How to Change Your Valheim Server Name, Password and World

Valheim's dedicated server takes its identity from three launch parameters: the display name, the world name and the password. On your PlayNHost server these are set as variables rather than in a config file.

Where the settings live

Open your server in the panel and go to its Startup Settings page, linked from the server overview. The variables there map directly onto Valheim's own parameters:

• The server name is the value passed to -name. This is what shows in the browser.
• The world name is the value passed to -world. It selects which save file loads.
• The password is the value passed to -password.
• Public listing is the value passed to -public, where 1 lists the server and 0 hides it from the browser while still allowing direct joins.

Stop the server, change the values, then start it. Valheim reads these only at launch.

The password rules that stop a server booting

Valheim refuses to start on a bad password, and the reason is printed in the console rather than shown anywhere else. The rules are:

• At least 5 characters.
• It must not appear inside the server name or the world name. A server called VikingCamp cannot have the password Viking.
• It cannot be empty unless the server is explicitly started without a password, which is not the default.

If the console shows a password error and then a shutdown, this is why.

Switching to a different world

Changing the world name to one that does not exist creates a brand new, empty world. That is how you start fresh. To go back, set the name to the previous one again. Nothing is deleted by switching.

World saves live under:

.config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim/worlds_local/

Each world is a pair of files, WorldName.db holding the terrain and buildings and WorldName.fwl holding the metadata. Both are needed. To upload a world from your own machine, stop the server, upload both files into that folder, then set the world name to match the file name without the extension.

Player slots

Valheim's dedicated server has a hard ceiling of 10 connected players, set by the game and not by the host. Your plan's slot count applies within that limit.

Back up before you change anything

Valheim keeps rolling backups of its own next to the world files, with .old and .bak style suffixes. Before switching worlds or editing anything, download the .db and .fwl pair from Files so you have a copy off the server.