Port forwarding for a Vintage Story server
Vintage Story uses one port number, 42420 by default. Older versions needed TCP only; from version 1.20 the game uses UDP on the same port as well, so forward both.
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 42420. If you changed that, use whatever you set in Port (serverconfig.json).
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.
- 42420 TCP
- 42420 UDP
42420TCPGame trafficThe main connection. TCP.42420UDPGame traffic (1.20+)From version 1.20 the game also uses UDP on the same port. Forward both protocols.
Do not open these
Good news: this game has no remote-admin port that could be exposed by mistake. Forward the ports on the left and stop there.
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 Vintage Story 42420 42420 TCP your server’s local IP Vintage Story 42420 42420 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
Vintage Story — port forwarding rules ------------------------------------- 42420 TCP -> <server local IP> 42420 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.
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The usual mistake
Guides written before 1.20 say TCP only, and following them gives a server that connects but behaves badly. The port itself is set in serverconfig.json, and the server has to be restarted to pick up any change there.
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Skipping port forwarding
Vintage Story is modest on hardware, so the reason to host elsewhere is availability: a world that keeps its seasons turning whether or not your own PC is on.