder. On Windows, Steam's own launch entry for this tool runs EmpyrionLauncher.exe -startDediWithGfx. This is the command line we use on Linux, with logging to a file:

   WINEDLLOVERRIDES="mscoree,mshtml=" wine ./DedicatedServer/EmpyrionDedicated.exe -batchmode -log -logFile ./logs/current.log

2. Join it. Start Empyrion on Steam, open the multiplayer browser and find your server by its name. Enter the password if you set one. Our How to connect to your Empyrion server shows the join steps.
3. Update by stopping the server and running the download command again, after each game patch, so the server stays on your players' build.

The Linux trap: the first boot can hang forever

Our Linux install adds the Visual C++ 2019 runtime and .NET Framework 4.8 to Wine with winetricks. When our servers ran that step at first boot, it hung at a wineserver wait every time we observed. What worked for us: do it once, at install time, in its own step before the game ever starts:

export WINEPREFIX=/path/to/.wine WINEARCH=win64 WINEDEBUG=-all
wineboot --init
xvfb-run -a winetricks -q vcrun2019 dotnet48

It is slow, and it is done only once. On Debian or Ubuntu, add the i386 architecture first (dpkg --add-architecture i386), then install wine, wine32, wine64, xvfb and cabextract, plus winetricks (our install fetches the current script from the Winetricks project on GitHub). The server must then run as the user that owns that Wine folder.

Option 2: host it on PlayNHost

Renting removes the install, the Wine runtime and the ports. You still choose a name, a password and the rules.

1. Pick a plan. Open the Empyrion: Galactic Survival server hosting page and compare the plans: SMALL VESSEL (8 players), CAPITAL VESSEL (14) and ORBITAL BASE (20) at the time of writing. Press Create Server (Customize Plan on ORBITAL BASE) and finish the order. Prices change, so check them on that page.
2. Wait for the install. The server appears in the panel. The first install also prepares the Windows runtime, so it takes a while. The Console prints Connected to 127.0.0.1. when the server is ready.
3. Name it. On the Settings tab, set the Server Name (up to 20 characters), a Server Password (up to 20 characters) for a private server, and a Server Description. Then restart. See How to change your Empyrion server name, password and slots.
4. Choose the galaxy. Set the World Seed and the Scenario in the same place. The seed changes the generated galaxy, so choose it before you build. See How to run a custom scenario on your Empyrion server.
5. Invite your players. Give them the Server Name to look for in the multiplayer browser and the Server Password if you set one.

What the panel does for you

• The panel writes the port, name, password, player limit, description, seed, scenario and telnet settings into dedicated.yaml at every start. Change the name, password, description, seed and scenario in the panel, not in the file: a hand edit to any of those keys is overwritten at the next start.
• The player limit follows your plan. On our servers Max Players is shown but not editable.
• The Windows runtime is prepared when the server is installed, so the first-boot hang above does not meet you at start.
• The Game Branch setting is empty for the stable game, and experimental selects the experimental branch. The branch is read only while the server installs, so a change applies after a reinstall, not a restart: ask our support and we reinstall it for you.
• Mods and scenarios go in by upload, into the folders the game ships for them, Content/Mods and Content/Scenarios. Our install makes sure both exist.
• If a start fails or a galaxy resets, see Empyrion server will not start or the galaxy reset.

Self-hosting or renting: an honest comparison

• Cost: the dedicated server software is free. Self-hosting costs power, hardware and bandwidth, or a cloud machine. Renting is a recurring fee set by the plan and the billing period you choose.
• Uptime: a home server is only up while your PC, power and internet are. A rented server runs on the host's hardware.
• Exposure: at home, players connect to your public IP address and you look after the firewall and router. A rented server keeps your home IP out of it.
• Setup: self-hosting needs SteamCMD, port forwarding for TCP and UDP and, on Linux, the Wine runtime. Renting needs a name, a password and a seed.
• Control: self-hosting gives you every file. On our servers you change settings in the panel and still have the Files tab for your galaxy and mods.

Ready to skip the setup? See the Empyrion: Galactic Survival server plans. Already have a server? Start with How to connect to your Empyrion server.