Palworld server settings and best presets

Every rule your Palworld world runs by lives in one file, PalWorldSettings.ini. This guide lists the keys people actually change, what each one does and the value the game ships with, so you can tune the server without a wiki tab open.

Where the file lives

On our panel the file is at Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini in the File Manager (How to manage your server files). That is the path on any Linux server run from a Pelican or Pterodactyl-style panel; a Windows server keeps it under WindowsServer instead. The file is created when the server is installed; reinstalling the server swaps it for a fresh default copy and keeps your old one alongside it as PalWorldSettings_<date>.ini.

You rarely need to open it. The World Settings tab in your server panel shows the same keys as labelled sliders and toggles, grouped into rates, difficulty, survival, day and night, base and guild, PvP and world, with Casual and Hardcore presets and a Reset to defaults button. Keys the tab does not list aren't shown there, but saving leaves them in the file untouched; to change one, edit the file by hand (below). Whichever way you edit, the server only reads the file on start, so restart after saving.

The Startup tab wins

A handful of keys are managed by the panel, not the file: ServerName, ServerDescription, AdminPassword, ServerPassword, ServerPlayerMaxNum, PublicIP, PublicPort, RCONEnabled, RCONPort, AutoSaveSpan, bIsUseBackupSaveData, CrossplayPlatforms, RESTAPIEnabled and RESTAPIPort. Change the name, description, passwords, player limit, autosave interval, in-game backup saves and crossplay platforms in the Startup tab; the IP, ports, RCON and REST API values are filled in by the panel itself. The panel rewrites all of these into the file on every boot, so an edit made straight in the .ini is overwritten on the next start. This is the single most common reason a change "did not stick". The admin password also unlocks in-game admin commands, covered in How to become admin and use admin commands on your Palworld server.

Rates

A relaxed friends server usually sits around ExpRate=2, drop rates at 1.5 and PalEggDefaultHatchingTime=24. Leave PalSpawnNumRate alone unless you have RAM to spare: it is the setting most likely to make a busy server stutter.

Best Palworld server settings: three starting presets

There's no single best setup, but most servers start from one of these. Casual and Hardcore match the preset buttons in your server's World Settings tab (and the free settings generator), so one click fills either one in, ready to fine-tune. Nothing changes until you save and restart. Solo is our suggestion for playing alone: start from Casual and change the Solo values in the same tab.

A dash means the preset leaves that key alone.

• Casual suits a group of friends with limited time: quicker levels, quicker eggs, and nothing lost on death.
• Solo doubles gathering and base work so one player isn't grinding for a whole guild, and keeps a light death penalty (you drop your inventory, not your gear or Pals).
• Hardcore makes death permanent for players and Pals and slows progress down. It also keeps base raids and predator bosses switched on.

Difficulty and combat

DeathPenalty=Item is the usual middle ground: you drop your inventory but keep gear and Pals.

Survival

PlayerStomachDecreaceRate, PlayerStaminaDecreaceRate, PlayerAutoHPRegeneRate and PlayerAutoHpRegeneRateInSleep control hunger, stamina and healing for players; the Pal... versions of the same four do the job for Pals. All default to 1. Yes, the game spells it "Decreace", and the key only works spelled that way.

Day and night

DayTimeSpeedRate and NightTimeSpeedRate (default 1) are multipliers on how fast the clock runs, so a higher number means a shorter day or night. NightTimeSpeedRate=2 is a popular way to halve the nights without touching the days.

Base and guild

Want more bases? Raise BaseCampMaxNumInGuild (bases per guild, default 4, maximum 10) and BaseCampWorkerMaxNum (Pals working at one base, maximum 50). On a busy server, check BaseCampMaxNum still covers every guild's bases. Palworld's own docs warn that higher values add processing load, so raise them a step at a time.

PvP and social

bIsPvP, bEnablePlayerToPlayerDamage, bEnableFriendlyFire and bCanPickupOtherGuildDeathPenaltyDrop all default to False. bShowPlayerList (default True) exposes the player list in the Escape menu, and ChatPostLimitPerMinute (default 30) rate-limits chat.

World and misc

bEnableFastTravel (True), bIsStartLocationSelectByMap (False), bExistPlayerAfterLogout (False), bEnableNonLoginPenalty (True), DropItemMaxNum (3000, dropped items kept in the world), DropItemAliveMaxHours (1), CollectionObjectHpRate (1) and CollectionObjectRespawnSpeedRate (1). Lowering DropItemMaxNum to around 1000 is a cheap performance win on a busy server.

Editing the file by hand

1. Stop the server from the dashboard.
2. Open the File Manager and go to Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini.
3. The whole configuration is a single OptionSettings=(...) line with comma-separated Key=Value pairs. Change values only; keep the brackets, the commas and the quotes around text values.
4. Save and Start. A typo makes the game fall back to its defaults silently, so if nothing changed, check the line again and make sure the key isn't one the panel manages (see above). If it still won't apply, note the key, the value you set and what the server did instead: support needs all three to trace it.