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Elastic Compute Service

Building game servers

Setting up Palworld servers via a Docker script

This topic describes how to quickly set up a Palworld server on a Linux-based ECS instance by using a Docker script.

warning

Currently, you can set up a Palworld server using a Docker script only on Linux-based instances. We recommend using the Ubuntu 22.04 operating system for your instance.

What is Palworld?

Palworld is an open-world game developed by Pocketpair. It combines survival and construction, exploration and combat, creature catching, training, and business manufacturing. This game supports multiplayer online play. Players need to collect mysterious "Pals" in a vast world, use "Pals" for combat, construction, farming, and other tasks, and build their dream bases.

Applicable scenario

Palworld is an open-world game that allows you to set up a dedicated server using an ECS instance. You and your friends can log in to and play on the server. The dedicated server can offer better privacy and help avoid issues like game crashes caused by overcrowding on official servers.

Prerequisites

You have created an ECS instance.

tip

VolcanoEngine offers promotions for instance purchases. You can visit the campaign page to buy a cost-effective instance for setting up your game server.

The target instance must be associated with an EIP. For information about how to associate an EIP with an ECS instance, see Associating EIPs.

Procedure

Step 1: Configure the security group

Since the Palworld server uses UDP port 8211 for data transmission, you need to allow inbound UDP traffic on port 8211 in the security group of the target instance.

In the left-side navigation pane, select "Instances & Images > Instances".

In the top menu bar, select the project and region of the target instance.

On the Instances page, find the target instance, and click the instance name to go to the instance details page.

Select the "Security Group" tab, and click the "Edit rule" button.

On the security group details page, select "Access rules > Inbound rules". Then, on the "Inbound rules" tab, configure a security rule as follows.

Click the "Add rule" button.

On the "Add Inbound rule" page, perform the following operations in sequence: specify "Protocol type" as UDP, copy 8211 into the "Port range" field, and copy 0.0.0.0/0 into the "Source" field. Then, click the "Confirm" button to complete the configuration.

Step 2: Set up a Palworld server

In the top navigation bar, select the project and region where the purchased instance is located.

In the left-side navigation pane, select "Maintenance & Monitoring > Cloud Assistant".

Select the "Job management" tab, and click the "Create a job" button.

On the Create a job page, configure the parameters as follows. For parameters not covered, please use the default configuration.

Command source: Select Manual input.

Command type:

Select "Linux Shell".

Copy the following commands to the content box to override existing content.

#!/bin/bash
wget -q -O - https://palworld.tos-cn-beijing.volces.com/auto_install_palworld_docker.sh | bash

Timeout: We recommend specifying the timeout to "5 MM". This helps avoid command execution failures caused by time-consuming download and installation processes.

Execute object: Select the target ECS instance(s) to install Palworld. Then, click the "Confirm" button to start Palworld configuration.

After execution starts, you will be redirected to the job list page. Then, click the "Execution result" button in the "Action" column to enter the Execution result page. For the target instance, click the "Run log" button in the "Action" column to view the execution progress and details.

If the following output is displayed, the Palworld server is set up.

The admin_password parameter value is an administrator password of the game server, which is randomly generated by the script. You can use the password in Palworld.

Step 3: Start the game

Start Palworld in Steam.

On the game home page, click the "Join multiplayer game (dedicated server)" button.

On the start page, select "Community server", and at the bottom of the page, input the ECS instance EIP:8211. Click the "Contact" button to enter the dedicated server and start the game.

Update the game

In the top navigation bar, select the project and region where the purchased instance is located.

In the left-side navigation pane, select "Maintenance & Monitoring > Cloud Assistant".

Select the "Job management" tab and find the job used to set up the Palworld server with a Docker script.

No configuration changes are needed. Simply click the "Confirm" button at the bottom of the page to start updating the game.

If the following output is displayed, Palworld has been successfully updated and you can start the game.

The admin_password parameter value is a random game server administrator password generated by the script. You can use it in Palworld.

Last updated: 2026.06.18 17:48:26