PalWorldSettings.ini: the complete server parameters guide

We go through each parameter, with the real default values from the official docs, and show you where to click depending on your hosting type.

Where to find and edit PalWorldSettings.ini

File location

The path changes slightly depending on the OS:

• Windows (Steam or SteamCMD): steamapps\common\PalServer\Pal\Saved\Config\WindowsServer\PalWorldSettings.ini
• Linux (SteamCMD): steamapps/common/PalServer/Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini

An important detail, spelled out clearly in the official docs: this folder is only created after the server's first startup. No launch, no file. If you can't find it, start PalServer once, let it run for 30 seconds, then close it.

Before making any changes, copy DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini (at the root of PalServer) to the location above. It's the template file provided by the devs, with every parameter and its default value already filled in. Editing the Default file directly does nothing: the game ignores it.

On a rented dedicated server

With a specialized host, access is generally done via an online admin panel. You open a built-in file editor, edit the lines you care about, click "Save", and you're done.

No need to:

• Search for the right folder in an FTP tree.
• Know the exact syntax of the .ini file.
• Restart manually via the command line.

When self-hosting

Here, you have to open the file with a regular text editor (Notepad++, VS Code…), edit the values by hand, save in UTF-8, then stop and restart PalServer.exe or PalServer.sh yourself.

A syntax error (a missing comma, one extra parenthesis) and the server refuses to start. It's the most common headache reported on community forums.

Key parameters to set in PalWorldSettings.ini

All settings sit on a single line, in the OptionSettings=(...) block. Here are the most useful ones, with their default values according to the official documentation.

Difficulty

• Difficulty: global level (None, Easy, Normal, Hard). Default value: None, which is equivalent to Normal.

• PlayerDamageRateAttack / PlayerDamageRateDefense: damage dealt and received by players (default 1.0).
• PalDamageRateAttack / PalDamageRateDefense: same for Pals.
• DeathPenalty: what the player loses on death (None, Item, ItemAndEquipment, All).

Pal spawn rate

• PalSpawnNumRate: frequency of wild Pal spawns on the map (default 1.0).

The official docs are clear on this: this parameter directly impacts performance. Going up to 2.0 or 3.0 doubles or triples the number of entities constantly computed by the server. On a small server (4 cores), that can tank FPS and increase perceived lag for everyone.

Two related parameters are worth a look:

• PalCaptureRate: capture rate of wild Pals (default 1.0, higher = easier).
• PalEggDefaultHatchingTime: hatching time for giant eggs, in hours.

PvP (player versus player)

• bIsPvP: enables global PvP mode on the server (default False).

For full PvP, two complementary settings come into play:

• bDisplayPvPItemNumOnWorldMap_Player: shows player positions and PvP item count on the map.
• AdditionalDropItemWhenPlayerKillingInPvPMode: makes a specific item drop when a player kills another in PvP.

Our community advice: test PvP on a test server before enabling it on your main server. Once it's live, tensions rise fast between guilds, so it's better to set the rules in advance on your Discord.

Map size and world randomization

A useful clarification: there's no parameter to make Palworld's map bigger or smaller. The world is fixed, generated by Unreal Engine, and it's not configurable through the .ini.

What you can adjust instead:

• RandomizerType: randomizes Pal spawns on the map (None, Region, All).
• RandomizerSeed: seed used if randomization is enabled.
• ServerReplicatePawnCullDistance: distance at which Pals sync around players (between 5000 and 15000 cm). A lower number lightens server load, a higher number improves rendering at the cost of performance.

Max players

• ServerPlayerMaxNum: max number of players on the server (32 by default).
• GuildPlayerMaxNum: max number of players per guild.
• BaseCampMaxNumInGuild: number of bases per guild (default 4, max 10). Each added base increases the server's computation load.

Beyond about thirty active players at once, a single classic server starts struggling on CPU. That's where server clustering, introduced in version 1.0, really comes into its own to spread the load across several instances.

Automatic backups

• bIsUseBackupSaveData: enables automatic world backups (default depends on config).

Once enabled, the backup schedule follows this fixed pattern server-side:

• 5 backups every 30 seconds
• 6 backups every 10 minutes
• 12 backups every hour
• 7 backups per day

Enabling this parameter increases disk load, but it avoids losing hours of gameplay if a session crashes or a file gets corrupted. We recommend it without hesitation, especially for a community server with several active guilds.

Mods

• bAllowClientMod: allows players with mods enabled to join the server.

On a rented dedicated server, server-side mod installation generally goes through the panel, with a dedicated manager that avoids handling the Mods folders by hand. When self-hosting, you have to drop the files manually in the right directory and restart.

Step by step: applying changes and restarting the server

1. Back up a copy first of the current PalWorldSettings.ini file, in case a change goes wrong.
2. Open the file via the panel (dedicated hosting) or a text editor (self-hosting).
3. Only edit the values you want, in the OptionSettings=(...) line, keeping the syntax intact: commas, quotes, parentheses.
4. Save in UTF-8 without BOM if editing by hand. An encoding error often prevents the server from re-reading the file.
5. Restart the server: "Restart" button in the panel, or stop/relaunch PalServer.exe / PalServer.sh.
6. Check the logs at startup. If a value is malformed, the server generally reports it in the first lines of the console.
7. Test in-game by joining the server to confirm the change is actually applied (difficulty, PvP, displayed player count...).

One last useful habit: write down your changes somewhere (a text file, a Discord pinned note). On a server that's been running for months, it's easy to lose track of what was changed and why.

Why a panel changes everything on a daily basis

Let's be direct: editing an .ini by hand isn't rocket science once you know the right parameters. But it gets tedious fast over time.

Without a panel, every change requires:

• An FTP or SSH connection.
• Finding the right path in the folder tree.
• Restarting the service manually via the command line.
• Watching the logs to check there wasn't a syntax error.

With an admin panel provided by a gaming-specialized dedicated host, all of that boils down to a few clicks: built-in file editor, one-button save, automatic restart, and often a preview of settings with plain-language descriptions instead of a raw text field.

Concretely, it changes things on two fronts:

• Time saved: a config change that takes 10 minutes over SSH takes 30 seconds from a panel.
• Less room for error: no typo that breaks the file's syntax and stops the server from starting.

For a guild admin managing this in their free time, between work and real life, it's often that one detail that makes the difference between "I configure my server in 5 minutes after work" and "I spend my evening debugging an .ini file".

Not sure how to set up the server from scratch yet? Check out our complete guide to creating a Palworld server first.

FAQ

All the answers to frequently asked questions about configuring PalWorldSettings.ini are available in the FAQ box automatically generated at the top of this page. If a question is missing, contact Lordhosting support via Discord or by ticket.