How to host a Myth of Empires server (2026)

Short answer. You can host a Myth of Empires server yourself for free: download Steam app 1794810 (the dedicated server) with SteamCMD, start the Linux server program with your server name and two ports of your choice, and forward those ports on your router. Or rent a Myth of Empires server and skip the install, the ports and the save routine.

The server gets its name from -SessionName, and -ServerPassword makes it private. How players find it in the game is covered in our connection guide below.

Checked on 5 November 2026 against the newest Steam announcement for Myth of Empires, posted on 4 November 2026.

Myth of Empires is a multiplayer war sandbox sold on Steam as app 1371580. The developer publishes no setup guide that we could find, so this guide uses the one source we can vouch for: the install script and launcher we run on every Myth of Empires server we host, plus Steam itself. Where something is not documented anywhere we can check, it says so. To skip to the rental route, go to Option 2.

What you need

• The server software: Steam app 1794810, installed with SteamCMD and an anonymous login. We install it with the Windows platform forced, because that download also contains the native Linux server in a folder called LinuxPrivateServer.
• A machine that stays on: a spare PC, a home server or a cloud virtual machine. This guide uses 64-bit Linux, which is what we run. We have not tested a Windows server.
• Memory and CPU: the developer does not publish server requirements that we could find. The requirements on the Steam store page are for playing the game, not for hosting it. Treat any server figure you read elsewhere as an estimate.
• Disk: Steam lists 85 GB of free space for the game client. We have not measured the server on its own.
• Network: two ports you choose, one for the game and one for the server query, both reachable from the internet. We use 12888 as the query port by default.
• The game: every player needs Myth of Empires on Steam.

Option 1: host it yourself

These steps are for Debian or Ubuntu. The download command and the launch arguments are the ones our servers use.

Install the server

1. Install the libraries SteamCMD needs.

   sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install wget tar lib32gcc-s1 libc6:i386 -y

2. Create a user for the server and switch to it.

   sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash -U moe
   sudo su - moe

3. Install SteamCMD.

   mkdir -p ~/steamcmd ~/server
   cd ~/steamcmd
   wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
   tar -xf steamcmd_linux.tar.gz

4. Download the server with the Windows platform forced.

   ~/steamcmd/steamcmd.sh +force_install_dir /home/moe/server +login anonymous +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType windows +app_update 1794810 validate +quit

   SteamCMD sometimes fails on a fresh install and still reports success. We saw this on about two installs in seven. Check that steamapps/appmanifest_1794810.acf exists in the server folder. If it does not, run the command again.
5. Copy the Steam client library into the .steam/sdk64 folder of the home directory of the user that runs the server:

   mkdir -p ~/.steam/sdk64
   cp ~/steamcmd/linux64/steamclient.so ~/.steam/sdk64/

Start it

1. Go to the Linux server folder and make the program executable.

   cd ~/server/LinuxPrivateServer
   chmod +x MOE/Binaries/Linux/MOEServer

2. Start the server. This is the command line our launcher builds, with example values:

   ./MOE/Binaries/Linux/MOEServer MOE LargeTerrain_Central_Main -game -server -DataLocalFile -NotCheckServerSteamAuth -LOCALLOGTIMES -PrivateServer \
     -MultiHome=0.0.0.0 "-OutAddress=203.0.113.10" "-SessionName=My server" \
     -GameServerPVPType=0 -MaxPlayers=20 -MapDifficultyRate=1 -UseACE -EnableVACBan=1 \
     -ServerId=100 -ClusterId=1 -Port=11888 -QueryPort=12888 \
     -SaveGameIntervalMinute=2 "-ServerAdminAccounts=YOUR_ID"

   Replace 203.0.113.10 with your public IP address, and YOUR_ID with your admin ID. Add "-ServerPassword=..." for a private server. Run it under a service manager such as systemd so it restarts after a crash.
3. Know the ready line. The server is ready when its log prints Match State Changed from EnteringMap to WaitingToStart.
4. Forward the two ports you passed as -Port and -QueryPort on your router, and allow them in the machine's firewall. The developer does not publish which protocols they use, so check the game's behaviour on your own network before you share the address.

