The complete guide · 8 min read
The Rising World Server Hosting Guide for New Owners
A practical walk through running a hosted Rising World server on the Unity version: which branch to choose, how the ports and server list work, how much memory a growing voxel world needs, and how to handle permissions, plugins, updates and backups. Written for whoever in the group ends up holding the admin keys.
By Matthew Griffin, Owner, Gaming DeluxePublished · Updated
In this guide
- Why Builders Move to a Dedicated Server
- Unity Version, Java Legacy and Update 0.9.3
- Ports, the Server List and Joining
- Sizing Slots, Memory and Disk
- Permissions, Admins and Protected Areas
- Adding Plugins Through the Plugin API
- Updates, Backups and Moving a World
- World Boundaries, Pausing and Other Settings
- Checks Before Renting a Rising World Server
- Rising World Server Glossary
- Rising World Server Help and Next Steps
Why Builders Move to a Dedicated Server
Rising World lets you start a multiplayer game straight from your own PC, and for an evening with two friends that is often enough. The catch shows up later. The world is only online while your computer is, every visitor shares your home upload, and the moment you shut down, the others are locked out of the settlement they helped build. Groups that play at different times of day feel this first.
JIW-Games provides a separate program for this job, the Rising World Dedicated Server, listed on Steam as a free tool. It runs headless, meaning it has no game window or graphics, and simply keeps the world loaded for whoever connects. You could leave it running on a spare machine at home. Renting moves it into a data centre with a fixed address, steady bandwidth, DDoS filtering and a support desk, so the world is there whenever anyone in the group wants to dig.
Unity Version, Java Legacy and Update 0.9.3
Rising World has a longer history than most Early Access games. It opened on Steam on 3 December 2014 as a Java game. JIW-Games then rebuilt it in Unity, and on 31 January 2025 that new version replaced the Java one as the main game on Steam. The Java edition did not vanish: it is still available as the beta branch "java - Legacy Version" for players who want it.
For a server owner this split is the first decision. The two versions are separate games in practice, with different worlds and a different plugin API, so everyone in the group must run the same one. Our servers install the current Unity version.
Updates have been regular since the switch: 0.9 "Points of Interest" on 31 October 2025, 0.9.1 on 22 December 2025, 0.9.2 on 30 April 2026 and 0.9.3 on 31 August 2026. The latest is the one to know about:
- For players: animal feeding and taming, caves generated from noise, and 3D ocean waves.
- For admins: an experimental permission editor in the escape menu and a teleport command with named points.
- For the server: an optional /pluginlist route on the dedicated server's web server, enabled in server.properties, and a pause-when-empty option that is on by default.
- For plugin authors: a set of Plugin API changes, listed in a separate changelog on the official forum.
Ports, the Server List and Joining
A Rising World server uses up to three ports. All of them are set or derived from server.properties, and the official wiki gives these defaults:
| Port | Default | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Server_Port | 4255 (TCP and UDP) | The game connection players use |
| Query port | 4254 (game port minus 1) | Lets the server appear in the in-game server list |
| RCON_Port | 4253 (TCP, optional) | Remote console access for admin tools |
At home you would forward these on your router and keep the query port exactly one below the game port. On our network that work is done already, and the panel shows the address and port to hand out. Friends either find the server in the multiplayer list or connect to the address directly. If the query port is ever blocked, the server still runs, but it drops out of the list, which is the usual reason people think their server has vanished.
server.properties also holds the server's display details, including the description and the image shown to players browsing the list. A clear name and a short description of your rules help the right people find a public world.
Sizing Slots, Memory and Disk
Slots are simply the number of players who can be connected at the same moment, not the number of people allowed to play overall. A group of nine friends who rarely all log in together fits comfortably on 12 slots. A public server that hosts a weekly build event should be sized for the busiest hour of that event.
Memory is where Rising World differs from many lighter games. The wiki's own guidance is 1 to 2GB for a small server and 4 to 8GB for more players. Those are working figures for the server program, and they do not include the plugins you add or the way a voxel world swells as players dig tunnels, reshape terrain and spread settlements across the map. That is why we bundle 5GB with 12 slots, 8GB with 24, 12GB with 48 and 16GB with 64. The extra is headroom, so a busy Saturday does not hit a ceiling.
Disk follows the same pattern. The server files take roughly 600MB, and every save adds to the world. 100GB of NVMe is included on every plan, which is far more than most worlds use, and the order form allows up to 200GB. If the memory graph in the panel sits near the limit at your peak time, move up a tier from the client area; the world stays where it is.
Permissions, Admins and Protected Areas
Rising World handles admin rights through a permissions system built around groups, with separate area permissions for protected zones. The official wiki covers it on its Permissions page, and recent updates keep adding to it: 0.9 brought a peacefulmode permission, 0.9.1 added useallfurnaces and usealldoors, and 0.9.3 introduced an in-game editor.
- Decide who should be an admin before the world opens, and who only needs builder rights.
- Set up the groups following the wiki's Permissions page, using the File Manager to reach the server's files.
