Can't connect to your game server? Fix it

Start at check 1 and stop when one turns up the problem. The early checks take seconds and catch the usual causes: a stopped server or an address missing its port. If every check passes, the last section lists the details support needs to trace it.

1. Is the server running?

1. In the dashboard, press Open on your server.

2. On the Console tab, read the Power card. Offline means press Start. Starting… means it's still loading. Installing… means a new server is still being set up: wait for it to finish, then press Start.

3. Wait for the game's ready line in the console, such as Done (…s)! on Minecraft or Server startup complete on Rust. The Power card changes to Running at the same moment.

   

Steam games download any waiting update first, and Rust and ARK maps take a while to load. Use your server console and send commands explains what the console shows meanwhile.

• A "This server is on holiday" banner - the owner presses Resume from holiday on it, which restores the normal plan price straight away, then presses Start.
• "This server is suspended" when you press Start - open Billing. After a failed payment, updating your payment method there brings the server back. Once a cancelled plan's paid period ends, open a support ticket to get the server back. Team members are pointed to the owner.
• The Power card falls back to Offline by itself - the server crashed, so skip to check 8.

2. Are you using the full address and port?

Each server gets its own port from a shared range, so don't assume your game's usual default. Players need the whole address, including the number after the colon.

1. Open your server and find Server address at the top of the panel's left rail. On a phone or a narrow window the label is hidden, but the address is in the same place, under your server's name.
2. Press the copy button beside it, and paste the result into the game unchanged.

These catch people out:

• A free address from Settings looks like myserver.servers.playyourway.com.au. Minecraft Java players can drop the port. Every other game still needs :port on the end, as the left rail shows. A new or changed address takes a few minutes to work, and a released one stops working.
• Valheim with crossplay on (the default) shows a Join code in the rail in place of the address. Valheim prints a new code after each restart, so share the current one.

3. Is everyone on the same game version?

A player on a different version from the server gets turned away, even with the right address.

• Steam games (Rust, ARK, Garry's Mod, Valheim, Palworld). Steam updates your players' copies, but your server only fetches a new build when it next starts. Restart it from the Console tab, wait for Running, then rejoin.
• Minecraft. The left rail shows the server's Version and Mod loader. Players launch that version, or you move the server to theirs with Change Minecraft server version or loader.
• Modded servers. On a Minecraft modpack, Fabric or Forge server, and for most Valheim mods, every player needs the same mods at the same versions as the server. Valheim console players can't install mods, so they can't join. Server-side plugins (Paper, Purpur, Oxide, Carbon) need nothing on the player's side.

4. Does the server need a password or a whitelist?

• Valheim, Palworld and ARK. The password shows under the address in the left rail as Join password. Valheim gets one when the server is created; Palworld and ARK show it once you set one. Players type it exactly, capitals included. Change it in the Startup tab, then restart so it applies.
• Garry's Mod. The password is the sv_password line in server.cfg: see Server name, password and server.cfg.
• Minecraft. With the whitelist on, only listed players get in. Minecraft whitelist: add players, set ops shows how to add them.

5. Is your server not showing in the server list?

Joining by address or join code (check 2) works whether the server is listed or not, except for Palworld's Xbox and PS5 players. Minecraft Java has no public list. For the rest, follow your game's guide:

• Garry's Mod server not showing in the server browser
• Rust server not showing in the server browser
• Valheim server not showing in the server list
• ARK server greyed out or not showing in the server list

On Palworld, search the community list for the exact Server Name from your Startup tab. Xbox and PS5 players can only join this way, and only while their console is ticked under Crossplay Platforms in the same tab.

6. What does Minecraft's error say?

Minecraft names the reason a join failed, on the screen that follows or beside your server in the Multiplayer list. Match the words against What each connection error means.

7. Is the player's network blocking the connection?

When everyone else gets in and one player can't, start with that player's connection.

1. Turn off any VPN and try again.
2. Try another network, such as a phone hotspot. School, work and public Wi-Fi often block game traffic, and so can a firewall or antivirus app on the player's computer.
3. Have the player measure their ping, using the steps in Australian game server latency: what ping to expect from each city. A high or jumpy ping points at their connection.

8. Does the server crash while it starts?

1. In the Console, scroll up to the first error. Download Log saves up to the last hour of output as a file.
2. If the console shows a Known issue banner, press Read the fix.
3. Otherwise, look the error up in the troubleshooting guides.
4. If it still fails, undo your last change (a mod, plugin, version or setting), or restore a backup from before it with How to create and restore backups.

If none of these fixed it

Open a ticket from Support, pick your server under Related server, and include:

• The exact error the player sees, word for word, and which game it's in.
• For Minecraft, the Version and Mod loader from the left rail, and the version the player launched.
• Whether nobody can join or only some players, and how many.
• The city each affected player is in, and their ping.
• The console lines from the first error onwards, pasted as text.
• When it started, and what changed just before it: a game update, a new mod, a settings change.
• Which of the checks above you've already tried.