RimWorld Together Server Hosting

How RimWorld Together Turns a Solo Game Into a Shared Planet

RimWorld is Ludeon Studios' colony sim, driven by an AI storyteller that deals out raids, storms and traders to build a story around your crash-landed survivors. It was designed for one player. RimWorld Together, a free community mod first published on the Steam Workshop in July 2023, keeps that loop intact and adds other people to the planet.

Every player runs their own colony, at their own speed, on their own PC. What is shared is the world map: settlements appear for everyone, and the Workshop page says that almost every action around the planet is synced, including visiting, raiding, trading, creating factions, roads and sites. The result feels like a living RimWorld planet where the neighbours are real.

• Trading: send items and pawns to other players.
• Events: send events to other colonies, for a price in silver set by the server.
• Visits and raids: go to another colony, even while its owner is offline if the server allows it.
• World changes: roads, sites, player factions, and with Biotech, pollution that spreads to every tile.

What the Server Does and Why Hosting Helps

The server is the planet's memory. It stores who has settled where, passes trades and events between colonies, enforces the mod list and the rules, and keeps the world consistent as players come and go. The colonies themselves run on each player's PC, which is why the project's README says the server has no heavy hardware needs and above all wants excellent network bandwidth.

You can run it at home, but then the planet is only there while your PC is on, and you have to forward ports for everyone else. A hosted server is up all day, has its own address, and keeps working when the person who set it up is on holiday. That matters for a game where friends play at different hours and expect their caravan to arrive.

First Setup: Name, Admins and Who Can Join

Most settings live in ServerConfig.json. Give the server a name of up to 40 characters and a description of up to 200, set MaxPlayers, and leave IP at 0.0.0.0, which the wiki recommends. The Temporal protection values set cooldowns between activities, events, aid and spying, which stops one player flooding another with raids.

1. Start the server once from the panel so it creates its config files.
2. Edit ServerConfig.json and save it.
3. Join the server from RimWorld with the mod enabled.
4. In the server console, run deeplist to find your UID, then op yourself.
5. Turn on dev mode in game to open the admin panel in the top-right corner.

For a private group, add each friend's UID to WhitelistConfig.json and keep the server browser off. For a public planet, set EnableServerBrowser to true in ServerBrowserConfig.json and give it your server's public address. Since release 26.10.15.1 players can also join with a code, and servers can show a picture in the browser.

Setting the Rules of Your Planet

ActionConfigs.json is where a planet gets its character. A cosy group might switch off raiding and spying and keep trading, roads and aid. A competitive server might allow offline raids, spying at a cost and the destruction of NPC settlements, which removes them for every player.

Difficulty, scenario and storyteller can be enforced too, through DifficultyConfig.json, ScenarioConfig.json and StoryTellerConfig.json. The wiki recommends setting these from the in-game admin panel rather than by hand. Each event players can send to each other has its own file with a silver cost and an IsEnabled switch.

Mods, DLCs and Game Versions

RimWorld players rarely play vanilla, and the mod is built for that: its Workshop page says players can play together regardless of mods or DLCs. The server holds the official mod list in ModConfig.json. Set it when you create the server or from the admin panel, and admins can bypass it for testing.

Version is the thing to watch. Until October 2026 the mod targeted RimWorld 1.6, and its last release supported for 1.6 is 26.10.15.1. From 26.10.20.1 the mod targets the 1.7 unstable branch. If your group stays on 1.6, keep the server on the matching release; if you move to 1.7, move together and expect the bugs that come with an unstable branch, which the team itself warns about.

Backups and Keeping a Planet for the Long Run

BackupConfig.json turns on the mod's own automatic backups, sets how many hours apart they are, and keeps a backup each time the server launches. AutomaticDeletion and Amount stop old copies filling the disk. Our offsite backups of the last 7 days sit on top of that, so you have two independent ways back.

Long-running planets do best with a few habits: a daily restart at a quiet hour, a short message of the day in ChatConfig.json explaining the rules, and a clear note when the mod list or version is about to change. Login and disconnect notifications help a small group see who is around for a trade.

Moving a Planet From Your PC or Another Host

The server keeps its user files together, so moving is a copy job. Stop the old server, download its data folder, upload it here over SFTP and start the server. Check ServerConfig.json afterwards: the IP should stay 0.0.0.0, and the port must match what the panel shows. Players then reconnect to the new address or find the server in the browser.

What to Compare Before You Rent a RimWorld Together Server

The server is light, so the details around it matter more than raw specs.

1. Config file accessAll of the planet's rules live in JSON files; make sure you can edit every one.
2. Console accessYou need the server console for deeplist and op, or you cannot make admins.
3. Version helpAsk whether the host can keep you on the release that matches your RimWorld version.
4. Bandwidth and locationThe README stresses bandwidth; pick a nearby location on a solid network.
5. BackupsLook for offsite backups you can restore yourself, as well as the mod's own.
6. TermsMonthly billing with no setup fee lets your group try a planet first.

RimWorld Together Glossary

Planet

The shared world map every player on the server settles on.

Settlement

A player's colony as it appears to others on the world map.

Activity

A visit or raid on another player's colony, which can be allowed while they are offline.

Aid

Sending pawns to another player.

UID

A player's unique ID, shown by the deeplist command and used for admins and the whitelist.

op

The console command that makes a player an admin.

Dev mode

RimWorld's developer mode; for admins it opens the RimWorld Together admin panel.

Unstable branch

RimWorld's test version; the mod targets 1.7 unstable from release 26.10.20.1.

RimWorld Together Server Help and Next Steps

Official pages for the mod and our own help.

• RimWorld Together on the Steam WorkshopThe mod itself.
• RimWorld Together on GitHubServer files and release notes.
• RimWorld Together wiki: Server ConfigurationEvery config file explained.
• Gaming Deluxe control panelLogging in and using the console.
• Our server locations
• Contact support24/7 help with configs and versions.