Hosting a server
A NodeWorld server runs the worlds you choose for your community. Players find it in Explore, in the game and on the website, and their game connects to it directly: NodeWorld's central services sign players in and list the servers (see How NodeWorld works).
The server is one program, with nothing else to install (no .NET, no Docker): Windows x64, Linux x64, or Linux on 64-bit ARM such as a Raspberry Pi.
Start here
- Register the server on the website to get its ID and token.
- Install it on Linux, Windows or a Raspberry Pi.
- Start it: its setup assistant asks for the ID and the token, finds the public address, opens the port on your router, tests it and installs the server as a service.
- Add worlds to it.
It then updates itself when no one is on it.
What it needs
- A machine that stays on while people play, with a stable connection. Each player uses little bandwidth; worlds are downloaded from your server the first time a player enters them.
- One port, UDP and TCP, reachable from the internet:
25252unless you change it. - Memory and CPU grow with the number of players and the worlds you run; a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 is enough for a small community.
All the pages
Install and set up
- Install the server: register it, the packages, the first start, the exit codes and launch options; then Linux, Windows, Raspberry Pi.
- Setup assistant: its steps, running it again, setting a server up without a console.
- Server configuration: every setting of
server-config.yaml. - Ports and firewall: the router, the firewall, what the worlds' scripts reach.
- Run as a service: systemd and Windows.
Run it
- Worlds on your server: adding a world, the checks, home worlds.
- Your server on the website: My servers, its public profile, icons, visibility, token.
- Updates: automatic updates, by hand, going back.
- Kicks and bans: co-owners, banned players, blocks between players.
- 18+ servers and worlds.
When something goes wrong
- Common problems: the lines of the log and of the setup assistant, and what to do.