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Game settings

How do I change the game settings on my Palworld server?

Updated 23 October 20263 min readPalworld server hosting

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Every Palworld world setting lives in one file, PalWorldSettings.ini, on a single line that starts OptionSettings=(. Stop your server, change the values on that line, then start it again.

Find the file

Open your Game Panel’s file manager and go to Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/ or Pal/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/. Which one you have depends on whether your server runs Palworld’s Linux or Windows build. The file you want is PalWorldSettings.ini.

The server makes these folders the first time it starts. If your PalWorldSettings.ini is empty, or has no OptionSettings line, copy everything from DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini into it. That file sits in the server’s main folder, next to PalServer.sh or PalServer.exe.

Editing DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini itself does nothing. Pocketpair ships it as a sample, and changes to it never reach the server.

Change a setting

  1. Download a backup from your Game Panel first, so you can put things back.
  2. Stop your server from the Game Panel. Pocketpair’s own setup steps have you stop the server before you edit this file.
  3. Open PalWorldSettings.ini and find the OptionSettings=( line. Every setting is on it, separated by commas.
  4. Change the value after the = for each setting you want. Text values, such as ServerName and the passwords, stay inside their double quote marks.
  5. Save the file and start your server.

The file looks like this, though yours has far more settings on that line:

[/Script/Pal.PalGameWorldSettings]
OptionSettings=(ExpRate=2.000000,PalCaptureRate=1.500000,DeathPenalty=Item,ServerPassword="example")

Warning

Keep the whole OptionSettings=(...) line in one piece. Don’t press Enter inside it, and check every comma, bracket and quote mark is still there after you edit. A broken line means your settings don’t apply.

The settings people change most

The rates are multipliers: 2 doubles something, 0.5 halves it.

Setting What it changes
ExpRate How much XP players earn.
PalCaptureRate How easily Pals are caught. Higher is easier.
PalSpawnNumRate How many Pals appear in the world.
DayTimeSpeedRate How fast the day passes.
NightTimeSpeedRate How fast the night passes.
PalEggDefaultHatchingTime How many hours a Huge Egg takes to hatch.
DeathPenalty What you drop when you die (see below).
BaseCampMaxNumInGuild Bases each guild can have: 4 by default, up to 10.
BaseCampWorkerMaxNum Pals that can work at each base, up to 50.
BaseCampMaxNum Bases across the whole server.

DeathPenalty takes one of four words:

  • None: nothing drops.
  • Item: everything drops except the gear you’re wearing.
  • ItemAndEquipment: all your items drop, gear included.
  • All: all your items drop, and so do the Pals in your party.

Note

Pocketpair warns that raising PalSpawnNumRate, BaseCampMaxNumInGuild or BaseCampWorkerMaxNum gives the server more work to do. Turn them up a step at a time. If things start to stutter, see our guide to a lagging server.

Pocketpair’s configuration page lists every other setting, from PvP to fast travel. Copy names exactly as they’re written there: a few, like PlayerStomachDecreaceRate, are spelled that way on purpose.

If you’ve changed a value and the game still behaves the old way, see Why aren’t my Palworld server settings changing?

Support

Still stuck?

Ask the assistant in your Game Panel. It can read your server's console, logs and config to find what's wrong, and changes nothing until you approve it. For anything that needs a person, email us.

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