- Restart the server so the changes load, then test them with a second account if you can.
- From 0.9.3, admins with the savepermissions permission can fine-tune groups and areas from the red edit button next to Permissions in the escape menu.
Area protection is the tool that keeps a public world civil. Mark out a spawn town or a shared workshop, limit who may build there, and new arrivals cannot flatten it on day one. A password in server.properties is the simpler choice when the world is just for friends.
Adding Plugins Through the Plugin API
JIW-Games ships an official Plugin API, shown on the Steam page as a powerful modding and plugin interface, and publishes its reference at javadoc.rising-world.net. Plugins run on the server, and the community shares them on the official forum's plugins board for the new version.
- Download plugins only from their author's thread on the official forum, and read which game version each one supports.
- Stop the server, then upload each plugin's folder into the plugins directory with the File Manager or SFTP.
- Start the server and watch the Web Console: a plugin that fails to load usually says why.
- Keep a backup from before you added it, so you can step back if the world misbehaves.
Plugins and updates need managing together. 0.9.3 changed parts of the API, and a plugin built for an older version can stop working after the server updates. When JIW-Games announces a patch, check each plugin thread for a new build first, then update the plugins and the server in one go. If a plugin thread only mentions the Java version, treat it as unsuitable for a Unity server.
Updates, Backups and Moving a World
When Rising World updates on Steam, players' games update too, and a server left on the older build may refuse them. Press Steam Update in the panel, restart, and everyone is on matching versions again. Scheduled Tasks can run regular restarts and backups at a quiet hour so you never need to remember.
Backups come in layers. Take a Backup Manager snapshot before every update or plugin change, and rely on the offsite copies we keep for the last 7 days if something slips through. The game itself has improved here as well: 0.9.1 moved backups into their own Backups folder, and 0.9.2 added a world repair tool for damaged world files in the game's world list.
Moving a world in is a file transfer. Stop the server, upload the world folder by SFTP, set the server to load that world and start it. Large worlds upload much faster over SFTP than through the browser. Keep the original copy on your PC until the group has checked that everything arrived.
World Boundaries, Pausing and Other Settings
A few newer settings are worth knowing. Update 0.9 added World_MaxSector to server.properties, an optional boundary that stops players travelling beyond a set distance. It suits event maps or servers where you want everyone to settle close together. The notes do not explain the value format in detail, so take a backup and test a change before you open the world.
Update 0.9.3 added a pause-when-empty option that is on by default, so the world stops while nobody is connected. That saves resources, but it also means crops and animals do not progress overnight. If your group would rather the world kept ticking, look at that option in the settings file and decide together.
Checks Before Renting a Rising World Server
Most offers look similar on a price list. These points decide whether the server still suits you after a few months of digging.
- Memory against the wiki figuresSee how much RAM the base price includes and how it compares with the wiki's 4 to 8GB guidance for busier servers.
- Version choiceAsk whether the host can run the Java legacy branch if your group needs it, or only the Unity version.
- File access for pluginsRising World plugins are uploaded as files, so a file manager and SFTP matter more than any installer button.
- Query port handlingCheck that the server appears in the in-game list without you having to open ports yourself.
- Restorable backupsFind out whether you can restore a snapshot yourself and how many days of offsite copies are kept.
- Disk space for big worldsTerraformed voxel worlds grow; look at the included storage and the ceiling you can upgrade to.
- Billing cyclesCompare which cycles are offered, any setup fee and whether monthly billing ties you in.
Rising World Server Glossary
- Voxel
- A block of the 3D terrain grid. Rising World's land is made of voxels, which is why players can dig and reshape it.
- Terraforming
- Raising, lowering and flattening terrain with tools, a core part of building in Rising World.
- Blueprint
- A saved copy of a building that players can place again elsewhere.
- Points of Interest
- Generated locations to discover in the world, added in update 0.9.
- Permissions
- The group and area rules that decide what each player may do on the server.
- Plugin API
- The official interface for server-side plugins, documented in the Rising World Javadoc.
- server.properties
- The dedicated server's main settings file: ports, name, description and world options.
- RCON
- Remote console access on its own port (4253 by default), used by admin tools.
- Unity version
- The rebuilt Rising World that became the main game on Steam on 31 January 2025.
- Java legacy branch
- The original version, still on Steam as the beta branch "java - Legacy Version".
- Slots
- The number of players who can be online on the server at once.
Rising World Server Help and Next Steps
Official references and our own pages for running the world.
- Rising World wiki: ServerPorts, requirements and server.properties basics from the official wiki.
- Rising World Plugin API JavadocThe reference plugin authors build against.
- Official plugins boardCommunity plugins for the Unity version.
- Gaming Deluxe control panelWhat the panel can do and how to sign in.
- Our server locations
- Contact support24/7 help with setup, plugins and world transfers.
How this guide was made: researched from JIW-Games' official wiki, forum, Javadoc and Steam pages, drafted with AI assistance, checked against our live order form for every plan, price, billing cycle and location, and reviewed by Matthew Griffin before publishing. Found something that has changed? Tell us.