An argument that works the other way round

The game's own -GameServerPVPType=0 means PvP and 1 means PvE, the opposite of what most people expect. The map is the second word on the command line: our panel accepts LargeTerrain_Central_Main and LargeTerrain_Central2_Main. See How to Connect to Your Myth of Empires Server for the player side.

The trap that loses your world

We measured this on a native Linux server in October 2026. The game saves the world only on its own timer, -SaveGameIntervalMinute, and that timer is 20 minutes by default. It does not save when you stop it with Ctrl+C: the process exits with code 130 and writes nothing. It does not read console input either. So a server stopped 19 minutes after the last save loses 19 minutes of play. A save itself is cheap: 160 milliseconds for about 30,000 objects and 20 MB in our test. Lower -SaveGameIntervalMinute to a few minutes, as in the command above, and stop the server only just after a save line appears in MOE/Saved/Logs/MOE.log. We watch for the text OnSaveLevelData, save succeed.

Mods

The server does not download Workshop mods itself. It looks for a mod by folder name in MOE/Mods and starts with -CustomModList=<folder name>. Workshop items for this game are published under the game's app id, 1371580, not the server's, so SteamCMD fetches them with +workshop_download_item 1371580 <item id>. With +force_install_dir set, the item lands in steamapps/workshop/content/1371580/<item id> under that folder; move that folder into MOE/Mods. In our tests the server loaded only one mod through this switch: a comma, a semicolon, a pipe and repeated switches each gave one folder with a strange name or only the first mod. The other switch, -SteamModList, answered "Mod project file is not valid" for a bare id.

Option 2: host it on PlayNHost

Renting removes the install, the ports, the launcher and the update routine. You still choose a name, your rules and your admins.

1. Pick a plan. Open the Myth of Empires server hosting page and look at the GENERAL plan. Press Customize Plan on it and finish the order. Prices change, so check them on that page.
2. Wait for the install. The server appears in the panel. Its Console prints Match State Changed from EnteringMap to WaitingToStart when it is ready.
3. Name it. On the Settings page, under Game Settings, set the Server Name and, for a private server, a Join Password. The name may not contain a double quote or a backslash. The password may use letters, digits and the symbols ! @ # % ^ _ + = . , : - only. Then restart.
4. Choose your rules on the same page: Map Name, Enable PVP (on by default; turn it off for PvE), and the rate settings for experience, gathering, crop growth, baby animal growth and carry weight. A rate is passed to the game only when you change it from 1, so a server on the defaults runs the official rules. Max Players is set by your plan.
5. Add admins in the Admin ID's field, then restart. See How to Become an Admin on Your Myth of Empires Server.
6. Add a mod if you want one: paste a Steam Workshop item id into Workshop mod and restart. It is downloaded for you, with no Steam account and no subscribing. The field takes one id, for the reason in the mods section above.
7. Tell your players how to join. See How to Connect to Your Myth of Empires Server.

What the panel does for you:

• It saves the world every 2 minutes by default. The Autosave Interval (minutes) field accepts 1 to 20. A Stop or Restart waits for the next save to finish before it stops the game, so at the default interval the 20-minute loss above does not happen. A stop that has waited 10 minutes is forced, so if you raise the interval, keep it at 9 minutes or less.
• Ports and your public address are filled in for you.
• With Auto Update on (it is on by default, under Show advanced in Game Settings), the server checks for a new build at every start and installs it before the world loads.
• If SteamCMD fails to download the server, the install tries up to three times and stops with an error instead of leaving an empty server behind.
• There is no config file to edit in the panel for this game. Every setting is under Game Settings on the Settings page. If a world is ever lost, see How to Fix a Myth of Empires Server That Lost Its World.

Self-hosting or renting: an honest comparison

• Cost: the server software is free. Self-hosting costs power, hardware and bandwidth, or a cloud machine. Renting is a monthly fee set by the plan.
• 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 router and firewall. A rented server keeps your home address out of it.
• Setup: self-hosting needs the command line, port forwarding, a save routine and the Windows-platform download trick. Renting needs a name, a password and your admin list.
• Control: self-hosting gives you every file and every launch argument. On a rented server you set the options the panel offers, plus Extra Flags for launch arguments the panel has no field for.

Ready to skip the setup? See the Myth of Empires server plans.