How to host a Smalland: Survive the Wilds server (2026)

Short answer. You can host a Smalland: Survive the Wilds server yourself for free: install the dedicated server (Steam app 808040) with SteamCMD using an anonymous login, start it with the map and options shown below, and open the port you pass with -port. Or rent a Smalland server and skip the setup.

Players find your server by its name in the in-game server browser.

Checked on 5 November 2026 against the newest game update Steam had announced, the hotfix of 15 April 2026 that followed the Wyrdweaver update.

This guide uses the developer's Steam announcements and what we run on a PlayNHost Smalland server. The developer's own server instructions are shared as a download we could not read, so wherever we describe a start option it is the one our servers use, and the guide says so. To skip to the rental route, go to Option 2.

What you need

• The server software: Steam app 808040, which our install downloads with an anonymous Steam login. The developer also offers a dedicated server tool under Tools in the Steam library of anyone who owns the game, with a start-server batch file that holds its settings.
• A machine that stays on: a spare PC, a home server or a cloud virtual machine. The game itself is Windows-only on Steam. Our panel runs the Linux server build, so the commands below are for Linux. We have not tested a self-hosted server on Windows.
• RAM and CPU: we found no server requirements in the developer's Steam announcements. The Steam page lists only what a PC needs to play the game, so do not read its figures as server figures.
• Network: the game port you choose with -port, reachable from the internet. We found no developer statement of which protocol it uses, so we do not state one.
• Players: every player needs Smalland: Survive the Wilds. The developer added crossplay in May 2025 and a crossplay option for user-created servers in a hotfix that month. Our start line and panel have no crossplay setting.
• Player limit: the start line we run has no player-limit option. Our Smalland plans state 10 players, the number the Steam page gives ("up to 10 players in multiplayer"). It is not a setting.

Option 1: host it yourself

These steps are for Debian or Ubuntu. The install command and the start line 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 -y

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

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

3. Install SteamCMD and let it update itself once.

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

4. Download the server.

   ~/steamcmd/steamcmd.sh +force_install_dir /home/smalland/server +login anonymous +app_update 808040 validate +quit

   On our installs SteamCMD has sometimes stopped with "Missing configuration", left no game files and still carried on to "success". Check that steamapps/appmanifest_808040.acf exists in the server folder, and run the command again if it does not. Our install script does exactly this check and retries up to three times.
5. Copy the Steam client libraries where the server looks for them, as our install does:

   mkdir -p ~/.steam/sdk32 ~/.steam/sdk64
   cp ~/steamcmd/linux32/steamclient.so ~/.steam/sdk32/
   cp ~/steamcmd/linux64/steamclient.so ~/.steam/sdk64/

Start it

1. Run the server from the server folder. Our start line passes the settings as options joined with ? on the map name. This is that line as our servers run it, with our panel's default values, minus the Epic Online Services settings and a fall damage option that our panel leaves empty. The port 7777 is only an example:

   cd ~/server
   ./SMALLAND/Binaries/Linux/SMALLANDServer-Linux-Shipping SMALLAND /Game/Maps/WorldGame/WorldGame_Smalland?SERVERNAME=\"My Server\"?WORLDNAME=\"World\"?lengthofdayseconds=1800?lengthofseasonseconds=10800?creaturehealthmodifier=100?creaturedamagemodifier=100?nourishmentlossmodifier=100 -port=7777 -NOSTEAM -log

2. Add the options you want. Our start line adds ?PASSWORD=\"secret\" when a password is set, a bare ?FRIENDLYFIRE, ?PEACEFULMODE, ?KEEPINVENTORY or ?PRIVATE for each of those switches that is on, and ?NODETERIORATION when deterioration is turned off. Put them right before ?lengthofdayseconds, with no spaces around them, and keep the backslash before each quote as shown.
3. Know what we leave out. Our start line also passes -ini:Engine:[EpicOnlineServices] values (a deployment ID and a dedicated-server client ID and secret). They are credentials we do not publish. We have not tested a server without them, so we cannot say whether it would appear in the server browser. If you want the developer's version of the start line, use the start-server file from the Steam tool.
4. Wait for the ready line. The server is up when its log prints Session 'GameSession' is being set as 'listening'. Run it under a service manager such as systemd so it restarts after a crash.
5. Open the port. Allow the port you passed to -port on the machine's firewall and forward it on your router.
6. Join it. Start Smalland and look for your server name in the in-game server browser.
7. Update by stopping the server and running the download command again.

Windows

The developer's announcement of 16 January 2024 says the dedicated server is now a Steam tool: find it under Tools in your Steam library, right-click it, choose Properties, then Browse, and edit the start-server batch file to set your options. We could not read the developer's instructions, so we do not list the options in that file.

Option 2: host it on PlayNHost

Renting removes the install, the port and the update routine. You still choose a name, a world and your rules.

1. Pick a plan. Open the Smalland: Survive the Wilds server hosting page and compare the plans: SPIDER and DRAGONFLY at the time of writing. Press Create Server (Customize Plan on DRAGONFLY) 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 Session 'GameSession' is being set as 'listening' when it is ready.
3. Set it up. On the Settings tab, under Game Settings, set the Server Name, the World Name and, for a private server, a Server Password. Then restart.
4. Choose your rules in the same place: Friendly Fire Enabled, Peaceful Mode Enabled, Keep Inventory Enabled, Deterioration Enabled, Length Of Day, Length of Seasons, Creature Health Modifier, Creature Damage Modifier and Nourishment Loss Modifier. Is Private Game turns on the game's private option.
5. Invite your players. They find the server in the in-game server browser by its name. Send them the Server Name and, if you set one, the Server Password.

What the panel does for you

• Settings become start options. Each field above is turned into the matching option on the start line at every start. A switch that is off adds nothing, except Deterioration Enabled, which is on by default and adds ?NODETERIORATION when you turn it off. The password option is only added when the field is not empty.
• Value limits. Because the options are joined with ?, the panel refuses a name, world name or password that contains a double quote, a backslash, an asterisk or a question mark. The server name and world name are at most 32 characters, a password needs at least 3, and the three creature and nourishment modifiers have limits (health and damage from 20 to 300, nourishment loss from 0 to 100).
• Ports and credentials. Your port is assigned and passed with -port, and the Epic Online Services settings our start line uses are already on it.
• Auto Update is on by default: the server checks for and installs the newest build each time it starts, so a restart is an update. To stay on one build, turn it off under Show advanced in Game Settings.
• Files and backups. The Files tab holds the server folder, and Backups is in the server menu.

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, so it does not depend on your PC or your home connection.
• 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 the command line, a port to open, the start options and the Epic Online Services settings, which we do not publish. Renting needs a name, a world name and your rules.
• Control: self-hosting gives you every file. On our servers you set the game options in the panel and still have the Files tab.

Ready to skip the setup? See the Smalland: Survive the Wilds server plans.