This is not a patch. It's closer to a relaunch, and it's exactly why the next question matters.

Will Palworld 1.0 wipe my world?

No. Pocketpair confirmed early access saves, bases, and Pals carry over to 1.0. But the developers themselves recommend starting fresh, because the update reworks progression from the ground up and an old endgame save will skip past most of the new content.

One Pocketpair developer went as far as saying he would force-wipe everyone if he could, purely because carrying a maxed save into 1.0 means missing what makes the update special. The new content is not bolted onto the endgame. It's woven through the whole progression.

That's why July 10 is the best moment in Palworld's history to spin up a fresh dedicated server. Everyone is starting over anyway. Your group gets a clean world, level 1 together, racing toward the World Tree.

Palworld server requirements for 1.0

Palworld is one of the heavier survival games to host. Plan around these numbers:

Two things worth knowing before you pick hardware:

Memory grows over time. Palworld's server process slowly accumulates RAM the longer it runs. An 8 GB box that's fine on day one starts struggling after a long weekend without a restart. This is the single most common reason Palworld servers die. Either schedule regular restarts or give it 16 GB of headroom. Ideally both.

1.0 will push these numbers up. The World Tree region, the second island, and Sky Islands mean more world data in memory and heavier disk I/O. If your current setup hovers around 12 GB under load, the full release is the right time to move to 16 GB.

How to set up a Palworld dedicated server with SteamCMD

If you have a spare machine with the specs above and you're comfortable in a terminal, the dedicated server is free to run.

1. Install SteamCMD (Valve's command-line Steam client)
2. Install the Palworld server:

steamcmd +force_install_dir C:\palworld-server +login anonymous +app_update 2394010 validate +quit

3. Launch PalServer.exe (Windows) or PalServer.sh (Linux) from the install folder
4. Edit PalWorldSettings.ini to set your server name, password, and player cap
5. Forward port 8211 UDP on your router so friends can connect
6. Give players your public IP and port: your.ip.here:8211

It works, and for a weekend test it's a fine way to kick the tires. The catches show up over time: your PC has to stay on whenever anyone wants to play, your home upload speed carries the whole server, the memory growth issue means you're the restart babysitter, and port forwarding exposes your home IP to everyone you invite.

Self-hosting vs renting a Palworld server

A managed host runs the server on datacenter hardware and handles the boring parts: automatic restarts (which, for Palworld specifically, is not a nice-to-have), backups, DDoS protection, and a panel so your co-op partner can restart the server without texting you at 2 AM.

The honest math: renting costs a few dollars a month, self-hosting costs your electricity plus your patience. For a launch-window game where your whole group wants to play NOW and the server dying mid-raid is a real mood killer, managed hosting is usually worth it.

Palworld hosting is coming to BruceNode for the 1.0 launch. Same premium AMD hardware our Minecraft and Rust servers run on, sized for Palworld's appetite, with the automatic restart scheduling this game genuinely needs. Join our Discord and you'll know the moment it goes live.

Palworld server settings worth changing before launch

Whichever route you pick, spend five minutes in PalWorldSettings.ini:

• ServerName + ServerDescription: what your friends see in the server browser
• ServerPassword: set one unless you want strangers taming your Pals
• ServerPlayerMaxNum: default is 32, smaller caps run lighter
• ExpRate / PalCaptureRate: quality-of-life multipliers if your group wants a faster or slower grind
• DeathPenalty: All is brutal, Item is the usual co-op compromise

Set these BEFORE July 10. Changing fundamental rates mid-playthrough is how friend groups end up in settings arguments.

Get ready before July 10

A quick pre-launch checklist:

1. Set the server up the week before. Launch day means download queues, busy Steam servers, and everyone in your group online at once. Don't fight that while also debugging port forwarding.
2. Decide the fresh-start question as a group. Carrying an old world in is supported, but if half your group starts fresh and half doesn't, the level gap makes co-op miserable.
3. Agree on settings up front. Exp rates, death penalty, raid difficulty. Five minutes of discussion saves a wipe vote later.
4. Plan for the update size. Pocketpair calls 1.0 their biggest update ever. Expect a hefty download on both the server and every client.

Bottom line

Palworld 1.0 on July 10 is a genuine fresh-start moment: the map roughly doubles, legendary Pal fusion arrives, and the developers themselves say the best experience is a new world. A dedicated server with a 4-core CPU and 16 GB of RAM comfortably runs a friend group, self-hosting via SteamCMD works if you don't mind babysitting restarts, and managed hosting handles that for you.

Want launch day to just work? Join the BruceNode Discord for first access when Palworld hosting goes live, and browse our other game servers in the meantime. See you at the World Tree.

Related guides

• Choosing the right server plan for your player count
• Hourly game server hosting: when pay-as-you-go wins
• What to look for in a game server host