Risk of Rain 2 Server Hosting

Why Run a Dedicated Risk of Rain 2 Server

Every run of Risk of Rain 2 is different: stages, enemies and items are randomised, more than 110 items stack in strange ways, and over a dozen handcrafted locales wait to be explored. The base game alone has a crew of eleven playable survivors, and each expansion adds more. Playing it with the same friends week after week is where it shines.

Normally one player hosts the lobby from their own game. A dedicated server takes that job away from them: the lobby lives on our hardware, it is there whenever the crew wants to play, and the host's connection is no longer everyone's problem. Hopoo built the official Dedicated Server Tool for exactly this, adding it in the Hidden Realms update of 17 December 2019 so community servers could be hosted and joined.

Four Players and Beyond

The Steam page is clear about the design: solo, or with up to three friends in online co-op. A vanilla server therefore needs four slots, and our 4 slot plan is priced for exactly that. Most crews never need more.

Bigger lobbies are a modding tradition. Community mods on Thunderstore raise the player limit well past four, and the larger plans exist for those runs. Before you buy one, check three things:

• The mod is maintained for the current game version; some older player-limit mods are marked as deprecated.
• You know whether players need the mod as well as the server; the mod's own page says.
• Your crew is happy with how difficulty and loot feel with more players, because the game was balanced for four.

Mods: Thunderstore, BepInEx and Matching Lists

The Risk of Rain 2 mod scene is large enough that the developers recruited from it: their Dev Diary #4 for Hallowed Concepts says the Acolyte and Enforcer were built by elite mod creators on the team. Most community mods are published on Thunderstore and load through the BepInEx pack, which describes itself as a unified all-in-one modding pack with a plugin framework and a detour library.

1. Agree the mod list with your crew, including the exact versions.
2. Stop the server and upload BepInEx and the server-side plugins with SFTP or the File Manager.
3. Start the server and check the log viewer for plugins that fail to load.
4. Have every player install the same list, then connect.

Keep a copy of the working plugin folder and configs. When a patch arrives, mods often need updates of their own, and the old copy lets you roll back while you wait.

Expansions, Patches and Keeping in Sync

Risk of Rain 2 is still growing six years after its 1.0 release on 11 August 2020. Survivors of the Void arrived in 2022, Seekers of the Storm on 27 August 2024, Alloyed Collective on 18 November 2025 and Hallowed Concepts on 8 October 2026, followed by a PC hotfix on 14 October. Hallowed Concepts also came with a free base-game update adding new survivor abilities and a Karma system.

Each of those changes the game build, and the server has to follow. When Steam updates the game, run Steam Update in the panel and restart. If you run mods, update them at the same time, or keep the server on its old files until the plugins catch up and ask your crew to wait before they launch the new version.

Choosing Slots and RAM

Choose slots by lobby size: 4 for vanilla, then 8, 12 or 16 for modded lobbies, with any count in between available because slots are sold one at a time from 4 to 16. The RAM is set by the plan: 5GB on the 4 and 8 slot plans and 8GB on 12 and 16.

Those numbers are our own sizing, as Gearbox publishes none for the dedicated server. The game asks for 4GB of memory on a player's PC, and update V1.3.9 in June 2025 cut its memory use further. Large content mods that add survivors, items and enemies are what push a server's memory up, so if you run a big pack, choose a larger tier at checkout.

Running the Lobby Day to Day

Once the server is set up, it mostly looks after itself. A scheduled restart at a quiet hour clears out a long-running session, and the Web Console shows players connecting in real time. If a crew member reports that they cannot join, the log viewer usually explains why within a few lines.

Give a trusted crew member a sub user login so they can restart or update the server when you are away, without sharing your account. And agree house rules for modded lobbies early, such as which mods are allowed and who changes them.

Backups and Moving Hosts

We keep offsite backups of the last 7 days, and you can restore them from the panel. Take your own snapshot before adding mods or updating. If you are moving from another host, download your plugin folder and configs there, upload them here, and start the server to check everything loads before telling the crew.

What to Compare Before You Rent a Risk of Rain 2 Server

Small co-op servers look alike. These are the details that matter.

1. Honest slot adviceVanilla lobbies hold four. A host selling bigger plans should say a mod is needed.
2. Per-slot pricingLook for slots sold one at a time, so a crew of four only pays for four.
3. File access for modsModded lobbies need SFTP or a file manager for the plugins folder.
4. Quick updatesPatches lock out a stale server. One-click updates keep the crew playing.
5. Locations you can testRun a ping test before you buy and choose a location near most of the crew.
6. Billing termsCompare monthly and longer cycles, and check for setup fees and minimum terms.

Risk of Rain 2 Server Glossary

Survivor

A playable character; the base game has eleven, and expansions add more.

Artifacts

Toggles that apply gameplay modifiers to a run.

Prismatic Trials

The game's rotating challenge runs.

Dedicated Server Tool

The official server build, added in the Hidden Realms update of 17 December 2019.

BepInEx

The plugin framework most Risk of Rain 2 mods load through.

Thunderstore

The mod site where most Risk of Rain 2 mods are published.

Player-limit mod

A community mod that raises the lobby size above the standard four.

Hallowed Concepts

The expansion released on 8 October 2026, with the Acolyte and Enforcer survivors.

Risk of Rain 2 Server Help and Next Steps

Useful pages for setting up and running your lobby.

• Risk of Rain 2 mods on ThunderstorePlayer-limit mods, content and the BepInEx pack.
• BepInEx pack for Risk of Rain 2The loader most mods need.
• Risk of Rain 2 on SteamThe game, its expansions and news.
• Gaming Deluxe control panelWhat the panel does and how to log in.
• Our server locations
• Contact support24/7 help with mods, updates and connections.