Change Max Players on Your Terraria Server

The most players your Terraria server lets in at once is a startup setting, so you change it on the Startup tab and restart. It works the same on TShock and tModLoader.

Checked against TShock 6.2.1 (Terraria 1.4.5.8) and tModLoader 2026.08.3.0, October 2026.

Change the number

1. Open the Startup tab and find the Joining section.
2. Type a new number in Player slots. It takes a whole number from 1 to 255, and a new server starts on 8.
3. Press Save changes in that section. The tab shows a "Restart to apply" notice while the server is running.
4. Press Restart now, or restart from the Console tab. The setting is read only when the server starts, so players online are disconnected for the restart.

The number reaches the game through the server's startup line, on TShock and on tModLoader alike.

Pick a sensible number

Terraria's own limit is 255, and the panel accepts the same range. A bigger number doesn't make the server any stronger, though. Terraria's wiki notes that the memory a server uses depends on the world size and the number of players. A large world with a full house of players needs more memory than a small world with a few friends, so start modestly and raise the number only if you actually fill the server.

The note under Player slots says your plan's number is a guide, not a cap. The number you save here is the one the game uses, so set it to what you intend to host.

TShock has reserved slots too

On TShock the Server Settings tab has a Reserved slots box in the Server section, set to 20 by default. TShock describes it as the number of reserved slots past your max server slots that can be joined by reserved players. In practice it means a player in a group with the reserved-slot permission can join even when Player slots is full.

By default that permission belongs to the vip group and the newadmin, admin, trustedadmin and owner groups above it. So a server set to 8 players can still hold an extra VIP or staff member. To stop that, set Reserved slots to 0, press Save changes and restart. Terraria TShock admin commands and groups explains groups and how to move a player between them.

You may also see a MaxSlots line in TShock's tshock/config.json. Leave it alone: TShock's documentation says options set on the command line override the config file, and the panel starts the server with your Player slots number, so the number on the Startup tab is the one that counts.

Check it worked

• Open the Players tab once people have joined. It lists who is online.
• Ask a friend to join when the server is full. They should be turned away, unless they are in a group with a reserved slot.
• If the number didn't change, make sure you pressed Save changes and then restarted. A save alone doesn't reload the server.