Port forwarding for a Palworld server
Palworld's dedicated server listens on UDP 8211, and that alone is what players need to connect. The Steam query port matters only if you want to appear in the community server list.
Your setup
Choose the firmware family rather than your exact model — every router in a family shares the same menus.
Out of the box it is 8211. If you changed that, use whatever you set in PublicPort / -port=.
The local address of the computer that runs the server. Find it with ipconfig on Windows or ip addr on Linux; it will begin with 192.168, 10. or 172.
Open these
Your firmware takes ranges, so each line here is one rule.
- 8211 UDP
8211UDPGame trafficPalworld gameplay is UDP. Note the stock port is 8211, not the 27015 people assume from other Steam games.
Only if you want them
The server runs fine without these. Each open port is one more door for strangers to try, so leave out what you do not need.
- 27015 UDP
27015UDPSteam queryNeeded for the community server list. Direct IP connections work without it.
Do not open these
These are admin sockets. Many guides put them in the same list as the game ports, but forwarding them exposes a remote console for your server to the whole internet.
25575TCPRCONPalworld ships RCON disabled. Leave it that way unless you have a reason, and never expose it.
For remote administration, connect to the machine through SSH or a VPN and use the port locally from there. Nobody else can reach it that way.
Step by step: your router
- 1
Give the server a fixed local IP
A forwarding rule targets a single local address. If the server comes back from a reboot with a new one, the rule quietly points at an empty address — which is how forwards seem to "break by themselves".
On this router:look for DHCP Reservation, Address Reservation, Static Lease or Manually Assigned IP
- 2
Open the router admin page
From a device on the same network, open one of these in a browser:
- 192.168.0.1
- 192.168.1.1
- 192.168.2.1
- 10.0.0.1
Almost always printed on a sticker on the router itself.
- 3
Find the port forwarding page
Port Forwarding, Virtual Server, NAT, Applications & Gaming, or Port Mapping
Vendors use at least six names for the same feature. Whatever it is called, the page you want is the one asking for a port, a protocol and a device on your network. If the external and internal port fields both exist, set them to the same number.
- 4
Create one rule per line
a description field, if there is one External / WAN / Public / Service port Internal / LAN / Private port Protocol Internal IP / Device / Server IP Palworld 8211 8211 UDP your server’s local IP Use the same number for the external and internal port. You can make the external one different, but then every player has to connect on that new number, so keep them identical unless you have a specific reason not to.
- 5
Let the server through its own firewall
The router is now sending traffic to the right computer, but that computer can still turn it away. Windows Defender Firewall is the usual offender: it blocks a newly installed dedicated server by default, and from outside that is indistinguishable from a broken forward.
Take it with you
Palworld — port forwarding rules -------------------------------- 8211 UDP -> <server local IP>
Check whether it worked
Always test from outside your network. A connection from another device in the house proves nothing: that traffic stays on your LAN and never passes through the rule you just created.
This game listens on UDP and has no query protocol we support, so we cannot test it honestly from here: seen from outside, an open UDP port and a filtered one look exactly alike. The reliable test is a friend outside your network trying to connect.
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The usual mistake
Nearly everyone reaches for 27015 first, since every other Steam game taught them that number. Here it is not the game port, just the optional query port. The rest of the confusion comes from co-op: starting a game from the main menu and sharing an invite code is not a dedicated server, and it needs no forwarding whatsoever.
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Skipping port forwarding
For four players or fewer, invite-code co-op skips all of this. Past that you need a dedicated server, and bear in mind that Palworld's memory use rises sharply with every base in the world.